Merger doctrine bars a later writ challenge after a revision on merits has already been decided.

Where the High Court has already heard and decided a revision petition under Section 115 CPC on merits, the subordinate court's order merges in the revisional order. A later writ petition under Articles 226 and 227 challenging the same subordinate order should ordinarily not be entertained, because it would permit inconsistent decisions by the same High Court and defeat finality. Even apart from merger, once one High Court remedy has been invoked and exhausted, discretion should not normally be used to allow a second proceeding over the same order. The Supreme Court therefore held the subsequent writ challenge incompetent.

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Issues: Whether, after dismissal of a revision petition under Section 115 of the Code of Civil Procedure, the High Court could entertain a writ petition under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution challenging the same subordinate court order; and whether the order of the subordinate court merged in the revisional order.

Analysis: The revisional power under Section 115 of the Code of Civil Procedure is exercised by the High Court as a superior court and is a mode of its wider appellate jurisdiction. When both parties are heard and the High Court decides the revision, the subordinate court's order merges in the High Court's order. Permitting a subsequent writ petition against the same order would result in two inconsistent decisions of the same High Court and would undermine the finality of its own adjudication. Even apart from merger, where one remedy before the High Court has been invoked and exhausted, it is not a proper exercise of discretion to permit another proceeding under Articles 226 and 227 in respect of the same order.

Conclusion: The High Court ought not to have entertained the writ petition, and the challenge to the subordinate court's order through Articles 226 and 227 was incompetent after dismissal of the revision.

Final Conclusion: The appeal succeeds, the High Court's judgment is set aside, and the appellant obtains costs.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a High Court has already adjudicated a revision on merits under Section 115 of the Code of Civil Procedure, the subordinate court's order merges in that decision and a subsequent writ petition against the same order should ordinarily not be entertained.

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