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1937 Supreme(Cal) 352
CALCUTTA HIGH COURT
Costello, Acting C.J., Edgley, J.
Bhagawan Dayal Sahu - Appellant
Versus
Chandulal & Ors. - Respondent
Decided On : 14-07-1937
The central legal point established in the judgment is the requirement for the Act to be in force in the relevant district for the Debt Settlement Board's notice to be effective, and the authority of the Subordinate Judge to refuse recognition of the notice under Section 115, Civil P.C.
Headnote:
Government of India Act, 1935 - Application u/s 224 - Section 115, Civil P.C. - Bengal Agricultural Debtors Act, 1935 - Sections 34, 2(9), 8(1) - Act 7 of 1936 - Jurisdiction of Court and Debt Settlement Board
Fact of the Case:
The court considered an application challenging an order refusing to stay a suit under Section 224, Government of India Act, 1935 and Section 115, Civil P.C. The suit involved a dispute over a sum of Rs. 26,855-15-0 and a notice was sent by the Debt Settlement Board of Parbatipore to stay the suit based on the Bengal Agricultural Debtors Act, 1935.
Finding of the Court:
The court found that the Debt Settlement Board's notice was not effective as the Act had not been brought into force in the Darjeeling District. The court also held that the Act did not apply to the legal proceedings and that the Subordinate Judge was correct in refusing to recognize the notice as being effective.
Issues: The issues involved the jurisdiction of the Debt Settlement Board, the applicability of the Bengal Agricultural Debtors Act, 1935, and the authority of the Subordinate Judge to stay the suit.
Ratio Decidendi: The court's decision was based on the interpretation of the provisions of the Bengal Agricultural Debtors Act, 1935, and Act 7 of 1936, and the determination that the Act had not been brought into force in the Darjeeling District.
Final Decision: The court discharged the Rule with costs, holding that the Act was not in force in the Darjeeling District and that the notice from the Debt Settlement Board was not effective. The court also affirmed the Subordinate Judge's decision and refused to interfere with it under Section 115, Civil P.C.
JUDGMENT
Costello, Ag. C.J.
1. This is an application challenging an order made by the Subordinate Judge of Darjeeling on 29th May 1937. The matter is intituled as an application u/s 224, Government of India Act, 1936 and Section 115, Civil P.C. As regards that, we desire to say at the outset that although Section 224, Government of India Act, 1935 (not 1936 as stated) contains in effect a reproduction of the terms of Section 107 of the previous Government of India Act, it also contains a Proviso which makes it clear that Section 224 has no application of itself to legal proceedings at all. It follows therefore that if any relief is to be obtained in revision, it must be obtained u/s 115, Civil P.C., or not at all.
2. The order complained of was one refusing to stay a suit which has been started by a number of persons of the name of Shaha in the Court, of the Subordinate Judge of Darjeeling against a number of persons by the name of Agarwalla. All the plaintiffs and originally all the defendants, so we are told, resided and carried on business at Kurseong in the District of ' Darjeeling. The suit was one for the recovery of a sum of Rs. 26,855-15-0. It was instituted as long ago as 16th November 1935 and pursued its ordinary course until 3rd May 1937 when the defendants prayed for time to compromise and succeeded in getting an adjournment until 31st May 1937 and it was then intimated that no further time would be granted. It seems that one of the defendants Bhagawan Dayal, who is the petitioner before us, had quarrelled with his co-sharers, the other defendants, and was no longer in alliance with them. It appears that he went off and claimed to reside at Maldah and on that basis presumably he made an application on 25th May 1937 under the provisions of the Bengal Agricultural Debtors Act, 1935, to a Board established under the provisions of the Act at Parbatipore, claiming apparently that he was a debtor within the meaning of the Act, and so entitled to the benefit of the Act-despite the fact that the amount which had been claimed in the suit in the Court of the Subordinate Judge of Darjeeling was a sum of over Rs. 26,000. The Chairman of the Board forthwith, and as it seems without the matter being formally brought before the Board at all, on the very same day by a letter of that date, namely 25th May 1937 sent a notice to the Subordinate Judge of Darjeeling requiring under the provisions of Section 34 of the Act a stay of the suit then pending in that Judge's Court. Thereupon this remarkable situation arose that an Agricultural Board was being invited to take and indeed was already taking (by its Chairman) action which had the effect of holding up a suit involving a claim to over Rs. 26,000 solely upon the ex parte statement of one of the defendants that he was a "debtor" within the meaning of the Act. On 29th May 1937 the notice which had been served upon the Subordinate Judge of Darjeeling by means of the letter of 25th May 1937 was considered by the Subordinate Judge, and we find that the order recorded on that date begins thus:
Received notices u/s 34, Bengal Agricultural Debtors Act, 1936 from the President, Parbatipore Debt Settlement Board, District Maldah, for 'stoppage' (quoting the words of the section obviously) of this suit.
3. The learned Judge refused to consider himself bound by that notice on several grounds the first of which was that the defendants were not debtors within the meaning of Section 2 (9). The learned Judge stated:
From the notice, it does not appear if all the defendants joined in the petition to Debt Settlement Board u/s 9 of the Act.
4. Lastly
As the defendants do not ordinarily reside in Maldah, the Debt Settlement Board of Parbatipore has no jurisdiction regarding the debts in suit, u/s 8 (1) of the Act.
5. It is to be observed that although the alleged debt was as much as Rs. 26,000, it yet does not seem open to the Court to decide or even consider whether the debtor comes within the Act or whet
