The Supreme Court today struck down a law enacted by the State of Chhattisgarh providing statutory appeal to the Supreme Court from orders of Rent Control Tribunal.
A Bench of Justices Deepak Gupta and Surya Kant held that the power to enact a law providing for appeal to Supreme Court is vested with the Union Parliament in this case.
Section 13(2) of the Chhattisgarh Rent Control Act, 2011 provides for an appeal to the Supreme Court against orders of the Rent Control Tribunal.
The main question for determination before the Bench was whether the State Legislature can enact a law providing an appeal directly to the Supreme Court of India?
While deciding the issue, the Court made reference to the List system under the Constitution of India. Matters under List 1 (Union List) can only be dealt with by Parliament. Entry 77 under List 1 deals with the powers, constitution, and jurisdiction of the Supreme Court. In this light, the Bench held,
"Entry 77 gives power to the Union in respect of jurisdiction and the powers of the Supreme Court. This power cannot be exercised by the State Legislature."
The judgment further notes that the framers of the law did not take the hierarchy of courts into consideration.
"We are constrained to observe that the men who drafted the Act did not even consider the hierarchy of Courts. As pointed above, the Rent Control Tribunal is headed by a retired Judge of the High Court or District Judge in the Super Time Scale or above. What was the rationale of making such an order appealable directly to the Supreme Court? We see no reason why the supervisory jurisdiction of the High Court should be excluded."
Therefore, the Court held that Section 13(2) was totally illegal, ultra vires the Constitution and beyond the scope of the powers of the State Legislature.
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