High Court Cannot Exercise Jurisdiction Under Article 227 To Monitor Progress Of Cases Before Fora Below: Delhi HC

The Delhi High Court has observed that the supervisory jurisdiction under Article 227 of the Constitution of India cannot be exercised by High Courts to monitor the progress of cases before lower courts.

"It is not possible for this Court, exercising jurisdiction under Article 227 of the Constitution of India, to monitor the progress of cases before the fora below," Justice C Hari Shankar observed.

The Court was dealing with a petition filed under Article 227 seeking a direction to the State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission to decide a case expeditiously, preferably on day-to-day basis and adjudicate the appeal on merits.

"Supervisory jurisdiction under Article 227 of the Constitution of India can be exercised only in cases where the forum, subject to the superintending jurisdiction of this Court, acts in a manner which calls for supervisory correction," the Court observed.

The Court further opined that the mere fact of pendency of petitioner's appeal before the SCDRC since 2019 cannot be a ground for High Court to direct the forum to decide it within one month.

"This Court is unaware of the number of matters pending before the learned SCDRC or the work constraint under which it is operating," it further noted.

The Court thus disposed of the plea merely with the direction to the SCDRC to decide the case preferred by the petitioner, as expeditiously as possible.

"The learned SCDRC would take a call on the urgency of the petitioner's matter keeping in view the number of matters pending before it and other matters which may be of a greater vintage or more urgent," the Court ordered.

The plea was accordingly disposed of.

Case Title: FIROZ AHMAD v. STATE CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL COMMISSION, DELHI AND ORS

Citation: 2022 LiveLaw (Del) 663

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