Will Restoration Of Writ Petition Revive Interim Order? SC To Examine [Read Order]

The Supreme Court will examine the question whether the interim order passed in a writ petition gets revived when the main writ petition is restored.

A writ petition filed in the year 1995 by the U.P. State Electricity Board was dismissed by the Allahabad High Court for want of prosecution. Later, on an application filed by the board, it was restored to file. Though there was an order of stay for complying the order of Labour court passed earlier, the high court refused to accept the contention that this interim order also got revived when it restored the writ petition. It then asked the board to first comply with the order of the Labour court and to explain why the same is not complied with since long.

Challenging this order of the high court, the board filed Special Leave Petition before the apex court, contending that when the main writ petition is restored, the interim order also gets revived. Reliance was placed on the three-judge bench decision in Vareed Jacob vs. Sosamma Geevarghese.

The bench comprising of Justice R Banumathi and Justice Indira Banerjee issued notice in this case, after taking note of the submissions made on behalf of the board. The bench also stayed the order passed by the high court.

In Vareed Jacob, the Supreme Court by 2:1 majority upheld a Kerala High Court judgment that on the restoration of a suit an order of injunction passed is automatically revived. Justice SB Sinha, in his dissenting opinion, said that the interim order of injunction does not revive on the restoration of the suit. He advised the courts to specifically pass an order when the Banumathi, is dismissed for default stating when interlocutory orders are vacated and on the restoration of the suit, if the court intends to revive such interlocutory orders, an express order to that effect should be passed. 

Read the Order Here