High Courts can transfer a suit, appeal or other proceeding to “any Court” but bearing in mind the fetter that any such court, to which the relevant case or matter is proposed or sought to be transferred, must be subordinate to it and otherwise competent to deal with the subject matter; if such court is either not subordinate or not competent, the power is not available to be exercised, the Supreme Court held recently. The power under Section 24 of CPC can be exercised by the High Court even for inter-State transfer of a suit, appeal or other proceeding, if it is the common High Court for two or more States, the Supreme Court bench of Justices Hrishikesh Roy and Dipankar Datta was disposing of a civil appeal (Shah Newaz Khan & ors. Vs. State of Nagaland & ors. 

The issue before the Apex Court was whether the Supreme Court was the sole repository of power in terms of section 25 of the Code of Civil Procedure (for brevity ‘the CPC’) to direct transfer of a suit, appeal or other proceeding from a Civil Court in one State to a Civil Court in another State? Or, is it open for a High Court, if it is the common High Court for two or more States, to entertain an application for transfer under section 24 of the CPC and transfer a suit, appeal or other proceeding from a Civil Court to another Civil Court, both of which are subordinate to such High Court but situate in different States in relation to which it exercises jurisdiction, for consideration and decision?

“A true and proper interpretation of section 25 of the CPC leads us to the conclusion that the same applies to inter-State transfer of a suit, appeal or other proceeding where both States have a High Court in terms of Article 214 of the Constitution and not to a transfer where both States have a common High Court under Article 231 thereof. The power under section 24 of the CPC can be exercised by the High Court even for inter-State transfer of a suit, appeal or other proceeding, if it is the common High Court for two or more States under Article 231 of the Constitution and both the Civil Courts (transferor and transferee) are subordinate to it,” the bench ruled.

For full text of the judgment click on the case title: Shah Newaz Khan & Ors Vs State of Nagaland & Ors