The Madras High Court in its single-judge bench of Justice GR Swaminathan held that Article 227 of the Constitution is “forum-neutral” making no distinction between civil and criminal cases. It was further held that while seeking for quashing of proceeding under Domestic Violence Act, article 229 is maintainable.
Facts of the case:
In the present case the bench was considering the decision of the registry of the court in refusing a petition filed under Article 227 of the Constitution for quashing proceeding instituted under the Domestic Violence Act. The petition was rejected by the registry on the ground of maintainability. Following this, Advocate PM Vishnuvarhanan, the lawyer for the petitioner made a representation before the bench. Thus, the matter was listed to decide the issue of maintainability of the petition.
Order of the Court:
The Hon’ble bench of the Madras High Court was of the view that the Registry should not have kept the petition unnumbered for so long. Further, the Registry ought to have placed the papers before the Court, if it had any doubt or reservation regarding maintainability.
It was also held that the text of the provision in Article 227 is forum-neutral as it makes no distinction between civil court and criminal court. In other words, the power under Article 227 can be exercised both over civil Courts as well as the criminal Courts.
The Registry was thus directed to number the petition and list the matter for admission before the portfolio Judge on 16.06.2021.
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