Appeals from Senior Civil Judge decrees lie to the District Court under amended law.

The appellants challenged a common judgment dated 18 April 2011 of the Senior Civil Judge and JMFC, Nelamangala, in eight suits.

The trial court had decreed the suits for specific performance and directed execution of registered sale deeds, with a permanent restraint against alienation of the suit properties.

While the appeals were before the High Court, the Court considered the effect of amendments to the Karnataka High Court and Karnataka Civil Courts Acts, whose constitutional validity had been upheld, and a circular directing transfer of pending cases covered by those amendments.

1. Whether these appeals from decrees of a Senior Civil Judge were required to be transferred to the jurisdictional District Court under the amended statutory scheme.

2. Whether the High Court should determine the appeals on their merits or dispose of them for statistical purposes while directing their transfer.

Section 19 of the Karnataka Civil Courts (Amendment) Act, 2023 provides that appeals, where permitted by law, from decrees and orders passed by a Senior Civil Judge in original civil suits and proceedings lie to the District Court.

The judgment relied on the Division Bench decision upholding the constitutional validity of the relevant 2023 amendments, as affirmed by the Supreme Court, and on the resulting circular directing that pending cases covered by the amendments be transferred to the respective jurisdictional courts.

The Court did not apply or determine substantive rules governing specific performance.

The appeals arose from decrees passed by a Senior Civil Judge and therefore fell within the statutory transfer arrangement described in Section 19 and the circular.

In light of the upheld amendments and the direction that covered pending matters stand transferred, the High Court directed transfer rather than deciding the parties’ challenges to the specific-performance decrees on their merits.

The appeals were disposed of for statistical purposes, with any pending applications left for consideration by the transferee court.