SupremeToday Landscape Ad
Back
Next
Judicial Analysis Court Copy Headnote Facts Arguments Court observation
Listen Audio Icon Pause Audio Icon
judgment-img

1993 Supreme(Mad) 362

High Court of Judicature at Madras
THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE ALI MOHAMED & THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE MISHRA
Ramchander Laxminarayanan Karva - Appellant
Versus
Jaganath Khubchand Karva and Anr - Respondents
O.S. Appeal No. 196 of 1988
Decided On : 15 July 1993

Appearing Advocates: U.N.R. Rao, C. Daniel, Thambusamy

Judgment :-

A learned single Judge of this Court has revoked the leave granted to the Appellant herein to sue the Defendants/Respondents under Clause 12 of the Letters Patent of this Court and ordered return of the plaint to the Appellant herein for being presented before the Court of competent jurisdiction. Revocation, it is not in dispute, was sought for on the ground that the entire cause of action arose in the State of Andhra Pradesh and that the Defendants would be put to loss, hardship and difficulty if they had to defend the suit is this Court. The first contention, however, has been rejected by the learned single Judge on the basis of a statement in the plaint that the parties had entered into a compromise within the original side territorial jurisdiction of this court, has accepted the second contention to hold that on principles when convenience of the parties is taken into account, to would be appropriate to revoke the leave to sue the Defendants in this court. The judgment of the Calcuta High Court in the case of BIHAR STATE AGRO INDUSTRIES DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION vs. RAM CHAND KHOSLA 1982 AIR(Cal) 537) and some other cases on the subject have been cited in the judgment on the doctrine of 'forum of convenience; and it can be said with certainity that the learned single Judge was not unaware of the principle that the court will ordinarily take into consideration the balance of convenience and may if the balance is definitely in favour of the defendant, apply the doctrine of 'forum of convenience; The Calcutta judgment cited supra is one in which, the court took notice of the transaction out of which the claim had arisen to have taken place at Patna -the place of business out of the defendant firm and the relevant documents relating to the contract and the transactions all being at Patna the defendants being at Patna and then said if the suit is tried in this court, all the said documents and witness will have to be produced before this Court apart from the great inconvenience that will be caused to the appellant, it will have to incur enormous expenses considering the respective advantages and disadvantage of the parties, it appears to us that in the facts and circumstances it is in favour of this being tried by a court in Patna. A Bench of this Court in the case of K. MURUGESAN v, SEETHALAKSHMI (19992-I-L.W.277) indicated while considering an appeal refusing to revoke the leave granted to sure in this Court, that if not but the part to the cause of action has arisen within the jurisdiction of this Court and without traversing the facts leading to the transactions within the territorial jurisdiction of court, it will not be possible to grant any relief and decide the issues of facts and law, the leave which has already been granted should not be revoked. Speaking, however, specifically on the doctrine of 'forum of convenience; a Bench of this court in the case of TUTICORIN ALKALI CHEMICALS AND FERTILIZERS LTD.v.M/s. COCHIN SILICATE & GLASS INDUSTRIES (1992II MLJ 376) said as follows:

"The principle of balance of convenience, which is an extension of the doctrine 'forum convenient' has been considered in a judgment of this Court in Seshatri Row v. Nawab Ka Askur Jung Aftal Dowlah Mushral Mulk, . It has been observed in the said judgment:

Having regard to the wording of Art.12, it is clear that the facts that the cause of action arises in part within the local limits is not conclusive, and that, notwithunderstanding that the cause of action arises in part within the local limits, the court may decline to give leave to sue"

" As regards the law of this country, so far as we aware. it has never been held that the question of convenience is not a question which may be taken into consideration in dealing with applications under Clause 12, and we are certainly not prepared to hold that this question should be excluded from consideration".

This view has been reiterated in several judgments of the courts having original jurisdic









Click Here to Read the rest of this document
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
SupremeToday Portrait Ad
supreme today icon
logo-black

An indispensable Tool for Legal Professionals, Endorsed by Various High Court and Judicial Officers

Please visit our Training & Support
Center or Contact Us for assistance

qr

Scan Me!

India’s Legal research and Law Firm App, Download now!

For Daily Legal Updates, Join us on :

whatsapp-icon Back to top