Report No. 136

2.8. Second appeal to High Court.-

One can view section 100 of the Code of Civil Procedure from another angle. The section is based on the principle that within the State, there should be uniformity on questions of law. It is on this basis that section 100 gives a right of second appeal to an aggrieved party if a question of law is involved and if certain other conditions are satisfied. The basic objective of this provision of the Civil Procedure Code was considered at some length in the Law Commission's Report on the Code of Civil Procedure. The Commission took the opportunity of analysing the type of questions which should appropriately reach the High Court by way of second appeal. Dealing with this aspect, the Law Commission had an occasion to observe1:-

"Nature of the question of law regarded as appropriate for second appeal-

"1.J.77. We shall indicate very broadly the nature of the questions of law which we regard as appropriate for submission to the High Court under section 100 as we propose to revise. First and the most important of all is the consideration of uniformity throughout the State. It is obvious that on questions of law uniformity must be maintained. In so far as interpretation of enacted laws having Statewise importance is concerned, it is the task of the judiciary to maintain the unity and the High Court, as the highest tribunal at the State level, should continue to have the ultimate authority to establish unity by resolving or avoiding the possibility of different views in lower courts."

1. Law Commission of India, 54th Report (Code of Civil Procedure, 1908).

2.9. The above passages show that in conferring a right of second appeal, the legal system is as much concerned with the quality of the law, as it is with the grievance of the particular litigant. Unfortunately, this aspect of the scheme of appeal is not visible on the surface. Therefore, it often escapes notice. But, it is an aspect of vital importance. The objective of maintaining certainty in the law and of avoiding (or removing) want of uniformity is implicit in the provision of the Code as to second appeal, as already stated.1

1. Para. 2.7, supra.