Section 101 — Second appeal on no other grounds

Section 101 bolts the gate that § 100 built. A second appeal lies on one ground and one only — the substantial question of law of § 100. No other ground will do: not the facts, not the appreciation of evidence, not the repealed pre-1976 grounds. If there is no substantial question of law, there is no second appeal.

§ 101

How to read Section 101

One ground only

No second appeal shall lie except on the ground mentioned in § 100 — the section is a one-line reinforcement of § 100’s gateway.

That ground = § 100

The single permitted ground is a substantial question of law, which the High Court must formulate and on which the appeal is heard.

Everything else is shut out

A second appeal will not lie on a question of fact, on re-appreciation of evidence, or on the old enumerated grounds that § 100 replaced in 1976.

The bare Act

Section 101 · verbatim

No second appeal shall lie except on the ground mentioned in section 100.→ The ground in § 100 is a substantial question of law; second-appeal procedure is Order XLII.

Note. § 101 is the companion of § 100 — it adds no new ground but excludes every ground other than § 100’s. Read with the 1976 substitution of § 100, it confirms that the old clause-based grounds of second appeal are gone.

Key terms decoded

Second appeal

An appeal to the High Court from an appellate decree — the appeal that § 100 governs and § 101 confines.

The ground mentioned in § 100

A substantial question of law — the sole gateway. § 101 makes it the only ground on which a second appeal can rest.

No … except

A closed-list formula: it permits the one named ground and bars all others by necessary implication.

Question of fact

A dispute about what happened on the evidence. It is not a ground for second appeal — findings of fact are not re-opened.

Old enumerated grounds

The pre-1976 § 100 grounds (decision contrary to law, failure to determine a material issue, substantial procedural error). The 1976 substitution removed them; § 101 keeps them out.

The picture — one gate, one key

One gate, one key. § 101 lets through the single ground § 100 allows — a substantial question of law — and turns away every other would-be ground, whether of fact, of evidence, or the grounds the 1976 amendment swept away.

Section 101, part by part

The bar

No second appeal shall lie

A flat prohibition — a second appeal does not lie at large; it must clear a single gate.

The sole exception

except on the ground mentioned in section 100.

— except on § 100’s ground: a substantial question of law. That is the only ground; every other is excluded by this very words.

Connected provisions

Section 101 is the shortest member of the second-appeal cross-heading (§§ 100–103) — a one-line lock on § 100’s gateway. It reads with § 102 (no second appeal in certain small-value suits) and § 103 (when the High Court may itself decide issues of fact).

§ 100A ←No further appeal from a Single Judge’s appellate decision. (Previous section.)

§ 100 →The second appeal itself — the substantial-question-of-law gateway § 101 enforces.

§ 102 →No second appeal in money-recovery suits of ₹25,000 or less.

§ 103 →When the High Court may itself determine issues of fact in a second appeal.

⚖ Part VII MapPart VII — Appeals §§ 96–112.

Test yourself

1 An appellant wants a second appeal purely to re-argue the evidence. Will it lie? — No — § 101: a second appeal lies only on § 100’s ground, a substantial question of law, not on the facts.

2 Counsel cites a pre-1976 ground (“decision contrary to law”) as a free-standing ground. Good enough? — No — § 101 confines second appeals to § 100; the old enumerated grounds were removed in 1976.

3 What single thing must the case involve for a second appeal to lie? — A substantial question of law — the only ground § 101 leaves open.

Part VII · Appeals · Section 101 — Second appeal on no other grounds.