JUDGMENT

ANIL R. DAVE, J.

1. Leave granted.

2. Being aggrieved by the judgment delivered in Civil Revision Petition No. 5189 of 2001 dated 20th January, 2005 by the High Court of Karnataka, this appeal has been filed by the Government of Kerala & other officials.

3. The facts giving rise to the present litigation, in a nutshell, are as under:

Respondent No. 1 has filed a civil suit, being OS No. 11286 of 1998 in the Court of the Additional City Civil Judge at Mayo Hall in Bangalore. According to respondent no.1, he had been wrongfully detained by the State Authorities and therefore, in the said suit he has prayed that he should be awarded Rs.55,00,000/- as damages with interest thereon at the rate of 18%. As the suit has been filed against the State, he was supposed to give a notice under Section 80 of the Civil Procedure Code, 1908 ( hereinafter referred to as ‘the CPC’) but he had not given the statutory notice under Section 80 of the CPC in accordance with law. In fact, the notice was issued by him on 24th October, 1998 whereas the suit had been filed on 28th October, 1998. At the time of filing the suit, he had not even received acknowledgment from the authority to whom he had issue