Jurisdiction in civil suits is based on personal law principles and relevant statutory provisions.

1Revision petitioner herein presented a plaint in the District Court Quilon. Ia the plaint, he sought a decree for restitution of conjugal rights against his wife, the respondent. He valued the suit at Rs. 1,000/- under S.50 of the Kerala court Fees and Suits Valuation Act. District Judge, by an order, returned the plaint for presentation ia the proper court. It is this order which is now challenged.

2It is unfortunate that very little care went into the preparation of the plaint. Heading of the plaint shows that it is a plaint filed under R.1 to 6 of O.7 of the Code of Civil Procedure (for short 'the Code') and
"S.381 of Mulla's Mohammedan Law". It is startling to see that Section or Para.281 in Mulla's Commentaries on Mohammedan Law has been elevated to the position of a provision of a statute. In the above paragraph, Mulla only explains that when a wife without lawful cause ceases to cohabit with her husband, the husband may sue the wife for restitution of conjugal rights. This only indicates that such a civil remedy is available to a husband governed by the Mohammedan Law.

3The right is founded on the principles of personal law governing the parties read in the light of S.9 of the Code. S.9 of the Code states that "Courts shall (subject to the provisions herein contained) have jurisdiction to try all suits of a civil nature excepting suits of which their cognizance is either expressly or impliedly barred." Normally, where a person has a right and the right has been violated and he has a grievance about it, there is and there ought to be a remedy. A litigant having a grievance of a civil nature has, independent of any statute, a right to institute a suit in some Court unless its cognizance is otherwise barred. A suit requires no authority of law for its maintainability, as explained by the Supreme Court in Smt. Ganga Bai v. Vijay Kumarand others (AIR 1974 SC 1126). The court observed "There is a basic distinction between the right of suit and the right of appeal. There is an inherent right in every person to bring a suit of a civil nature and unless the suit is barred by statute one may, at of one's peril, bring a suit of one's choice. It is no answer to a suit, however frivolous the claim, that the law confers no such right to sue. A suit for its maintainability requires on authority of law and it is enough that no statute bars the suit."

4Every presumption must be made under law in favour of jurisdiction of civil court. Exclusion of jurisdiction of civil courts is not to be readily inferred See Secretary of State v. Mask & Co. (AIR 1940 PC 105), Abdul v. Bhavan (AIR 1966 SC 1718), L. N. S. Temple v. Pattabhirami (AIR 1967 SC 781) and Dewaji v. Ganpatlal (AIR 1969 SC 560). Court's legal authority to administer justice is according to the means which the law has provided and subject to the limitations imposed by that law. Power and jurisdiction of civil court to decide a particular matter depends on the general law.

5Leading case in regard to the competency of a mohammadan husband to file suit for restitution of conjugal rights is the one decided by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in Moonshee Buzloor Ruheem v. Shumsoonnissa Begum (XI M IA 551). At page 606, dealing with the question whether any such suit would lie, the Judicial Committee observed:
"If the law which regulates the relations of the parties gives to one of them a right, and that right be denied, the denial is a wrong; and unless the contrary be shown by authority, or by strong arguments, it must be presumed that for that wrong there must be a remedy in a Court of Justice. Of authority negativing the jurisdiction there is none,"
The Judicial Committee considered a number of old decisions and observed at page 610:
''Upon authority, then, as well as principle, their Lordships have no doubt that the Musalman Husband may institute a suit in the Civil Courts of India, for a declaration of his right to the possession of his Wife, and for a sentence that she return