The value of the subject matter of the suit for determining the jurisdiction of the court is the value of the claim made by the plaintiff in the plaint and not the value of the counterclaim made by the defendant in the written statement.

JUDGMENT:- The question in this S.R. Number is as to the correct forum for the appeal filed by the defendant in the suit. I have heard the arguments of the learned counsel for the appellant and those of Mr. G.R. Lakshmanan, appointed as an amicus curiae, and I am thankful to Mr. Lakshmanan for bringing to my notice the several decisions which have a bearing on the question to be decided.

2. The suit arose out of a dispute between the parties in the implementation of an agreement for sale. The plaintiff was the intending purchaser and the defendant, the seller. The plaintiff filed the suit claiming a sum of Rs. 9000 as damages on the averment that the defendant had committed breach of contract. The defendant contended in his written statement that the breach was committed only by the plaintiff and not by him and that therefore the plaintiff should be non-suited. Further he made a counter-claim of a sum of Rs. 4000 odd made up of Rupees 1500 as damages and Rs. 2500 odd as unpaid purchase money. The Court below held that it was the defendant who committed breach of contract. It further held that the plaintiff was entitled to damages, but restricted the quantum to the sum of Rs. 6000. On the above finding, the defendant's claim for damages of Rs. 1500 by way of counter-claim naturally stood negatived. As far as the remaining part of the counter-claim namely,

regarding the unpaid purchase money, the court below said that the defendant was entitled to only a sum of Rs. 700 odd from the plaintiff. Now the defendant has filed this appeal in this court whose value is given as Rs. 8600.

3. The Office returned the appeal memo stating that the value of the suit being only Rs. 9000, under Section 15 of the City Civil Court Act, the appeal lay to the Principal Judge, City Civil Court, and not to this Court. The learned counsel for the appellant did not agree and therefore the matter has been placed before court.

4. The contention of the learned counsel for the appellant is that as per Section 15 of the City Civil Court Act, the value of the subject-matter of the suit determines the forum and in the present case the value of the subject-matter of the suit must be taken to be not only the sum of Rs. 9000 claimed by the plaintiff but also the sum of Rs. 4000 odd claimed by the defendant by way of counter-claim. Thus according to him the value of the subject-matter of the suit is over Rs. 13000. If the contention of the learned counsel in this regard is right, then the appeal should lie to this court, for the relevant section in the City Civil Court Act says that where the value of the subject-matter of the suit exceeds Rs. 10,000, the appeal shall be to this court.

5. After hearing the learned counsel and Mr. Lakshmanan (amicus curiae), I am satisfied that the value of the subject-matter contemplated in Section 15 of the City Civil Court Act cannot possibly take in the value of the counter claim made in the written statement. Only the value given by the plaintiff in respect of his claim in the plaint is the value of the subject-matter of the suit. The counter-claim is really an independent claim. Though on equitable principles the defendant is not driven to a separate suit but allowed to make his claim in the suit filed by the plaintiff. That the counter-claim is in the nature of an independent suit as has been recognised in several decisions. In Laxmidas v. Nanabhai AIR 1964 SC 11, what happened is this. In a suit by the plaintiff, the defendant made a counter-claim. The trial court converted the counter-claim into a separate cross suit. The Supreme Court held that the procedure adopted by the trial court was proper. This is on the basis that the counter-claim is an independent action.

6. In Saraswathiswami v. Sivaramamurthi AIR 1949 Mad 630, the question arose in a different form. The plaintiff filed the suit on the Original Side of this court. The defendant made a counter-claim. But the cause of action for the counter-claim had not aris