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1974 Supreme(Ker) 119

Judges : P.SUBRAMONIAN POTI,K.K.NARENDRAN
ASPINWALL AND CO.LTD. - Appellant
Versus
SOUDAMINI AMMA - Respondent
Case No : C. R. P. No. 463 of 1973
Decided On : 08/01/1974
Advocates Appeared :
K. A. Nayar; For Petitioner P. C. B. Menon; For Respondents

The main legal point established in the judgment is the determination of the appropriate court-fee and remedy for a suit seeking a mandatory injunction after the termination of a license agreement.

Headnote:

court-fee - Mandatory Injunction - S.30 of the Kerala Court-fees and Suits Valuation Act, 1960 - S.39 of the Specific Relief Act, 1963 - S.7 of the Court Fees Act - [SUMMARY OF ACT SECTIONS]

Fact of the Case:

The plaintiff filed a suit for a mandatory injunction to vacate the premises after the termination of a license agreement. The court-fee paid was contested by the defendants, leading to a preliminary hearing by the learned Munsiff.

Finding of the Court:

The court found that the suit was primarily for a mandatory injunction, and the court-fee paid was sufficient for the relief sought in the plaint. The court set aside the order of the court below and allowed the Civil Revision Petition with costs.

Issues: The main issue was the correctness of the court-fee paid, specifically whether the suit was maintainable as a mandatory injunction or if it should be considered a suit for recovery of possession.

Ratio Decidendi: The court analyzed the nature of possession after the termination of a license agreement and referred to legal precedents to determine the appropriate remedy and court-fee requirements.

Final Decision: The court set aside the order of the court below and allowed the Civil Revision Petition with costs.

Judgment :-

1. The question that arises for consideration in this Civil Revision Petition is one of court-fee. The facts are simple and they lie within a short compass. The plaint schedule property, 35 cents in extent, situated within the Calicut Corporation belonging to the plaintiff-Company, was originally given on licence to Messrs. Dhanalakshmi Corporation as per an indenture dated 22-21966 for storing timber logs. The 2nd defendant was an agent of the said Corporation and he was practically in charge of the activities of the Corporation in the plaint schedule properties. According to the plaintiff, the Dhanalakshmi Corporation left the plaint schedule property on 3131971 and the plaintiff continued to be in exclusive possession of the property. Thereupon, the 1st defendant through the 2nd defendant, who is her husband and duly constituted power of attorney holder, entered into an agreement with the plaintiff to allow the defendants to use the plaint schedule property as a licensee for stacking timber under certain conditions which were subsequently reduced to writing. It is the case of the plaintiff that under the agreement the plaintiff shall have the right to enter upon the premises. The agreement was for one year from 1st April 1971 to 31st March 1972. The case of the plaintiff is that on the expiry of the period of agreement on 3131972 the plaintiff wanted the defendants to vacate the premises within a reasonable time and, according to the plaintiff, the 2nd defendant promised to vacate the premises within one month after the expiry of the licence as there were a number of timber logs remaining in the property and they had to be removed also.

2. As the defendants did not vacate the premises this suit for a mandatory injunction was filed. The defendants in their written statement also raised a contention that the court-fee paid is not correct. An issue on the question of court-fee was framed and that was preliminarily heard by the learned Munsiff. The learned Munsiff came to the conclusion that the court-fee paid is not correct on the ground that the suit is one for recovery of possession also and in that case the plaintiff has to pay court-fee under S.30 of the Kerala Court-fees and Suits Valuation Act, 1960. Accordingly, the plaintiff was directed to file a fresh valuation statement, to amend the plaint and to pay the proper court-fee. It is against the said order of the learned Munsiff dated 28 31973 that the plaintiff has come up in revision.

3. Before us the contention of the counsel for the revision petitioner is that the learned Munsiff ought to have found that the owner of an immovable property on termination of a licence can maintain a suit against his licensee for mandatory injunction directing him to vacate the property without praying for possession since the possession of the licensee cannot in the eye of law exclude the possession of the owner.

4. The learned Munsiff relying on Sisir Kumar v. Susil Kumar (AIR. 1961 Calcutta 229) has come to the conclusion that on the expiry of a licence the licensee is in the position of a trespasser, what is sought is really a prayer for eviction and hence the value of the relief must be the value of the subject matter, namely, the property, and that must be valued as per S.7 of the Act and court-fee must be paid under S.30 of the Act. The learned Munsiff further states that apart from stating that the property is in the plaintiff's possession, the learned counsel for the plaintiff has not offered a satisfactory explanation regarding the fact whether the defendants are not trespassers. According to the learned Munsiff, the suit is one for ejectment of the defendants and the plaintiff has to pay court-fee under S.30 of the Act in addition to the court-fee already paid, i. e. the plaintiff has to value the subject matter of the suit, namely, the plaint schedule property itself, and pay court-fee under S.30 of the Act.

5. The licence is terminated. But the licensee does not lea







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