JUDGMENT

PRATEEK JALAN, J.

1. By way of this appeal, under Section 96 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 [hereinafter, "CPC"], the appellant-defendant challenges a judgment and decree dated 09.10.2019, passed by the learned Trial Court in CS No. 297/2019, by which a suit filed by the respondent-plaintiff under Order XXXVII of the CPC was decreed in the sum of Rs.16 lakhs, with pendente lite interest and future interest @7% per annum and costs. The defendant also assails an order dated 11.07.2023, by which his application under Order XXXVII Rule 4 of the CPC [wrongly filed under Order IX Rule 13 of CPC] was dismissed.[The parties will be referred to in this judgment by their status in the Trial Court.]

2. The cause of action asserted by the plaintiff in the plaint was that the defendant runs a financial committee, in the course of which he was required to return certain amounts to its members. He requested the plaintiff for financial assistance. Having had cordial relations for a substantial period of time, the plaintiff gave the defendant a loan of Rs.16 lakhs on 29.08.2014, against which the defendant issued a post-dated cheque of the same amount dated 25.02.2018. At the request of