Section 153A — Power to amend decree or order where appeal is summarily dismissed
A narrow but useful clarification. Where an Appellate Court summarily dismisses an appeal under Order XLI, rule 11, the power to amend the decree or order under § 152 may still be exercised by the Court of first instance — even though the dismissal has the effect of confirming that decree.
How to read Section 153A
The situation
An appeal is dismissed summarily at the admission stage under Order XLI, r. 11 — without the appellate court hearing the merits in full.
Where the power sits
The § 152 power to amend the decree / order stays with the Court of first instance — the court that passed it.
The doubt removed
It applies even though the summary dismissal “confirms” the decree — so the trial court does not lose its slip-correction power.
The bare Act
Where an Appellate Court dismisses an appeal under rule 11 of Order XLI, the power of the Court to amend, under section 152, the decree or order appealed against may be exercised by the Court which had passed the decree or order in the first instance, notwithstanding that the dismissal of the appeal has the effect of confirming the decree or order, as the case may be, passed by the Court of first instance.
1 Section 153A inserted by Act 104 of 1976, s. 51 (w.e.f. 1-2-1977).
In short: if an appeal is thrown out at the threshold (Order XLI, r. 11), the trial court keeps its § 152 power to correct a slip in its own decree — the summary dismissal does not move that power away.
→ The doubt § 153A (inserted in 1976) settles is a merger point: when an appeal is fully heard, the trial decree merges in the appellate decree and only the appellate court can amend it. But a summary dismissal under r. 11 — without notice to the respondent — is different. § 153A makes clear the first-instance court retains the § 152 power, despite the dismissal “confirming” its decree.
Key terms decoded
The appellate court may dismiss an appeal at the admission stage — without issuing notice to the respondent — if it finds no merit.
The slip rule — to correct clerical / arithmetical mistakes and accidental slips in the decree or order.
The trial court that passed the decree or order under appeal — where § 153A locates the § 152 power.
Even though a summary dismissal upholds the trial decree, that does not take away the trial court’s § 152 power.
Ordinarily a trial decree merges into the appellate decree. § 153A carves out the summary-dismissal case so the trial court keeps its corrective power.
It avoids sending a party to the appellate court merely to fix a slip in a decree the appeal never really examined.
The picture — the trial court keeps the slip-correction power
§ 153A plugs a small gap: a party should not have to approach the appellate court to correct a clerical or arithmetical slip in a decree the appeal was never truly examined — the trial court that made the slip can still mend it.
Part by part — the one sentence
Where an Appellate Court dismisses an appeal under rule 11 of Order XLI…
It applies only to a summary dismissal of the appeal at the admission stage — not a dismissal after a full hearing.
…the power of the Court to amend, under section 152, the decree or order … may be exercised by the Court which had passed the decree or order in the first instance…
The § 152 slip-correction power may be exercised by the trial court — not only the appellate court.
…notwithstanding that the dismissal of the appeal has the effect of confirming the decree or order…
It works even though the summary dismissal “confirms” the trial decree — the confirmation does not strip the trial court of the power.
Why it matters
Keep the slip-correction power with the court that can use it
A small provision that prevents a needless detour.
Connected provisions
Section 153A is a rider to § 152 (the slip rule) for the special case of a summary dismissal of an appeal under Order XLI, rule 11. It belongs to Part XI’s amendment-and-correction group.