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S. Thankamani vs Greater Cochin Development Autho. & Anr

Supreme Court18 November 2008V.S.Sirpurkar · Tarun Chatterjee

Ratio decidendi

The rule this decision rests on

A Division Bench of a High Court, when deciding an appeal, is obliged to pass a reasoned and speaking order stating its own reasoning and conclusions rather than merely affirming the decision below by reference to the lower court's reasoning without applying its own mind to the issues raised in the appeal. An order that merely states agreement with the reasoning of the Single Judge without independent reasoning by the appellate bench does not constitute a valid exercise of appellate jurisdiction and is liable to be set aside.

Written by Miss Lucy from the judgment below, not taken from a headnote.

Judgment

As delivered

1
NON-REPORTABLE
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIACIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION
CIVIL APPEAL NO.6689 OF 2008(Arising out of SLP)No.21862 of 2007)
S.Thankamani ...Appellant
Versus
Greater Cochin DevelopmentAuthority & Anr. ...Respondents.
ORDER
1. Leave granted.
2. This appeal is directed against an order dated 6th of
September, 2007 passed by a Division Bench of the
High Court of Kerala at Ernakulam in Writ Appeal
No.2171 of 2007 by which the Division Bench had
affirmed the order of a learned Single Judge of the
said High Court passed on 14th of March, 2007 in
O.P.No.29160 of 2000.
2
3. Having heard the learned counsel for the parties and
after going the impugned order, we are of the view
that the Division Bench ought to have passed a
reasoned and speaking order instead of saying only
that they were in respectful agreement with the
reasoning and conclusion arrived at by the learned
Single Judge. Accordingly, we are of the view that the
Division Bench while deciding the appeal had not
applied their mind and, therefore, the impugned
order of the Division Bench is liable to be set aside
and the matter should be sent back to the Division
Bench for disposal afresh in accordance with law.
4. For the reasons aforesaid, the impugned order is set
aside and the appeal is sent back to the Division
Bench of the High Court for fresh decision in
accordance with law after giving hearing to the

learned counsel for the parties. It is expected that the 3

Division Bench shall pass a reasoned and speaking

order while disposing of the appeal.

5. The appeal is thus allowed to the extent indicated

above. There will be no order as to costs.

.........................J. [Tarun Chatterjee]

New Delhi; ...........................J. November 18, 2008. [V.S.Sirpurkar]

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