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2019 Supreme(J&K) 474

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JAMMU AND KASHMIR AT SRINAGAR
Tashi Rabstan, J.
Shiraz Dar - Appellants
Vs.
Mohammad Ashraf Bhat - Respondent
OWP No. 467/2019 and MP No. 01/2017
Decided On : 10-05-2019

Advocates Appeared:
For the Appellant :M. Sultan, Advocate
For the Respondents:F.A. Wani, Advocate

Headnote:

Constitution of India,1950 - Article 226 and 227 - Constitution of State of J&K - Section 104 - Civil Procedure Code (Amendment) Act, 1999 - Section 115 – Seeks quashment -Grant Of Liberty - Granting Petitioner Liberty - Genuineness Of Defence - He moved an application seeking leave to defend suit on basis of averments made in application - Learned Trial Court vide order disposed of aforesaid application granting petitioner liberty to defend suit subject to depositing an amount in Court or in alternative pay or deposit cash security in shape of bank guarantee within a period days failing which court said that it would be deemed that defendant (petitioner herein) has no defence to defend suit - It is this order of which petitioner is aggrieved and seeks quashment thereof on grounds tailored in petition in hand – Held, Trial Court has rightly placed reliance on judgment rendered by a Three-Judge Bench of Supreme Court Engineers & Manufacturers Basic Equipment Corporation reported in AIR SC in which it was taken note of that could High Court interfere with discretion of Trial Court in granting unconditional leave to defend upon grounds which even on perusal of order of High Court shows to be reasonable - Supreme Court also discussed law laid down by it SC as Distillery that whenever a defence raised a really triable issue leave must be given - Supreme Court quoted principles applicable to cases covered by Order XXXVII CPC in various propositions laid down by it (1945) 49 Cal WN 246 - Some of propositions laid down by Supreme Court are that if defendant satisfies Court that he has a good defence to claim on its merits plaintiff is not entitled to leave to sign judgment and defendant is entitled to unconditional leave to defend; if defendant raises triable issue indicating that he has a fair or bona fide or reasonable good defence – Petition Is Accordingly Dismissed.

ORDER :

Tashi Rabstan, J.

1. Petitioner's case is that a civil suit under Order XXXVII of the Code of Civil Procedure for recovery of an amount of Rs. 12.00 Lacs has been filed by the plaintiff (respondent herein) before the court of learned Additional District Judge, Srinagar (for short "TRIAL COURT") against him.

2. The petitioner-defendant states that he moved an application seeking leave to defend the suit on the basis of the averments made in the application. Learned Trial Court vide order dated 25.02.2019 disposed of aforesaid application, granting petitioner liberty to defend the suit subject to depositing an amount of Rs. 6.00 lacs in the Court or in alternative pay or deposit cash security of Rs. 6.00 lacs in the shape of bank guarantee within a period of 30 days, failing which, the court said, that it would be deemed that the defendant (petitioner herein) has no defence to defend the suit. It is this order, of which petitioner is aggrieved and seeks quashment thereof on the grounds tailored in the petition in hand.

3. Application, moved by the petitioner seeking liberty to defend the suit, has been filed on the ground that the repayment of the money had been effected partly in cash and partly by remitting the money through transfer in the account of the plaintiff (respondent herein), as such, petitioner had prayed for grant of liberty without any condition. It is stated that the suit filed before learned Trial Court is based on four cheques, being bill of exchange; the initial presumption is taken about the genuineness of the claim, unless the Court grants leave to defend the suit after deriving satisfaction about the genuineness of the defence. It is further submitted that neither is initial presumption available to genuineness of the claim nor is the power available to the court below to put the defendant-petitioner herein to the condition while granting liberty to defend the suit. Therefore, the learned Trial Judge failed to sustain the objections that the jurisdiction in terms of Order XXXVII CPC is not available to the plaintiff-respondent herein. Learned counsel for petitioner relied upon the judgment of the Apex Court passed in State Bank of Hyderabad v. RABO Bank reported in (2015) 10 SCC 521.

4. Learned counsel for the respondent has resisted the contention raised by the petitioner and defended the order impugned by saying that the learned Trial Court has rightly put the condition in the order impugned.

5. Heard learned counsel for the parties and considered the matter.

6. Learned counsel for the respondent has placed on record a certified copy of application filed by the petitioner before the learned Trial court with a prayer to grant extension of time for submitting bank guarantee of cash security to the tune of Rs. 6.00 lac in order to avail defense in the case and the trial court accordingly vide order dated 23.03.2019 granted 15 days' time to do the needful. Petitioner again approached learned Trial Court by filing another application seeking grant of further time in raising the security as the time granted earlier, according to him, was not sufficient. The Trial court vide order dated 11.4.2019 put the same on 29.04.2019.

7. Perusal of the application and certified copies of the Trial court orders passed on different dates on the applications moved by the petitioner, reveals that the petitioner was willing to comply the impugned order, therefore, he approached the learned Trial court for extension of time. However, filing of present petition shows that the petitioner has taken U-turn only to delay the proceedings before the Trial court.

8. Before deciding the controversy emanating from present petition, the question which arises for consideration is whether the petition filed under Section 104 of the Constitution of State of J&K is maintainable. The fact that the High Courts have powers under Article 226 and 227 of the Constitution of India, is undisputed, but care is to be taken when the same is warranted to b

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