“Principal seat of High Court does not enjoy supremacy over Madurai Bench”
Mohamed Imranullah S.
Madurai Bench judgments equally binding on all lower courts in State
MADURAI: The principal seat of the Madras High Court in Chennai does not enjoy any supremacy over its permanent Bench at Madurai, a Division Bench of the High Court has ruled.
The Division Bench, comprising Justices Prafulla Kumar Misra and S. Nagamuthu, pointed out that Article 214 of the Constitution states that there shall be only one High Court for each State. Hence, the Court does not lose its unitary character whether it sits in Chennai or Madurai.
Clearing the air lingering since the establishment of the Bench in July 2004, the Judges said a decision rendered by the Madurai Bench was equally binding on all lower courts within the territory of Tamil Nadu as that of the principal seat.
Filing of appeal
This, however, did not mean that the judgments of any lower court could be challenged either before the principal seat or the Madurai Bench, as it would lead to startling consequences;. A “territorial nexus” has to be established for filing an appeal.
Pointing out that the Madurai Bench enjoys territorial jurisdiction over 14 southern districts and the rest fell under the principal seat, the judges said that the appeals could be filed only before the respective appellate court.
Transfer of cases
On the row over filing applications to transfer cases, pending before the lower courts, from one district to another, the judges said such applications could be filed before the Madurai Bench alone if both the transferee as well as transferor districts fell within its territorial jurisdiction. Similar rule would apply to the principal seat too.
Nevertheless, such transfer applications could be filed either before the principal seat or the Madurai Bench if a case has to be transferred from a district falling under the former’s jurisdiction to a district within the latter’s jurisdiction or vice versa, the judges added.
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