IMPORTANT POINT
The valuation of the suit at the time of filing determines the jurisdiction of the Court, and the interest amount is undetermined until the suit is heard and decreed.

JUDGMENT :

1. This praecipe has been filed requesting this Court not to transfer the commercial summary suit from this Court to the Bombay City Civil Court and using its inherent powers under Section 24 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (“CPC”) proceed with the final hearing of the captioned suit.

2. Mr. Narichania, learned Senior Counsel appears for the Plaintiff and would firstly submit that the captioned suit is at the stage of final hearing and has already been fully heard once by an earlier bench of this Court before it was made de-part heard. Learned Senior Counsel would submit that pursuant to the notice dated 22nd January, 2024, issued by the office of the Prothonotary and Senior Master of this Court and pursuant to invitation to raise objections relating to the transfer of matters to the Bombay City Civil Court, the Plaintiff has filed praecipe dated 29th and 30th January, 2024, objecting to the transfer of the said suit on the following grounds:-

(i) The claim amount in the captioned Suit is in foreign currency i.e. USD 1,931,627.89. The Hon’ble Supreme Court in Forasol v. ONGC (1984 Supp Supreme Court Cases 263) has settled the law; that when a decree is being passed, the exchange rate of the foreign currency prevalent on the date of the decree is to be taken into consideration. As on 30 January 2024, the exchange rate of 1 USD is INR 83.13. Therefore, the principal amount claimed in the captioned Suit is USD 1,931,627.89 x 83.13 = INR 16,05,76,226.5 (Sixteen Crores, Five Lakhs, Seventy Six Thousand, Two Hundred Twenty Six and Five Paisa), which is well above the threshold limit set for transfer of matters to the Hon’ble City Civil Court.

(ii) Further and/or in the alternative, the Plaintiff has claimed interest at the rate of 9.75% p.a. from the date of default, i.e. from 27 February 1999 till payment and/or realisation. If interest is calculated till date, it would amount (USD) 4,576,555.68 and the total claim amount i.e. principal amount (USD1,931,627.89)+Interest (USD 4,576,555.68) would be USD 6,508,183.57 i.e. INR 54,10,25,300/-. This is also well above the threshold limit.

(iii) Further, the captioned Suit is a Commercial Suit, Section 12 (a) of the Commercial Courts Act, 2015 states that; (a) where the relief sought in a suit or application is for recovery of money, the money sought to be recovered in the suit or application, as the case may be, shall be taken into account for determining such Specified value; Therefore the specific value of the captioned Suit for the sake of jurisdiction must include the principal amount of INR 9,00,33,175.95 (as set out in para 12 of the Plait) + Interest amount of INR 1,78,56,168 (interest calculated on INR 9,00,33,175.95) from the date of default till the date of filing of the Suit). Therefore, the total claim amount ought to be Rs.10,78,89,344.8 (Ten Crore, Seventy-Eight Lakhs, Eighty-Nine Thousand, Three Hundred and Forty-Four Rupees and Eight Paisa) which is also well above the threshold limit.

3. Mr. Narichania, learned Senior Counsel would submit that since the Prothonotary and Senior Master has refused to entertain the request not to transfer the captioned suit, this praecipe has been moved before this Court.

4. In support of his contentions, learned Senior Counsel first draws the attention of this Court to the plaint and in particular to paragraphs 7A, 8 and 14(a). Learned Senior Counsel would submit that learned Prothonotary and Senior Master has merely on the basis of the suit valuation in paragraph 12 of the plaint of the Suit being valued at Rs. 90,033,175.95, on the basis of which maximum Court fees had been paid, listed the suit for being transferred to the Bombay City Civil Court without considering the fact that the suit has been filed for an amount of USD 1,931,627,89 towards the principal amount due as per the particulars of claim at Exhibit N with further interest thereon from the due date i.e. from 27th February, 1999 till payment and/or realisation.

5. Le