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1916 Supreme(Cal) 400

CALCUTTA HIGH COURT
Richardson, J., N.M. Chatterjea, J.
Maharaj Kumar Shoshi Kanta Acharji Chowdhury Bahadur - Appellant
Versus
Raja Sarat Chandra Roy Chowdhury - Respondent
Decided On : 12-07-1916

Headnote:

Construction - Decree - Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 - Section 47 - Ambiguity - Amendment - Execution - Decree must be executed as it stands

Fact of the Case:

The respondent obtained a decree against the appellant's predecessor, which was confirmed by the Privy Council. The decree related to a land dispute, and the respondent was awarded a portion of the land based on a Revenue Survey Map of 1848. The dispute arose regarding the interpretation of the decree, specifically whether the variation between the magnetic north and the true north should be considered in determining the boundaries.

Finding of the Court:

The court found that the decree was not ambiguous and that it adopted the amin's map as it stood. The court held that the decree could not be construed to include a direction to correct the amin's map for the variation between the magnetic north and the true north. The court further held that the issue was not one of construction but of amendment, and that the decree must be executed as it stands.

Issues: The main issue was whether the decree should be construed to include a direction to correct the amin's map for the variation between the magnetic north and the true north, or whether the decree should be executed as it stands, adopting the amin's map without correction.

Ratio Decidendi: The court held that a decree must be executed as it stands, unless it is ambiguous. If the language of the decree is plain and unambiguous, the proper remedy for a variance between the decree and the judgment is to apply for amendment of the decree. The court further held that the decree in this case was not ambiguous and that the respondent's request to correct the amin's map amounted to a request for amendment, not construction.

Final Decision: The appeal was allowed, the order of the Subordinate Judge was set aside, and the decree was to be executed as it stands.

JUDGMENT

1. This appeal is from a determination of the Court below contained in a judgment, dated the 5th April 1916, upon a question raised u/s 47 of the Code in regard to the construction of a decree.

2. The decree (dated the 27th March 1905) was obtained by the respondent Raja Sarat Chandra Roy against Raja Surja Kanta Acharjya, the predecessor of the appellant, Raja Sashi Kumar Acharjya. There was an appeal to this Court which was dismissed on the 22nd May 1908. A further appeal to the Privy Council was also dismissed on the 20th July 1914 Surja Kanta Acharjya v. Sarat Chandra Roy Chowdhwy 25 Ind. Cas. 309 : 18 C.W.N. 1281 : 20 C.L.J. 563 : 16 M.L.T. 290 : 27 M.L.J. 365 : 1 L.W. 807 : (1914) M.W.N. 757 : 16 BL.R. 925 (P.C.). The result was that the decree of the first Court stood con firmed without modification.

3. The suit related to a considerable area of land in the possession of the appellant which the respondent claimed as part of an estate which he had purchased at a sale held for arrears of revenue. The respondents success was not complete but partial. It was held that he was entitled to so much of the land as fell within the boundaries of his estate as shown in a Revenue Survey Map of 1848. This is plain from the judgment delivered and is not disputed. There is also no dispute as to the tri-junction point or the starting point which a surveyor, demarcating the boundaries in the locality, would commence his measurement. It is agreed that this point was conclusively fixed by the Trial Judge. The present dispute arises in this way. A map prepared by an amin who had made a local enquiry under the direction of the Trial Court, purports to show the boundaries according to the Revenue Survey Map. The decree at first sight, at any rate adopts the amin's map. Towards the close of his judgment, however, the learned Subordinate Judge referred to the variation between the magnetic north and the true north. The amin apparently had made no allowance, for such variation and the point at issue is whether the respondent is entitled to have the variation taken into account for the purpose of the delivery of possession or whether under the terms of the decree he is bound by the amin's map. The point is not touched upon in the judgments of this Court and the Privy Council.

4. The words of the decree a re as follow:

It is ordered that this suit be partially decreed, that the plaintiff's right be declared to so much of the disputed lands as falls within the boundary lines of the Revenue Survey Map of 1848 of Mouza Nij Shampur Paharpur comprsed in Mahal 218 of the Touzi of the Mohall? Collectorate, laid down in the amin's map.

5. The original decree is in Bengali but with every respect for the learned Subordinate Judge, there is at any rate no patent ambiguity either in the original or in the translation. The Bengali expression (Amincr Naksha Ankila), which represents the words "faid down in the amin's map," refers, as clearly as those words do, to the boundary lines of the Survey map. According to the grammatical sense the boundary lines of the Survey map are taken to be those la d down or shown in the Amin's map. The meaning is not the boundary lines of; the Snrvey map of the village of which the amin has made a part from the language such a reference to the amin's map would be entirely useless. What is called the ordinary portion of the judgment, which is in English, put? the meaning beyond doubt. The words there are; "It is ordered that these five suit are partially decked in this way that the plaintiffs' right to the portions of the disputed tends shown in the amin's maps as falling within the boundary lines piven in the Revenue Survey Maps of 1848 of the Mouzas in questions." be declared as appertaining to his zemindari "The decree, therefore, as already stated, on the face of it adopts the amin's man and if it were not for the passage on the judgment which creates the differently, there would be no room at all for discussion.

6. As the d

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