Jurisdiction to transfer a suit under Section 24 of CPC is concurrent for High Court and District Court; commercial suits must be filed in designated courts.

ORDER :

G.R. Swaminathan, J.

Heard the learned Senior Counsel for the petitioner and learned counsel for the first respondent/plaintiff.

2. This petition has been filed under Section 24 of CIVIL PROCEDURE CODE for transferring O.S.No.470 of 2024 from the file of the Additional District Court, Palani to the file of Commercial Court, Dindigul. The first respondent has filed the said suit for specifically enforcing the suit agreement 26.10.2021. According to the plaintiff/first respondent herein, sale agreement was executed by the petitioner herein in his favour.

3. We questioned the petitioner as to why this transfer petition was straightaway filed before this Court under Section 24 of the CIVIL PROCEDURE CODE without moving the Principal District Judge, Dindigul in the first instance. In response to the aforesaid query, the learned Senior Counsel for the petitioner drew our attention to the decision reported in2024 SCC OnLine Del 143 ( Namita Gupta Vs. Suraj Holdings Limited ). It was held therein that in cases involving commercial disputes under the COMMERCIAL COURTS ACT , 2015, the power under Section 24 of CIVIL PROCEDURE CODE to transfer suits is not available to the Principal District Judge. This proposition is not applicable to the case on hand. The suit was instituted before the Additional District Court, Palani. It was not a commercial court. Therefore, the petitioner could have very well moved the Principal District Judge, Dindigul. However, we do not propose to non-suit the petitioner on this ground. Section 24 of CPC confers the general power of transfer and withdrawal on the High Court as well as the District Court. The language used is “the High Court or the District Court”. Therefore, for transferring a case from any court subordinate to the District Court within the District concerned, one can move either the High Court or the District Court. Concurrent jurisdiction has been conferred on the High Court and the District Court under Section 24 of CPC. We are therefore satisfied that this petition is very much maintainable before us.

4. If the suit is commercial suit, it has to be instituted before the Commercial Court. Section 2(1)(c)(vii) of the COMMERCIAL COURTS ACT , 2015 states that commercial dispute means a dispute arising out of agreements relating to immovable property used exclusively in a trade or commerce. The Hon'ble Supreme Court in the decision reported in (2020) 15 SCC 585 ( Ambala Sarabhai Enterprises Limited Vs. K.S.Infraspace LLP ) held that a dispute relating to immovable property becomes a commercial dispute, if it falls under Sub Clause (vii) of Section 2(1)(c) of the COMMERCIAL COURTS ACT , 2015. The word “used” denotes “actually used” and it cannot be either “ready for use” or “likely to be used” or “to be used”.

5. The learned Senior Counsel for the petitioner drew our attention to the plaint document No.18 enclosed at Page No.6. It reads as follows:-

“Received a sum of Rs.2 Lakhs (Rupees Two Lakhs only) in cash from Mr.T.Raju, S/o.Thangavelu, Velamarathottam, RKR School Backside, Chinnaveerampatti towards ASVP Mills, Swaminathapuram ETP land sales advance.”

The document relied on by the plaintiff itself refers to the suit property as ETP land.

6. We must of course place on record the submission of the plaintiff/first respondent herein that the ground reality is otherwise. However, we have to go by description found in the document relied on by the plaintiff himself. In the plaint document, the property has been described as ETP land. It only means that the property is being used for ETP purpose. ETP means “effluent treatm