Judgement

MUDHOLKAR, J.:- This is an appeal from a judgment of a single Judge of the Kerala High Court dismissing the appellant s suit for recovery of possession of certain property and for mesne profits. It is not disputed that the only question of law which arises in this appeal is whether the appeal could be heard and disposed of by a single Judge of the High Court. The other questions raised are purely questions of fact. Article 133, Cl. (3) of the Constitution clearly provides that notwithstanding anything in the article no appeal shall lie to the SC from a judgment, decree or final order of one Judge of a High Court unless Parliament by law otherwise provides. Parliament has passed no law rendering the judgment of a single Judge appealable to the SC. Though this provision does not detract from the power of this Court under Art. 136 to entertain an appeal from a decision of a single Judge, it is the settled practice of this Court not to interfere with a finding of fact arrived at by the High Court unless it is satisfied that in arriving at the finding of fact the High Court had been guilty of grave errors. We gave opportunity to learned counsel to point out to us if the findings arrived at by the learned single Judge of the High Court are vitiated by any grave errors. But he was unable to point out any. We, therefore, declined to permit him to address us on the findings of fact.

2. As regards the question of law it is desirable to set out how, according to the appellant, it arises. The suit was instituted on February 10, 1950 in the district court of Kottayam which was later transferred by it to the Court of the Subordinate Judge, Meenachil sometime in the year 1956 and was substantially decreed in the appellant s favour on July 30, 1958. Three appeals were preferred against it. One was by Tirumalaya Gounder, the first defendant, and another in January, 1959 by H. B. Mohammad Rowther, 8th defendant. The appellant had also preferred an appeal against that part of the decree which was adverse to him. All these appeals were heard together and disposed of by a common judgment on August 10, 1960 and the appeals preferred by defendants 1 and 8 were allowed by the High Court while the appeal preferred by the appellant was dismissed. At the time the suit was instituted the Travancore-Cochin High Court Act 5 of 1125 M. E. (Corresponding to 1949 A.D.) was in force. Under S. 20 of that Act read with S. 21 all appeals to the High Court valued at an amount in excess of Rs. 1,000/- had to be heard by a Division Bench consisting of two Judges of the High Court. The appellant s suit and the appeals taken by the respondents from the District Court and the Subordinate Judge were both valued at Rs. 3,000/- and, therefore, had Ss. 20 and 21 of the Act been in force on the date on which the appeals were instituted unquestionably they would have had to be heard by a Division Bench of two Judges. The aforesaid Act, was, however, repealed by the Kerala High Court Act, 1958 being Act No. 5 of 1959 which received the assent of the President on February 6, 1959 and came into force on March 3, 1959. The appeals were placed for hearing before a single Judge overruling, we are informed by learned counsel, the appellant s plea that they should be only heard by a Division Bench. The reason why the appeals were heard by a single Judge and not placed before a Division Bench, was that under S. 5 of the Kerala High Court Act 5 of 1959 the jurisdiction of a single Judge of the High Court to hear and dispose of appeals from an original decree was extended to appeals in which the value of the subject matter did not exceed Rs. 10,000. According to learned counsel the right to have the appeal heard by a Division Bench conferred by the Travancore-Cochin High Court Act which was in force not only when the suit but also when the appeals were filed, was not taken away expressly by Kerala Act 5 of 1959 and could not be taken away by implication. In support of his conte