Judicial orders of civil/criminal courts are not subject to writ jurisdiction under Article 226; appeals can only be made against specific orders as defined in the Domestic Violence Act.

ORDER :

1. The petitioners through the medium of instant writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution have challenged order dated 24.03.2025 passed by the learned 1^st Additional Sessions Judge, Jammu, whereby the learned Sessions Judge has, while exercising his appellate jurisdiction set aside order dated 14.01.2025 passed by the learned Chief Judicial Magistrate(CJM), Jammu in a case tilted, Uma Kapahi Jandyal vs Akshay Jandyal and others.

2. At the very outset, the learned counsel for the petitioners has prayed that the instant petition be treated as one under Article 227 of the Constitution. He has submitted that inadvertently, the petition has been filed under a wrong provision of law.

3. Learned counsel appearing for the respondent, who is on caveat, has contended that the petition cannot be treated as one under Article 227 of the Constitution. He has further contended that the petition in the present form is not maintainable as a judicial order cannot be assailed by filing a petition under Article 226 of the Constitution. It is being contended that on this ground alone, the present petition deserves to be dismissed. Learned counsel for the respondent while referring to the judgments passed by the Supreme Court in Radhey Shyam and another v Chhabi Nath and others, [2015] 3 SCR 197 and Neeta Singh and others v The State of Uttar Pradesh and others, Special Leave Appeal No. 13578/2024 decided on 15.10.2024 has contended that even the prayer of the petitioners for treating the present petition as one under Article 227 of the Constitution cannot be allowed because the case has not been assigned by the Hon’ble the Chief Justice to this Court.

4. There cannot be any quarrel with the proposition of law that the judicial orders of civil/criminal courts are not amenable to the writ jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution. However, challenge to the judicial orders could lie by way of an appeal or a revision or under Article 227 of the Constitution. The question that is required to be determined is as to whether the prayer of the petitioners for treating their petition as one under Article 227 of the Constitution can be allowed.

5. The present petition is at threshold and even notice has not been issued as yet. Learned counsel for the petitioners has, before opening his arguments on admission made a prayer that the petition may be treated as one under Article 227 of the Constitution. If the said prayer of the petitioners is allowed, to the mind of this Court, no prejudice is going to be caused to the respondent particularly keeping in view the stage of the present case.

6. Learned counsel for the respondent has vehemently argued that unless the Hon’ble the Chief Justice assigns the case to this Court, the prayer of the petitioners cannot be allowed. It is correct that once a petition under Article 226 of the Constitution is treated as one under Article 227 of the Constitution, with the change in nomenclature of the petition, a judge hearing the case has to be sure that he is holding the roster for hearing the petitions under Article 227 of the Constitution or in other words such roster has been assigned to him/her and if it is not so assigned, the petition has to be placed before the learned Judge having the assignment.

7. In the instant case, this Bench is holding the roster of not only hearing writ petitions under Article 226 of the Constitution but it is also holding roster for hearing petitions under Article 227 of the Constitution. Therefore, there is no legal impediment in treating the present writ petition as one under Article 227 of the Constitution and there is also no legal impediment in hearing of the present petition even after changing its nomenclature to one under Article 227 of the Constitution. Accordingly, the prayer of the petitioners is allowed and the present petition is treated as one under Article 227 of the Constitution. The Registry shall assign the appropriate nomenclature to the present writ peti