Karnataka HC Transfers Challenge To Civil Court Order To District Court, Citing Supreme Court-Affirmed Jurisdiction Ruling

The appellants filed an appeal under Order XLIII Rule 1(r) CPC challenging the order dated 3 October 2023 on I.A. No. 1 in O.S. No. 232/2022, passed by the Principal Senior Civil Judge and CJM, Chikkaballapur

The High Court considered the appeal’s maintainability under Section 19(1) of the Karnataka Civil Courts Act, 1964, in light of a Division Bench decision in Smt. Narayanamma v. State of Karnataka, which the Supreme Court had affirmed

Section 19(1) of the Karnataka Civil Courts Act, 1964 governs the relevant appellate jurisdiction.

The Court applied that provision as interpreted in the Division Bench decision in Smt. Narayanamma v. State of Karnataka, W.P. No. 17588 of 2024 c/w W.A. No. 200260 of 2025, dated 8 July 2026, which was affirmed by the Supreme Court in SLP(C) No. 025075/2026 on 3 August 2026

Applying Section 19(1) as interpreted by the cited, Supreme Court-affirmed decision, the High Court concluded that this appeal was not maintainable before it

It therefore directed transfer of the record to the Principal District and Sessions Judge for assignment to the appellate court having jurisdiction. The Court expressly left the merits and the parties’ contentions open

It directed the Registry to transfer the case record, including any pending applications, to the Principal District and Sessions Judge for assignment to the competent appellate court.

The parties were directed to appear before the District Judge on 25 November 2026; any interim order was to continue until further orders of the learned District Judge