BOMBAY SPECIAL SUITS AND
PROCEEDINGS VALIDATING ACT, 1951 THE BOMBAY SPECIAL SUITS AND PROCEEDINGS VALIDATING ACT, 1951 [Act No. 15 of 1951][1] [24th April, 1951] An Act to validate special jurisdiction suits and proceedings in
the State of Bombay. WHEREAS by Government
Notification, Home Department, No. 2346/5, dated the 20th January 1950, the
State Government invested the Bombay City Civil Court with jurisdiction to receive,
try and dispose of certain suits and proceedings of a civil nature not
exceeding twenty-five thousand rupees in value and arising in Greater Bombay; Whereas in Original Civil
Jurisdiction Suit No. 240 of 1950 the Bombay High Court held that the said
notification was invalid and of no effect; Whereas in Civil Appeal No.
10 of 1950 in its civil appellate jurisdiction the Supreme Court of India set
aside the said decision of the Bombay High Court and held that the said
notification was intra vires and legal; Whereas during the interval
between the date of the said notification and the decision of the Supreme Court
certain suits and proceedings of a civil nature have been instituted in the
Bombay High Court and some of them have been tried and disposed of; And Whereas it is necessary
and expedient to validate the decrees and orders which have been passed in the
said suits and proceedings and to provide for the return and presentation of
those which have been dismissed or are pending to the City Court; It is hereby enacted as
follows:-- (1)
This Act may be called the Bombay Special Suits and Proceedings
Validating Act, 1951 (2)
it shall come into force on such date as the State Government may
by notification in the Official Gazette appoint in this behalf. In this Act, unless there
is anything repugnant in the subject or context,-- (1)
"Special jurisdiction suit or proceeding" means a suit
or proceeding of a civil nature exceeding ten thousand rupees, but not
exceeding twenty-five thousand rupees in value and arising in Greater Bombay,
but does not include any suit or proceeding specified in clauses (a) to (d) of
section 3 of the principal Act. (2)
"Principal Act" means the Bombay City Civil Court Act,
1948 (Bom. XL of 1948). (3)
"Jurisdiction notification" means Government
Notification (Home Department), No. 2346/5, dated the 20th January 1950, issued
by the State Government in exercise of the powers conferred by section 4 of the
principal Act and published in the Official Gazette on 20th January 1950. (4)
"Supreme Court decision" means the decision of the
Supreme Court in its Civil Appellate jurisdiction in Civil Appeal No. 10 of
1950--the State of Bombay vs. Narottamdas Jethabhai and A. P. Phillips. (5)
Words and expressions not defined but used in this Act shall have
the meaning assigned to them in the principal Act. (1)
Decrees and orders passed by the High Court in its original as
well as Appellate jurisdiction in special jurisdiction suits and proceedings
instituted in the High Court or on after the date of the jurisdiction
notification shall, notwithstanding anything contained in the principal Act, be
deemed to have been validly passed by the High Court and shall not be deemed to
be invalid merely on the ground that the suit or proceeding in which the said
decree or order was passed was received, tried or disposed of by the High Court
in contravention of sections 4 and 12 of the principal Act. (2)
All appeals and execution proceedings arising out of such decrees
or orders shall be received, tried or disposed of by such Court, as if the
suits or proceedings in which such decrees or orders were passed were validly
received by the High Court, notwithstanding anything contained in the principal
Act. (1)
All special jurisdiction suits or proceedings instituted in the
High Court on or after the date of the jurisdiction notification and pending in
the said Court at the commencement of this Act shall, on application by a party
to such suit or proceeding, made within three months from the date of the
commencement of this Act, be notwithstanding anything contained in any law for
the time being in force, returned by the said Court for being filed in the City
Court. If no such application is made within the said period of three months in
respect of any such suit or proceeding, such suit or proceeding shall stand
dismissed. (2)
All such special jurisdiction suits or proceedings dismissed by
the High Court, after the Supreme Court decision but before the commencement of
this Act, merely on the ground that the High Court was not competent to
receive, try and dispose of them under sections 4 and 12 of the principal Act,
may, within the period of three months from the date of the commencement of
this Act, or within the period of limitation applicable to such suit or
proceeding under the provisions of the Indian Limitation Act, 1908 (IX of
1908), whichever period is longer, be filed in the City Court, notwithstanding
the fact that they were dismissed by the High Court. (3)
All special jurisdiction suits and proceedings which stand
dismissed under sub-section (1) on the ground that no application was made for
their return For being filed in the City Court within the time specified
therein may be filed in the City Court within the period of limitation
applicable to such suit or proceeding under the Indian Limitation Act, 1908 (IX
1908). (4)
Nothing in section 13 of the principal Act shall apply to the
suits or proceedings returned for being filed in the City Court under
sub-section (1). When any suit or proceeding
referred to in section 4 is filed in the City Court, in the calculation of the
institution fee leviable in respect of such suit or proceeding, credit, shall
be given by the City Court for any court-fee levied in the High Court and costs
incurred in the said Court till the date of its return for being filed in the
City Court or of its dismissal, as the case may be, shall be assessed in the
manner prescribed by rules made under sub-section (2) of section 18 of the
principal Act as if such suit or proceeding was transferred to the City Court
under the said section. In computing the period of
limitation in respect of any suit or proceeding referred to in sub-section (1)
of section 4 and filed in the City Court, the period from the date on which the
said suit or proceeding was received by the High Court until the date on which
the said suit or proceeding was returned by the High Court for being filed in
the City Court, shall be excluded. Suits or proceedings
returned for being filed in the City Court under subsection (1) of section 4
shall, when filed in the City Court, be tried and disposed of from the stage up
to which they were heard by the High Court and the record of such suit or proceeding
up to the said stage of trial in the High Court shall be and form part of the
record of such suit or proceeding in City Court, as if the said suit or
proceeding was originally received by the City Court. If any difficulty arises in
the trial or disposal of any suit or proceeding referred to in the foregoing
provisions, in the execution of decrees or orders or the hearing or disposal of
appeals arising there from, the High Court may pass such orders as it may deem necessary
or expedient for the removal of such difficulty.
Preamble - THE BOMBAY SPECIAL SUITS AND PROCEEDINGS VALIDATING
ACT, 1951PREAMBLE