Reference, Review And Revision

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1. Meaning

Section 113 of the Civil Procedure Code gives the power to a subordinate court to state a case and refer the same for the opinion of the High Court. Such an opinion can be referred to when the code itself feels some doubt about a question of Law

Such reference can only be made by a court in the case of reasonable doubt about a question of Law or only when it is of opinion that Act is ultra vires

Unnecessary observations made by the High Court while disposing of the reference having no legal effect must be treated to have been rendered infructuous and superfluous but such power of reference is discretionary

2. Objective

The object for the provision of reference is to enable subordinate courts to obtain in non-appealable cases the opinion of the High Court in the absence of a question of law and thereby avoid the commission of an error which could be remedied later on.

The following conditions need to be satisfied by the Court to make a reference to the High Court under this proviso under setting out its opinion and the release for it.

• A question as to validity of any Act, ordinance or regulation or any provision therein arises in a case before the court.;

• The Court is of the opinion that the same is invalid or inoperative;

• The same has not till then been declared invalid by the High Court to which the Court is subordinate or by the Supreme Court; and

• The determination of the validity thereof is necessary for the disposal of the case.

I. REVIEW

Section 114 of the Code contains the provisions for review. An aggrieved party can file an application for review in the same court where the decree has been passed. This provision enables the court to review its own judgement in case of any error or mistake made with regard to the decision rendered, to rectify the same.

The application for Review can be filed under the following circumstances

• A decree or order is appealable as provided by the law, but no such appeal has been preferred
• There is no provision for appeal from certain decree or order
• A decision is passed by the court of Small Causes

There are certain grounds for filing review applications. These are:

• Discovery of new facts when there is no knowledge about the same or could not produce the same due to negligence, prior to the time when the decree was passed
• The error apparent on the face of the record which means errors which do not give rise to re-arguments of the whole case and those which are not related to erroneous decisions
• Any other sufficient grounds as provided by the Code, wherein the misconception of the court can be considered as sufficient ground

II. REVISION

1. Meaning

Section 115 of the Code of Civil Procedure empowers any High Court to entertain a revision in any case decided by a subordinate Court in certain circumstances.

This type of jurisdiction is known as revisional jurisdiction of the High Court .Revision meaning the action of revising, especially critically or careful examination or perusal with a view to correcting or improving.

2. Nature and Scope of Revision

In Major S.S Khanna v. Brig F.J Dillon [1], the Court stated 'The section consists of two parts, the first prescribes the conditions in which the jurisdiction of the High Court arises, i.e. there is a case decided by a subordinate Court in which no appeal lies to the High Court, the second sets out the circumstances in which no appeal lies to the High court, the second out the circumstances in which the Jurisdiction may be exercised.''

For the effective exercise of the High court's superintending and visitation powers over subordinate courts, this revisional jurisdiction has been conferred by the High Court under S.115; the powers given are clearly limited to the keeping of subordinate courts within the bound of their jurisdiction.

Though revisional Jurisdiction is only a part of appellate jurisdiction, it cannot be equated with full that of a full-fledged appeal.

[1] Major S. S. Khanna vs Brig. F.J. Dillon, 1964 AIR 497, 1964 SCR (4) 409