J.B. PARDIWALA, J.

1. This First Appeal under Section 96 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 is at the instance of the original plaintiff and is directed against the judgment and order passed by the additional Senior Civil Judge, Morbi dated 26th July, 2017 below Exhibit : 23 in Special Civil Suit No. 23 of 2016.

2. The facts giving rise to this First Appeal may be summarised as under:

2.1 The appellant herein - original plaintiff filed a special civil suit against the respondent herein - original defendant for recovery of the outstanding amount to the tune of Rs. 11,26,104/- with interest. The relief prayed for in the special civil suit filed by the plaintiff is as under:

"1. The plaintiff has right to claim outstanding amount Rs. 11,26,104/- as per the various goods purchased by the defendants, so plaintiff urge before the Hon'ble Court to pass an order and decree against defendant to pay the outstanding amount with interest.

2. On adjudication of right to receive the amount which was paid as per the invoice and same entitled to receive from the defendant at 12% interest from May, 2013 till the date of payment.

3. The costs of this suit be awarded to plaintiff."

2.2 The suit came to be filed on 19th April, 2016. On the very same day and date, the plaintiff preferred an application under Section 149 of the C.P.C. for grant of time for payment of the requisite court fees. The application is extracted under:

"Before the Hon'ble Principal

Senior Civil Judge at Morbi.

Special Civil Suit No. 23/2016.

The above named plaintiff most respectfully submit that:

We have filed Special Civil Suit for recovery of money and hence we have to produce court fee stamp of Rs. 26,350.00, but due to unavoidable reasons, we could not produce the same. Hence, we request you to grant 30 days time for production of Court Fees Stamp Paper.

Ravani Ceramics

sd/-

Ravani Ceramics Wankaner."

Place : Morbi.

Date : 19/04/2016.

2.3 The Civil Court on the aforenoted application passed an order which reads as under:

"15 days time granted in the interest of justice."

2.4 It appears that although time was granted to the plaintiff herein for payment of the requisite court fees, yet the court fees was not paid and in such circumstances, the defendant preferred an application Exhibit : 13 to dismiss the suit. The Trial Court treated the application Exhibit : 13 filed by the defendant to be one for rejection of plaint under the provisions of Order 7 Rule 11(c) of the C.P.C.

2.5 On 19th July, 2017, the plaintiff herein filed his reply Exhibit : 14 to the application filed by the defendant Exhibit : 13 for dismissing the suit for non-payment of the court fees. The reply of the plaintiff Exhibit : 14 is extracted hereunder:

"Subject: Objections against the application filed by the defendant to reject the suit in case of non-payment of required court fees.

It is submitted by the Advocate for the plaintiff to consider the objections against the application filed by the defendant to reject the suit in case of non-payment of Court Fees.

(1) Plaintiff has filed the suit to recover the dues of Rs. 11,26,104/- from the respondent. In this case, it is required to pay Court Fees of Rs. 26,350/-.

(2) In this case, plaintiff has not paid the Court fees of Rs. 26,350/- due to bona-fide mistake. Plaintiff had no intention not to pay Court Fees or to misuse the judicial process. Today, plaintiff has filed an application to grant permission to produce the Court Fee Stamp of Rs. 26,350/-.

(3) It is not true that plaintiff has falsely obtained the Order by falsely filing the suit within the limitation period, and by using vague words because, plaintiff was not able to file the suit due to not having the Court Fees. In this case, plaintiff has failed to produce the Court Fee Stamps due to bona-fide mistake.

(4) In this case, if the suit is rejected due to non-payment of court fee stamp due to bona-fide mistake, it will cause grave damage to the plaintiff. In this case, defendant has filed the reply and i