EDWARD EVAN PEREIRA Vs. GONCALO JOSE AGNELO

JUDGEMENT

(1.) By an order dated 30 September 2010, a Division Bench of this Court, has referred the following questions for determination by a Larger Bench :

(2.) Since, this Larger Bench has been constituted only for determining the aforesaid questions of law in the context of maintainability of Letters Patent Appeals against judgments of Single Judge of this Court sitting at Panaji-Goa, it is not necessary to set out the facts of any of these appeals, except to state that Letters Patent Appeal Nos.1 and 2 of 2010 are directed against the separate Judgments passed by a learned Single Judge of this High Court at Goa, dismissing two separate writ petitions filed in 2010 under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution of India.

(3.) In Sanjay Z. Rane and others vs. Smt. Saibai S. Dubaxi (since deceased) through her legal representatives and another, Letters Patent Appeal No.15/2000 decided on 22 June 2009 a Division Bench of this Court, took the view that the jurisdiction to entertain intra-Court appeal under Clause 15 of the Letters Patent of 1865 has not been conferred on the High Court of Bombay at Goa. For the purposes of arriving at this conclusion, the Division Bench, besides placing particular interpretation on the relevant statutory provisions, also relied on the decision of the Supreme Court in P.V. Hemalatha vs. Kattamkandi Puthiya Maliackal Saheeda and anr., 2002 5 SCC 548 In the order of reference, it is indicated, while prima facie disagreeing with the interpretation placed in the Judgment dated 22 June 2009, that the attention of the Division Bench was not drawn to an important decision of the Apex Court in Dadh Nathu Rajah (dead) by Laywers vs. Angha Nathu Jamal, 1969 3 SCC 813