JUDGMENT - B.N. SRIKRISHNA, J.:---This is a husband's petition under section 18 read with section 19 of the Indian Divorce Act, 1869, seeking a declaration and decree of nullity of the marriage between the petitioner and the respondent solemnised on 19th January, 1986. The parties are both Christians domiciled in India and their marriage was solemnised in accordance with the Christian Rites.

2. The case made out in the petition is broadly that the consent of the petitioner to the marriage had been obtained by concealment of vital facts. The details of the allegations made in the petition are not very relevant as I am of the view that this Court would have no jurisdiction to entertain the petition for the reasons which are set out hereinafter.

3. When the petition was called out, though that petition had been duly served on the respondent-wife, no one appeared for the respondent. It is, however, seen from the averments in para 15 of the petition that the petitioner and the respondent had last resided at Vasai in District Thane and that the cause of action had arisen in Vasai. On the basis of these averments I was prima facie of the view that this petition could not be entertained by the High Court in exercise of its original jurisdiction and I, therefore, called upon Mr. Wasavada, learned Counsel for the petitioner, to satisfy me on this question.

4. Mr. Wasavada strenuously urged that the petition had been presented invoking, not any one of the four specific grounds in section 19, but the provisions of section 18 read with the residuary petition of section 19. Section 18 reads as under---

"Section l8 : Petition for decree of nullity---Any husband or wife may present a petition to the District Court or to the High Court, praying that his or her marriage may be declared null and void."

Section 19 reads as under---

Section 19: "Grounds of decree---Such decree may be made on any of the following grounds:

(1) That the respondent was impotent at the time of the marriage and at the time of the institution of the suit;

(2) that the parties are within the prohibited degrees of consanguinity (whether natural or legal) or affinity;

(3) that either party was a lunatic or idiot at the time of the marriage;

(4) that the former husband or wife of either party was living at the time of marriage, and the marriage with such former husband or wife was then in force.

Nothing in this section shall affect the jurisdiction of the High Court to make decrees of nullity of marriage on the ground that the consent of either party was obtained by force or fraud".

5. Section 18 of the Act provides that a husband or wife may present a petition to the District Court or "High Court" praying that his or her marriage be declared null and void. After having set out four specific grounds for annulling a marriage by a ' decree of nullity, section 19 declares that nothing in this section shall affect the jurisdiction of the "High Court' to make decrees of nullity of marriage on the ground that the consent of either party was obtained by force of fraud. The expression "High Court" has been defined in section 3(1) of the Act Section 3(1) reads as under---

Section 3(1)---"High Court" means with reference to any area---

(a) in a State, the High Court for that State;

(b) .........

(bb) .........

(c) .........

(d) .........

(e) .........

(ee).........

and in the case of any petition under this Act, "High Court" means the High Court, for the area where the husband and wife reside or last resided together.

The question as to the interpretation of the expression "High Court for the area" was considered by the Division Bench of our High Court in the case of (Dnyaneshwar Sitaram Soholkar v. Surekha Dnyaneshwar Soholkar)1, A.I.R. 1984 Bom. 310. A detailed discussion of this authority would be done at a subsequent stage.

6. Mr. Wasavada urged that the expression "High Court" would mean the High Court which has jurisdiction over any area where the parties last resided together and that

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