Intra-court appeals barred: amended Section 100A overrides the Kerala High Court Act and extinguishes the further appellate remedy.

Amended Section 100A of the Code of Civil Procedure bars a further intra-court appeal from a Single Judge's judgment in an appeal arising under a special statute, and this non obstante bar overrides Section 5(ii) of the Kerala High Court Act, 1958. The provision reflects a legislative intent to abolish such intra-court appeals except where expressly preserved. The further appellate remedy is not a vested substantive right flowing from the underlying proceedings, so it does not survive merely because those proceedings began before the amendment took effect. As a result, no maintainable intra-court appeal lies after the amendment's commencement in these matters.

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Issues: (i) Whether an intra-court appeal under Section 5(ii) of the Kerala High Court Act, 1958 lay against a judgment of a Single Judge rendered in appeal from an award or order under a special statute after the amendment of Section 100A of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908. (ii) Whether the right to such further appeal survived in proceedings commenced before the amendment came into force.

Issue (i): Whether an intra-court appeal under Section 5(ii) of the Kerala High Court Act, 1958 lay against a judgment of a Single Judge rendered in appeal from an award or order under a special statute after the amendment of Section 100A of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908.

Analysis: The governing appeal under the special statutes reached the High Court and, once disposed of by a Single Judge under the High Court's procedural scheme, the further appeal depended only on the High Court Act. Section 100A, as amended, contains a non obstante clause and bars any further appeal from a judgment and decree of a Single Judge in an appeal from an original or appellate decree or order. The legislative intent was to abolish intra-court appeals except in the limited constitutional context expressly preserved. That bar prevails over Section 5(ii) of the Kerala High Court Act, 1958.

Conclusion: No intra-court appeal under Section 5(ii) of the Kerala High Court Act, 1958 lay after 1 July 2002 against such judgments of a Single Judge.

Issue (ii): Whether the right to such further appeal survived in proceedings commenced before the amendment came into force.

Analysis: The right relied upon was only the further appeal created by the High Court Act and not a substantive right flowing from the special enactments themselves. The amended Section 100A operated to take away that further appellate remedy from the date it came into force, and no vested right to a subsequent intra-court appeal could be claimed merely because the underlying proceedings had commenced earlier. The amendment was therefore applied to appeals decided by Single Judges after its commencement.

Conclusion: The alleged vested right did not survive, and the further appeal was not maintainable.

Final Conclusion: The amended Section 100A of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 overrides the intra-court appeal provision in the Kerala High Court Act, 1958 for these matters, leaving no maintainable further appeal from the Single Judge's decision.

Ratio Decidendi: A non obstante amendment barring further appeals from a Single Judge's appellate decision prevails over a conflicting intra-court appeal provision in a High Court Act, and no vested right to such further appeal survives after the amendment's commencement.

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