Rajasthan High Court, Jaipur Bench
Sharma, J.
Gangabux - Appellant
Versus
Ayodhyaprasad - Respondents
Civil Revision No. 178 of 1952
Decided On : March 22, 1954
Where the court has no jurisdiction in the suit as originally valued but the plaintiff puts in an amendment relinquishing part of his claim and thus bringing it within the jurisdiction of the court it was held that such an amendment could not be allowed and the plaint must be rejected.
2. No objection was taken on the ground of jurisdiction in the written statement, but the defendant took an objection on the 1st of May, 1951, that the suit was beyond the pecuniary jurisdiction of the court. After this date, the plaintiff filed an application on the 13th of August, 1951, stating that he abandoned the claim to the extent of Rs. 120/- and that he might be permitted to value his suit at Rs. 2000/- only. The learned Munsif did not pass any separate order on this application of the plaintiff, but after hearing the parties on the point of jurisdiction, ordered the plaint to be returned for presentation to the proper court.
3. Against the above order of the learned Munsif, the plaintiff appellant went in appeal to the court of the District Judge, Jaipur District, but his appeal was dismissed. The plaintiff has now come in revision to this Court.
4. I have heard the arguments of Mr. D.M. Bhandari on behalf of the applicant and Mr. G.G. Kasliwal on behalf of the opposite party. Mr. Bhandari was unable to produce any ruling which might directly be favourable to the plaintiff in this case. However, he relied upon a ruling of Bombay High Court in the case of Mahant Narsidasji Balmukanddasji and others vs. Bai Jamna (1) (AIR, 1939 Bom. 354.), in which it was held that: —
"Prima facie, Order 7, Rule 11 is mandatory only rebus sic stantibus, that is to say, when the court has to deal simply with the position referred to in the Rule and would not preclude an amendment of the plaint which under Order 6, Rule 17 may be made at any stage of the proceedings".
In that case the plaint was insufficiently stamped and the plaintiff was ordered to pay court fee at Rs. 42,000/- and a fortnight was given for the payment of the deficiency. Subsequently, time was extended by a month and then another week. In the meantime, the plaintiff made an application for amending the plaint by dropping the prayer for future maintenance, and this was allowed. In view of the dropping of the prayer for future maintenance, the valuation of the suit was reduced to such an extent that the court fee already paid was sufficient. The case was then disposed of on merits. In appeal it was contended on behalf of the defendant that the provisions of Order 7, Rule 11 of the Civil Procedure Code were mandatory and the plaint ought to have been rejected when the court fee was not paid within time allowed and the plaint ought not to have been amended. It was held that the language of the rule did not preclude an amendment of the plaint which under Order 6, Rule 17 of the Civil Procedure Code could be made at any stage of proceedings. To my mind this ruling does not apply to the facts of the present case. In that case no question of jurisdiction was involved and the same court had a jurisdiction in the case after the amendment as well as without the amendment. In the present case the court had no jurisdiction in the suit as originally valued and it could have jurisdiction only after the amendments were allowed. On behalf of the opposite party my attention has been drawn to the judgments of Allahabad and Madras High Courts in the case of Tirkha vs. Ghasi Ram (2) (AIR, 1935 All. 842.), and Very Motyalamma alias Murtyalu and others vs. Dasary Narayanaswamy and others (3) (AIR, 1949 Mad. 719.). In the Allahabad case, the suit was valued at Rs. 553/8/- and was filed in the court of Small Causes, the pecuniary jurisdiction of which did not exceed Rs.500/-. An objection was taken i
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