JUDGMENT

Chelameswar, J.-Leave granted.

2. The 5 petitioners herein filed O.S.No.100 of 2004, against one Sengoda Gounder, who is not a party to the Special Leave Petition, essentially, for the specific performance of a registered agreement dated 22-03-1995, of sale of the suit scheduled land admeasuring approximately Acs.2-00 and delivery of possession of the same; in the alternative, it was prayed that the defendant be directed to refund the amount of Rs.12,15,125/- with interest, etc.

3. The parties are referred to in this Judgment as they are arrayed in the abovementioned Suit.

4. It is the case of the Plaintiffs that the abovementioned defendant was indebted to one Mr. Radhakrishnan and also to the Tamil Nadu Industrial Investment Corporation Limited (for short ‘TNIIC”). It is alleged in the plaint that Sengoda Gounder wanted to clear the debts to the abovementioned two persons before the property is actually conveyed to the plaintiffs. For the said purpose, Sengoda Gounder collected an amount of Rs.12,15,125/- in instalments from the plaintiffs. In spite of receipt of such payment, Sengoda Gounder did not execute the sale deed, on some pretext or other. Therefore, the Suit.

5. During the pendency of the Suit, the sole respondent herein, filed an Application praying that he be impleaded as a party defendant to the said Suit, on the ground that he purchased the suit scheduled property on 08-03-1999 for a consideration of Rs.3,93,560/-. It appears from the record that the said I.A. was allowed and the sole respondent herein was impleaded as the second defendant in the abovementioned Suit. Consequent upon the said impleadment, the plaint came to be amended by inserting para 10A, the details of which are not necessary for the present purpose.

6. Initially, the Suit was valued at Rs.13,31,663-00 ps. on which the plaintiff calculated that a court-fee of Rs.99,875-75 ps. is payable, under Section 42 of The Tamil Nadu Court Fees and Suits Valuation Act, 1955” (hereinafter referred to as the ‘Tamil Nadu Act’ for the sake of convenience). The plaint was presented on 20-08-1998 with deficit court- fee. Only an amount of Rs.2,000/- was paid. The plaint was returned by the Court on 24-08-1998 with various objections including the deficiency in the court- fee. The plaintiffs represented (1st representation) the plaint after a long delay on 03-05-2002 along with a court-fee of Rs.96,000/-, with an Application to condone the delay in representation. On 03-06-2002, the plaint was again returned, inter alia, on the ground that there still was a deficit of the court-fee. Eventually, the plaint was represented on 22-01- 2004 (2nd representation) remitting a further amount of Rs.2,875/- court-fee along with Applications to condone the delay in representation, etc. On the same day, the plaint was once again returned with certain objections. On 09-04-2004, the plaint was once again represented (3rd representation) with an application to condone the delay of 70 days in representation. On 15-04-2004, the Suit was numbered as O.S.No.100 of 2004 by the Court. On 05-10-2004, Sengoda Gounder was set ex parte. On the same day, however, the sole respondent herein filed implead-petition in I.A.No.1532 of 2004, which was allowed by an order dated 09-03-2005.

7. The respondent herein filed C.R.P.(PD) No.658 of 2006, before the High Court of Madras, challenging the decision of the Trial Court in I.A.No.76 of 2004 to condone the delay of 1328 days in the first of the abovementioned three representations of the plaint. Another C.R.P.(PD) No.657 of 2006 was filed challenging the order of the Trial Court I.A.No.75 of 2004, dated 22-01-2004, by which, the Trial Court condoned the delay of 585 days in the second of the abovementioned representations.

8. During the pendency of the abovementioned two C.R.Ps., the 2nd defendant (sole respondent herein) filed his written statement and also filed Application in I.A.No.3 of 2006, invoking Order7 Rule-11 of the Code