s 25 Transfer of proceedings to General Division of High Court
25.—(1) If, at any stage in any civil proceedings in a State Court to which the Government is a party, an application is made by the Government to the General Division of the High Court by reason that the proceedings may involve an important question of law or may be decisive of other cases arising in the same matter or that it is otherwise desirable in the public interest or for any other reason that such proceedings should be transferred to the General Division of the High Court, and there is produced to the General Division of the High Court a certificate of the Attorney‑General to that effect, the General Division of the High Court shall order the proceedings to be transferred to the General Division of the High Court.[17/2005; 5/2014; 40/2019] (2) Notwithstanding subsection (1), if it appears to the General Division of the High Court that the removal of the proceedings in accordance with that subsection is likely to occasion substantial additional expenses to any party to the proceedings other than the Government, the General Division of the High Court may refuse to grant the application unless the Government enters into an undertaking that it will, on or before such date as the General Division of the High Court may specify, pay to such other party such sum of money as, in the opinion of the General Division of the High Court, is necessary to cover the additional expense likely to be so occasioned to such party. The amount of such sum of money shall be ascertained in such manner as the General Division of the High Court may direct.[40/2019] (3) If, upon the assessment of the costs of the proceedings, it appears to the General Division of the High Court or the Registrar that such sum of money was greater or less than the additional expense actually incurred by the party, the General Division of the High Court or the Registrar may in its or his discretion order that the amount of the excess or the deficiency, as the case may be, should be repaid by the party to the Government or paid by the Government to the party respectively, and any such amount shall be recoverable as if it were costs awarded in such proceedings to the party entitled to receive the same, but subject as aforesaid no sum or any part thereof paid by the Government in accordance with such undertaking shall be recoverable by the Government as costs or otherwise whatever the event of the proceedings.[40/2019] [Act 25 of 2021 wef 01/04/2022]