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1979 Supreme(Cal) 375

High Court Of Calcutta
G. N. RAY
DILIP KUMAR ROY - Appellant
Versus
SANATAN TEWARI - Respondent
C.R. No. 986 of 1979
Decided On : 11/28/1979

Advocates Appeared:
DIPANKAR GHOSAL, NARAYAN CHANDRA DAS

The Full Bench has the power to order a new trial if there was no proper understanding of the evidences for basing a finding required to be made and/or the trial court failed to consider the particular issue involved in the proceeding.

Headnote:

PRESIDENCY SMALL CAUSES COURTS ACT - SECTION 38 - FULL BENCH POWERS - SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS - NEW TRIAL - GROUNDS.

Fact of the Case:

A suit was filed for recovery of arrears of rent. The defendants claimed that the property was required to be registered under the Land Registration Act and as no such registration was effected, the landlord was precluded from realizing rents under Section 78 of the Land Registration Act. The trial court passed a decree for rent as prayed for by the plaintiff-landlords. The defendants filed an application under Section 38 of the Presidency Small Causes Courts Act for a new trial. The Full Bench set aside the judgment of the trial court and sent the matter back on remand for adjudication.

Finding of the Court:

The Full Bench was of the view that there was a dispute that the plaintiff landlords were not entitled to recover arrears of rents for not registering the property under Section 78 of the Land Registration Act, such question was required to be decided by the learned trial Judge after giving the parties proper opportunity of being heard.

Issues: Whether the Full Bench acted illegally and beyond its jurisdiction in setting aside the judgment passed by the trial court when a finding of fact was made by the trial court on consideration of the materials on record.

Ratio Decidendi: The powers to be exercised by a Full Bench under Section 38 of the Presidency Small Causes Courts Act are not the powers of an appellate authority but the powers to be exercised under Section 38 are powers similar to revisional powers under Section 115 of the Code of Civil Procedure. The information slip issued by the Calcutta Collectorate is not a certified copy of a public document. As such, an information slip cannot be held to be a certified copy of a public document under section 78 of the Indian Evidence Act.

Final Decision: The order passed by the Full Bench is set aside and the order of the trial Court is affirmed.

G. N. RAY, J.

( 1 ) THIS Rule is directed against Order dated 17th January, 1979 passed under Section 38 of the Presidency Small Causes Courts Act by the Full Bench, Small Causes Court, Calcutta in Title Suit No. 2673 of 1974 setting aside the judgment passed by the learned Judge, 6th Bench of the said Court. It appears that the petitioners instituted a suit being Suit No. 2673 of 1974 of the 6th Bench of the Calcutta Small Causes Court against the opposite parties for recovery of arrears of rent in respect of premises No. 19e, Shib Sankar Mullick Lane, Calcutta. The plaintiff-petitioners contended that the opposite parties were thika tenants and defaulted in payment of rent since Baisakh 1375 B. S. and the suit was filed for realization of the rent from Agrahayan 1378 B. S. upto Jaistha 1381 B. S. because the other arrears had become barred by limitation at the time of institution of the suit. It appears that in the written statement filed in the said suit by the defendants there was an averment to the effect that the property in question was required to be registered under the Land Registration Act and as no such registration was effected, the landlord was precluded from realizing rents under Section 78 of the Land Registration Act.

( 2 ) IT appears that initially the suit was instituted against the opposite party No. 1 but subsequently the opposite party No. 2 was also impleaded as a party defendant and the trial court on consideration of the facts and circumstances of the case came to the finding that it was the opposite party No. 1 who alone was the tenant and as such the decree for rent as prayed for by the plaintiff petitioners was passed by the learned Judge, Small Causes Court, Calcutta. Against the said decree passed by the learned Judge, Small Causes Court, Calcutta, an application under section 38 of the Presidency Small Causes Courts Act for a new trial was made and on the said application, a Special Bench commonly known as Full Bench was constituted and against the adjudication made by the Full Bench the instant revisional application has been made by the plaintiff petitioners. It appears that the judgment of the trial court was set aside by the impugned order passed by the Full Bench on a finding that since there was a dispute that the plaintiff landlords were not entitled to recover arrears of rents for not registering the property under Section 78 of the Land Registration Act, such question was required to be decided by the learned trial Judge after giving the parties proper opportunity of being heard. It may be stated in this connection that before the Full Bench, an information slip issued by the Office of the Calcutta Collectorate was filed on behalf of the plaintiffs and it appears from the said information slip that the property in question was within Sutanati area of the then City of Calcutta and at the relevant time the property was not required to be registered under Section 78 of the Land Registration Act. The learned Full Bench was of the view that the said information slip could not be held to be a conclusive proof of the fact that the property in question was in the Sutanati area and was not required to be registered. The Full Bench was of the view that opportunities should be given to the parties to adduce proper evidence to establish as to whether the disputed property was within an area wherein registration under section 78 of the Land Registration Act was necessary and whether such registration was made or not. The learned Full Bench after setting aside the judgment of the trial court sent the matter back on remand before the trial Court for adjudication in the light of the observation made in the said judgment of the Full Bench.

( 3 ) MR. Ghosal learned Counsel appearing for the plaintiff petitioners contended before me that the Full Bench acted illegally and beyond its jurisdiction in setting aside the judgment passed by the trial court when a finding of fact was made by the trial court on




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