RFA, FAO, RSA and LPA: which civil appeal lies where in the Delhi High Court

Few procedural questions recur as often in civil practice as the choice of appeal. A decree of a District Judge, an interlocutory injunction order, an appellate decree, a judgment of a Single Judge in a writ petition and a decree of a Commercial Court each travel to the Delhi High Court by a different route, under a different provision, within a different period of limitation. Choosing wrongly costs time that limitation does not forgive. This note maps the principal civil appeals — RFA, FAO, RSA, LPA and the commercial appeal — to the orders they lie against.

The appellate map at a glance

The starting point is always the nature of what was passed below.

RFA and the original side

A decree passed by a District Court in a civil suit is challenged by a Regular First Appeal under Section 96 CPC. It is the most complete of the appellate remedies: the High Court sits as a court of both fact and law, may reappreciate the evidence in its entirety and records reasoned findings of its own.

Delhi has a further layer. The High Court exercises ordinary original civil jurisdiction in suits valued above rupees two crore, which are therefore tried by a Single Judge on the original side. A decree of the Single Judge in such a suit is challenged before a Division Bench of the High Court itself — in commercial matters, under the appellate framework of the Commercial Courts Act, 2015 — by way of an intra-court appeal, not an RFA.

FAO: appeals from orders

Interlocutory orders are generally not appealable; Order XLIII Rule 1 CPC carves out a closed list of exceptions. Familiar examples are orders on temporary injunctions under Order XXXIX, orders appointing a receiver under Order XL, an order returning a plaint under Order VII Rule 10, and an order refusing to set aside an ex parte decree under Order IX Rule 13. Rejection of a plaint under Order VII Rule 11 stands differently: it is a deemed decree, so the challenge is by first appeal, not FAO.

The label FAO is also used for appeals conferred by special statutes: from Family Court decrees under Section 19 of the Family Courts Act, 1984, and from awards of the Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal under Section 173 of the Motor Vehicles Act, registered in Delhi as MAC.APP. There the special statute, not the CPC, governs the appeal.

RSA and LPA

Where a first appeal has been decided by the District Judge, a further challenge lies only as a Regular Second Appeal under Section 100 CPC, and only on a substantial question of law, which the High Court must frame; the appeal is heard on that question. Findings of fact are not reopened merely because a different view is possible.

The Letters Patent Appeal is an intra-court appeal from a Single Judge to a Division Bench under the Letters Patent read with Section 10 of the Delhi High Court Act, 1966, most commonly seen against judgments in writ proceedings. Two filters apply. First, the order under challenge must amount to a "judgment" — a decision affecting valuable rights or matters of moment — and not every interim or procedural direction does. Second, an LPA is excluded where a statute bars a further appeal. Both filters must be checked before filing.

Commercial appeals: the Section 13 proviso

Section 13 of the Commercial Courts Act, 2015 provides an appeal to the Commercial Appellate Division within sixty days from a judgment or decree of a Commercial Court or Commercial Division. The trap lies in the proviso: against orders, an appeal lies only from those specifically enumerated — the orders listed in Order XLIII CPC as applicable, and orders under Section 37 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996. Interlocutory orders outside that enumeration are not appealable under the Act, however consequential they may feel.

Limitation, cross-objections and stay

Two limitation figures can be stated with confidence: ninety days for a first appeal to the High Court from a decree, under Article 116 of the Limitation Act, 1963, and sixty days for the Section 13 commercial appeal, fixed by the statute itself. Shorter periods apply to intra-court appeals — the Delhi High Court Rules prescribe thirty days for Letters Patent Appeals — and special statutes fix their own periods, so every memo should be checked against the governing statute and rules rather than filed on an assumed number.

A respondent content with the decree overall may still attack adverse findings by cross-objections under Order XLI Rule 22 CPC, within the time the rule allows after service of notice of the appeal. On stay, Order XLI Rule 5 is categorical: the appeal does not by itself operate as a stay. A separate application is required, and in money decrees the settled practice is to condition a stay on deposit of the decretal amount or security. The memorandum of appeal must set out concise grounds without argumentative narration, carry the certified copy of the judgment and decree, and bear the court fee required by law — in first appeals, ordinarily ad valorem.

Choosing the correct appeal: a closing word

The appellate structure rewards a moment of classification at the outset: identify what was passed, find the provision that makes it appealable, and read the limitation provision that governs it. Where the route is doubtful, verify from the statute and the rules before the memo is settled.