interlocutory application

An interlocutory application (IA) is filed while a suit or appeal is pending, to seek a temporary or procedural order: a temporary injunction (Order XXXIX CPC), appointment of a receiver (Order XL), attachment before judgment (Order XXXVIII), amendment of pleadings, condonation of delay, or a stay. The order passed on it is an interlocutory order. It governs the position until the case is decided but does not decide the main rights.

The classification has consequences. In criminal cases, s.438(2) BNSS (old s.397(2) CrPC) bars revision against an interlocutory order. The Supreme Court has held that an order which, though passed during the case, decides an important matter affecting the accused's rights is an intermediate order, not purely interlocutory, and may be revised. In civil cases, some interlocutory orders are appealable under Order XLIII CPC.

Example

The plaintiff filed an interlocutory application under Order XXXIX Rule 1 with the plaint, seeking an interim injunction against demolition.

In Indian law

• Orders XXXVIII, XXXIX, XL and XLIII, Code of Civil Procedure, 1908
• Section 438(2), Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (old s.397(2) CrPC)

See also

temporary injunction · injunction · revision · stay

Read more in the study notes

• Concurrent and consecutive sentences; appeals, revision and reference (Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita)
• Res judicata and bar to further suit (sections 11 and 12) (Civil Procedure Code and Limitation Act)
• First hearing, framing of issues, discovery, admissions, affidavits and adjournments (Civil Procedure Code and Limitation Act)
• Interim orders: commissions, arrest and attachment before judgment, temporary injunctions and receivers (Civil Procedure Code and Limitation Act)
• Reference, review and revision; caveat, restitution and the inherent powers of the court (Civil Procedure Code and Limitation Act)
• General principles of drafting (Drafting, Pleading and Conveyance)