Gujarat High Court
Judgename :B.J.DIVAN
PITAMBER SHIVLAL - Appellant
Versus
PATEL HARGOVANBHAI AMTHABHAI - Respondent
Civil Revision 166 of 1968
Decided On : 08/17/1971
Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 - Sections 24 (4), 36 and 115 - Provincial Small Cause Courts Act - Section 27 - Revision Application - Transfer of suit - Application has been filed alternatively i. e. in the first instance it is under sec. 115 C. P. C. against the order of the learned Assistant Judge dismissing the appeal and in the alternative it has been prayed that this Civil Revision Application may be treated as one under sec. 25 of the Courts Act - Held, The local limits of his jurisdiction are otherwise fixed and even after the amendment of sec. 28 when the civil Judge invested with Small Cause Court powers under sec. 28 tries any suit he can only do so within his territorial jurisdiction which he otherwise exercises in the exercise of his ordinary powers - In view of this fact the deletion of the words within such local limits as it shall from time to time appoint from sec. 28 by the amending Act of 1958 does not alter the situation so far as the interpretation of sec. 24 (4) C. P. C. is concerned - Ordered accordingly
( 1 ) THE petitioner herein is the original plaintiff and the opponent is the original defendant. The suit out of which this Revision Application arises was filed originally in the Court of the Civil Judge S. D. Mehsana; and it was filed as a Small Cause Suit. By an order of the learned District Judge dated December 6 1965 this particular Small Cause Suit along with several other Small Cause Suits was transferred from the file of the Civil Judge S. D. to the file of the Second Joint Civil Judge J. D. Mehsana. The second Joint Civil Judge J. D. thereafter heard the case and feeling that as he himself had no small cause powers the case should be tried as a Regular Suit he heard it in the regular manner like a Regular Suit and not under the special procedure prescribed for small cause suits. The learned trial Judge dismissed the plaintiffs suit and against that decision there was an appeal to the District Court. The appeal was disposed of by the learned Assistant Judge Mehsana and the learned Judge in the lower Appellate Court held that no appeal lay because of the different provisions of law and particularity in the light of the provisions of sec. 27 of the Provincial Small Cause Courts Act and sec. 24 (4) C. P. C. and he therefore dismissed the appeal as it was not maintainable under sec. 36 C. P C. There after the present Revision Application has been filed against the order dismissing the appeal. I may also point out that the Revision Application has been filed alternatively i. e. in the first instance it is under sec. 115 C. P. C. against the order of the learned Assistant Judge dismissing the appeal and in the alternative it has been prayed that this Civil Revision Application may be treated as one under sec. 25 of the Provincial Small Cause Courts Act.
( 2 ) MR. Zaveri on behalf of the petitioner has contended that the words:- a Court of Small Causes in sec. 24 (4) C. P. C. refer to Court of Small Causes constituted under the Provincial Small Cause Courts Act 1887 and not to a Court exercising the jurisdiction of a Court of Small Causes under the said Act. Sec. 24 C. P. C. enables the District Court of its own motion even without giving notice to the parties or hearing the parties to transfer any suit pending in any Court subordinate to it to another Court subordinate to it. Sub-sec. (4) of sec. 24 provides :-THE Court trying any suit transferred or withdrawn under this section from a Court of Small Causes shall for the purposes of such suit be deemed to be a Court of Small Causes. THE question that I have to consider is whether the Court of the Civil Judge S. D. Mehsana from whom the suit was transferred was a Court of Small Causes for the purposes of sec. 24 (4) because it is only if that Court is deemed to be a Court of Small Causes that the transferee Court i. e. the Court of the Second Joint Civil Judge J. D. would be deemed to be a Court of Small Causes and then by virtue of sec. 27 of the Provincial Small Cause Courts Act the appeal against the decision of the Second Joint Civil Judge J. D. would be barred.
( 3 ) IT appears that there has been a considerable controversy and there have been several decisions as to the exact scope of sec. 24 (4) C. P. C and to the meaning of the words withdrawn from a Court of Small Causes occurring in sec. 24 (4 ). Under sec. 4 of the Act unless there is something repugnant in The subject or context Court of Small Causes means a Court of Small Causes constituted under the Act and includes any person exercising jurisdiction under the Act in any such Court. Apart from the Court 4f Small Causes constituted under the Act that Act also envisages Courts invested by or under any enactment for the time being in force with the jurisdiction of a Court of Small Causes and sec. 33 deals with application of certain provisions of the Provincial Small Cause Courts Act to Courts invested with jurisdiction of a Court of Small Causes. Thus a distinction between a Court constituted under
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