Prospective operation of Section 100A preserves pending letters patent appeals filed before the 2002 amendment.

Section 100A of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, as substituted by the 2002 amendment, was held to operate prospectively and not to extinguish a vested right of appeal already exercised before the amendment took effect. The right of appeal accrues when proceedings are instituted and can be taken away only by clear express words or necessary intendment; because the amended provision did not clearly make pending letters patent appeals non-maintainable, an appeal filed before the amendment remained maintainable. The challenge to the Division Bench's jurisdiction on the basis of retrospective operation therefore failed, and the appeal was dismissed.

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Issues: Whether Section 100A of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, as substituted by the 2002 amendment, applied retrospectively so as to bar a letters patent appeal already filed before its commencement.

Analysis: The right of appeal is a vested substantive right that accrues when proceedings are instituted and is not taken away unless the statute clearly does so by express words or necessary intendment. Section 100A, though it bars further appeal where a Single Judge hears and decides an appeal, did not indicate that it would operate retrospectively to defeat appeals already preferred before the amendment came into force. The earlier decisions relied upon also recognized that the amended provision took away intra-court appeals only for the future and not for pending appeals filed before the effective date.

Conclusion: Section 100A was held not to have retrospective effect. A letters patent appeal filed before the 2002 amendment remained maintainable, but the present appeal was dismissed.

Final Conclusion: The appeal failed because the challenge to the Division Bench's jurisdiction based on retrospective application of Section 100A was rejected.

Ratio Decidendi: A statutory bar on further appeal under Section 100A of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, operates prospectively unless the legislature clearly manifests a contrary intention, and it does not extinguish a vested right of appeal already exercised before the amendment took effect.

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