HYDERABAD: Declaring that the Principal Junior Civil Judge committed a gross jurisdictional error by throwing aside an award given by the Lok Adalat in accordance with the conditions of compromise agreed upon by the parties, Justice A. Venkateswara Reddy of the Telangana High Court has granted a Civil Revision Petition.
In his orders, Justice Reddy said that it is however for the plaintiff to file a writ petition before the High Court under Article 226 or 227 of the Constitution challenging the award passed by the Lok Adalat and it is for the court to decide whether any ground is made out by the writ petitioner for quashing the award.
The judge was hearing a legal dispute between Kancha Ramakka and Gorentla Kishan at Warangal seeking perpetual injunction in respect of scheduled property. During pendency of the suit, the matter was referred to the Lok Adalat where a compromise was reached and an award passed. However, Ramakka petitioned the Principal Junior Civil Judge (JCJ) Warangal to vacate the compromise issued by Lok Adalat. Hearing the case, the JCJ, Warangal stated that it was clear that the award passed by the Lok Adalat was beyond the scope of the alleged terms of compromise reached.
The JCJ, Warangal said that the evidence plainly shows that the respondent threatened the petitioner in order to achieve the compromise decree and forced the petitioner to agree to the terms of the compromise. As a result, the conditions of compromise are tainted by compulsion, the JCJ said, adding that the Lok Adalat’s award based on these terms was invalid.
Feeling aggrieved by the impugned trial court order setting aside the Lok Adalat Award, Gorentla Kishan filed a Civil Revision Petition alleging that the JCJ, Warangal usurped jurisdiction that did not vest in him. He argued that the JCJ Warangal lacked the authority to reverse the conditions recorded before the Lok Adalat, and violated the apex court’s and this court’s decisions since the Lok Adalat’s ruling had reached finality.