Inherent Powers, Caveat and Miscellaneous

In one line

The Code cannot foresee everything, so section 151 preserves the court's inherent power to do what justice requires, section 152 lets it correct its own slips, and section 148A lets a person who fears an order behind his back file a caveat so that he is heard first.

Caveat: section 148A

Why it exists

An application for an interim order is often made ex parte, and legitimately so: an injunction that has to wait for notice may be useless. But that cuts both ways. A person who knows litigation is coming may find an injunction made against him before he has heard of the case.

Section 148A is his answer. He lodges a caveat, which is a formal warning to the court that he claims a right to be heard, and the court must then notify him before making any order on the application. The word means "let him beware", and it is a warning to the court and to the applicant rather than to him.

The provision

Section 148A(1): where an application is expected to be made, or has been made, in a suit or proceeding instituted, or about to be instituted, in a Court, any person claiming a right to appear before the Court on the hearing of such application may lodge a caveat in respect of it.

Note how wide the timing is. A caveat may be lodged before the suit is even filed, and before any application is made. That is the point: it is a precaution against being taken by surprise.

Section 148A(2): the person lodging it, called the caveator, shall serve a notice of the caveat by speed post with registration and proof of delivery on the person by whom the application has been, or is expected to be, made.

Section 148A(3): where, after a caveat has been lodged, any application is filed in the suit or proceeding, the Court shall serve a notice of the application on the caveator.

Section 148A(4): where notice of a caveat has been served on the applicant, he shall forthwith furnish the caveator, at the caveator's expense, with a copy of the application and with copies of any paper or document which has been or may be filed by him in support of it.

Section 148A(5), and this is the figure to remember: a caveat shall not remain in force after the expiry of ninety days from the date on which it was lodged, unless the application referred to in sub-section (1) has been made before the expiry of that period.

So the scheme is: lodge, notify the other side yourself, and the court then notifies you of any application, and the applicant must give you his papers at your own expense. And it lapses after ninety days unless the anticipated application has been made.