According to the petitioner, the respondents filed O.S.No.19 of 2004 before the Additional District Munsif, Cuddalore against the petitioner for declaration of title and permanent injunction. The petitioner filed counter claim. By a common judgment and decree dated 13.8.2013, the suit was decreed and the counter claim was dismissed. The petitioner has filed A.S.No.53 of 2013 challenging the judgment and decree in counter claim and A.S.No.54 of 2013 against the judgment and decree in the suit. Both the appeals were partly allowed. As against the Judgment and decree passed in A.S.No.53 of 2013, the petitioner has filed the Second Appeal before this Court. Since the petitioner failed to get the certified copy of the decree in A.S.No.53 of 2013, the petitioner has filed the present petition to dispense with the filing of the certified copy of the decree passed in A.S.No.53 of 2013.

2. The learned counsel for the petitioner relied upon the decision rendered by the Division Bench of this Court in A.S.SR No.7543 of 2016 and M.P.SR No.7545 of 2016, dated 4.2.2016 wherein the Division Bench of this Court considered the maintainability of the appeal filed for numbering the appeal under Order XLI Rule 1 of C.P.C. The relevant portion of the order reads as follows:

''4. On a perusal of the Order XLI Rule 1, as quoted above, it is evident that the decree of the Court below is not a mandatory document to be annexed with the appeal papers and, therefore, the documents submitted by the learned counsel for the appellant is in accordance with the said provision of law and, therefore, the objection raised by the Registry cannot be sustained.''

3. According to the petitioner/appellant, as per the provisions of the Code, Memorandum of Grounds shall be accompanied by a copy of the Judgment. Hence, the Registry cannot insist upon filing the certified copy of decree in the appeal, by virtue of Code of Civil Procedure (Amendment) Act 46 of 1999, dated 1.7.2002.

4. There is a difference of opinion in the Bar, whether certified copy of the decree is a mandatory document for filing an appeal or the same shall be dispensed with for the present by the Court for numbering the appeal. This Court has requested the learned Advocate General Mr. R. Muthukumarasamy to assist the Court.

5. The learned Advocate General has drawn the attention of this Court to the report submitted by the Justice Malaimath Committee. It is useful to extract relevant portion of the report hereunder:

"Certified Copy of the Decree need not accompany Memorandum of Appeal :

The Law Commission of India in its One Hundred Twenty Fourth report expressed the view that Order XLI Rule 1 of the C.P.C. should be amended so as to dispense with the requirement of annexing a certified copy of the decree to the memorandum of appeal and to allow the appeal being filed by producing the operative part of the judgment along with the memorandum of appeal. It was observed in the report that the period of limitation within which the appeal is to be preferred gets extended to the extent of the time-lag between the date the copy of the decree is applied for and is made ready and that occasionally the delay is such that the limitation gets extended twice, thrice and in rare cases even ten times. The copy of the decree, according to the report, is hardly relevant or necessary or even looked into for the purpose of deciding whether the appeal should or should not be admitted under Order XLI Rule 11 of the Code of Civil Procedure and therefore, the provision regarding the annexation of a copy of the decree to the memorandum of appeal become anachronic and is of doubtful utility. (Para 3.26).

We are in agreement with the view that the requirement of annexing a certified copy of the decree to the memorandum of appeal is of doubtful utility, having regard to the fact that for the purpose of deciding the appeal, whether at the preliminary stage or at the stage of final hearing, the decree is hardly ever referred to. H