Court can convert petition under Section 482 CrPC as a criminal revision under Section 397 CrPC: Supreme Court

In Akanksha Arora v. Tanay Maben (2024), Supreme Court's bench of Justice Pankaj Mithal and Justice Sandeep Mehta directed the High Court to convert the petition under Section 482 CrPC as a criminal revision under Section 397 CrPC and decide it in accordance with law. It observed that the nomenclature of a petition is immaterial and for doing substantive justice. 

In the case in question, the Principal Judge, Family Court had fixed interim maintenance in favour of the appellant in exercise of powers under Section 125 of CrPC. The appellant was dissatisfied with the quantum of interim maintenance. The appellant wife filed a petition under Section 482 CrPC in the High Court seeking enhancement of the quantum of the maintenance.  The High Court dismissed the petition on the ground that it was not maintainable as the appellant wife had a remedy of a revision under Section 397 CrPC.

Supreme Court observed: “This Court has, in a catena of decisions, provided that nomenclature of a petition is immaterial and for doing substantive justice, the High Court can always convert a petition under Section 482 CrPC to a revision under Section 397 CrPC and vice versa.”

The Court relied on decision in Prabhu Chawla vs. State of Rajasthan and Another(1977) wherein it has been held that availability of alternative remedy of criminal revision under Section 397 CrPC, by itself, cannot be a good ground to dismiss an application under Section 482 CrPC. It also drew on Court's decision in Madhu Limaye vs. The State of Maharashtra (1977) . 

The Court noted: “Viewed in light of the above precedents, we feel that even if the High Court was of the view that the appellant should have invoked the jurisdiction under Section 397 CrPC for seeking enhancement of interim maintenance, it ought not to have non­suited the appellant only on the ground of alternative remedy”.

The Court concluded:“The approach of the High Court in dismissing the petition filed by the appellant under Section 482 CrPC on the hyper technical ground that she had to avail the remedy of revision cannot be appreciated because the same has unnecessarily compelled the appellant to approach this Court by way of this appeal filed under Article 136 of the Constitution of India.” The judgement was delivered on December 4, 2024.

The Court decided the appeal assailing the judgment of the Jabalpur Bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court whereby a wife’s petition under Section 482 CrPC seeking enhancement of interim maintenance was dismissed.