DEVAKI AMMA Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE question to be considered is whether the Appellate authority was justified in dismissing the Appeal ignoring the joint statement filed by the parties. A compromise petition was filed before the Appellate authority by the revision petitioner and the second respondent. That was rejected by the Appellate Authority on the ground that it has no jurisdiction to entertain it.

(2.) S. 102 (3) of the Kerala Land reforms Act provides that in deciding appeals under sub-s. (1), the appellate authority shall exercise all the powers which a court has and follow the same procedure which a court follows in deciding appeals against the decree of an original court under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908. S. 102 (3) makes it abundantly clear that appellate authority has all the powers which a court has under the Civil Procedure Code. Under 0. 23 R. 3 the Court is empowered to record compromise effected between the parties. This can be done by the trial Court or appellate Court depending upon the stage at which parties effected the compromise. As the appellate authority is vested with all powers of a Court under the C. P. C. there cannot be any doubt about its jurisdiction to record the compromise effected by the parties. It cannot be conceived that the appellate authority does not have power to record a valid compromise between the parties. The Appellate authority was therefore not justified in dismissing the compromise petition filed before it by the contesting parties.