IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) TUESDAY, THE TWENTY FIRST DAY OF JULY TWO THOUSAND AND NINE PRESENT THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE GHULAM MOHAMMED and THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE VILAS V. AFZULPURKAR WRIT PETITION NO : 13110 of 2009 Between: Gorre Mariam David D/o. David Nursing home, R/o. Q.No. 31, Doctors Colony, II Phase, Balajinagar, Warangal. ..... PETITIONER AND 1 The State of A.P., Rep. by its Principal Secretary, Civil Supplies Department, Secretariat, Hyderabad. 2 The Registrar, Eruvaka Building, Khairtabad, hyderabad. 3 The Kakatiya Medical College, REgd. Office at SRT 6/1, K.M.C., Staff Quaters, Warangal City and District. Rep. by its President Sri. Mahesh Kumar Reddy and Secretary Sri. G.Prabhakar Reddy .....RESPONDENT(S) Petition under Article 226 of the constitution of India praying that in the circumstances stated in the Affidavit filed herein the High Court will be pleased to issue a suitable writ, order or direction more particularly one in the nature of writ of Certiorari by calling for the records of the AP State Consumer Disputes Redresal Commission, Hyderabad in F.A.1109/2006 and declare the order therein Dt: 13.4.2009 in dismissing the F.A.1109/2006 for default as without jurisdiction and quash the order and direct the AP State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission to pass other orders. Counsel for the Petitioner: SMT.S.A.V.RATNAM Counsel for the Respondents: GP FOR CIVIL SUPPLIES The Court made the following : THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE GHULAM MOHAMMED AND THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE VILAS V. AFZULPURKAR W.P.No. 13110 of 2009 ORDER: (Hon’ble Sri Justice Ghulam Mohammed) 1. This writ petition is filed seeking Writ of Certiorari calling for the records relating to the impugned order dated 13.4.2009 passed by the A.P. State Consumer Redressal Commission, Hyderabad in F.A.No. 1109 of 2006 confirming the order in C.D.No. 172 of 1998 passed by District Forum, Warangal as illegal and improper. 2. The petitioner approached the A.P. State Consumer Redressal Commission by filing F.A.No. 1109 of 2006 challenging the legality and validity of the order passed by the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum, Warangal, in C.D. No. 172 of 1998. Since the petitioner failed to follow-up the matter, the said F.A. was dismissed for default, which reads as follows. “Though the matter is posted for dismissal, nobody appeared on behalf of the appellant. The learned counsel for the respondent appeared and justified the impugned order. Because the appellant counsel did not turn up this time also, there is no other go except to dismiss this appeal for default. Accordingly the appeal is dismissed for default. The present writ petition is filed on the ground that A.P. State Consumer Redressal Commission has no power or jurisdiction to restore the appeal, which was dismissed by it for default/non-prosecution. The Supreme Court in New India Assurance Company Limited v. R. Srinivasan [1] while dealing with the provisions of the A.P. Consumers Protection Act, 1986, and approving the judgment of the Full Bench in Narsingh Das v. Mangal Dubey [2] held that in the absence of the complainant, the Court will be well within the jurisdiction to dismiss the application for non-prosecution, so also, it would have inherent power and jurisdiction to restore the complaint on good cause being shown for non- appearance of the complainant. In the above circumstances, when once the Court has dismissed the matter for default/non-prosecution, the very same Court has got power to restore the same. In view of the same, the writ petition cannot be entertained on the ground that the State Commission has no jurisdiction. The petitioner, therefore, can approach the State Commission with an appropriate application. With the above observations, the Writ Petition is dismissed. _____________________________ JUSTICE GHULAM MOHAMMED ________________________________ JUSTICE VILAS V. AFZULPURKAR Dt. 21.7.2009 KR ..... REGISTRAR // TRUE COPY // SECTION OFFICER To 1) 2 CD copies Form-NIC-OGS/WP{KSRANI} [1] (2000) 3 SCC 242 [2] ILR (1883) 5 All 163