Section 10F Companies Act appeals lie before a Single Judge where appellate rules assign special-Act orders to that forum.

Section 10F of the Companies Act, 1956 was construed by reference to the Act and the applicable appellate-side rules, not by the place where the Company Law Board sat. The court held that appeals from orders under a local or special Act, where the order does not have the force of a decree, fall within the jurisdiction of a Single Judge. Earlier Supreme Court observations were treated as arising in a different context and not as authority on the Bench strength for such appeals. Accordingly, an appeal under section 10F lies before a Single Judge and not a Division Bench.

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Issues: Whether an appeal under section 10F of the Companies Act, 1956 from an order of the Company Law Board lies before a Single Judge or a Division Bench of the High Court.

Analysis: The expression "the High Court" in section 10F was construed in the context of the Act and not by reference to the place where the Company Law Board sat. The earlier discussion in the cited Supreme Court decision was held to have been made in a different context and not as authority on the strength of the Bench hearing an appeal from the Company Law Board. The applicable appellate-side rule providing for appeals from orders under local or special Acts not having the force of a decree was applied to hold that such appeals fall within the jurisdiction of a Single Judge.

Conclusion: An appeal under section 10F of the Companies Act, 1956 against an order of the Company Law Board lies before a Single Judge and not before a Division Bench.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the appellate rules specifically assign appeals from orders under a local or special Act to a Single Judge, an appeal under section 10F from the Company Law Board must be heard by a Single Judge despite contrary inferences from territorial-jurisdiction reasoning in other contexts.

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