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A.v. Subramania Aiyar v. Sellammal

A.v. Subramania Aiyar
v.
Sellammal

(High Court Of Judicature At Madras)

Civil Miscellaneous Petition No. 1682 Of 1915 | 07-09-1915


John Wallis, CJ.

[1] In this case the amount or value of the subject matter of the suit in the Court of First Instance was less than Rs. 10,000 but the amount or value of the subject matter in dispute on appeal to His Majesty in Council exceeds that sum owing to the claim for mesne profits for the period between the institution of the suit and the petition for a certificate. It is clear that the case does not satisfy the provisions of the first paragraph of Section 110 C.P.C. but we are asked to grant the certificate on, the ground that in the circumstances the decree of the High Court involves "directly or indirectly some claim or question to or respecting property of like amount or value" within the meaning of the second paragraph. If this contention be accepted, a certificate must be granted in any case in which the amount or value of the subject matter in dispute on appeal to His Majesty in Council is not less than Rs. 10,000, whether or not the amount or value of the subject matter of the suit in the Court of First Instance fell below Rs. 10,000, and this provision becomes wholly nugatory. In a case where the value of the subject matter was less than Rs. 10,000, in the Court of First Instance but the value of the subject matter on appeal to the Privy Council exceeded that sum owing to the accrual of interest in the meantime their Lordships held that the appellants had not brought themselves within the section. Moti Chand v. Ganga Pershad Chand, Moti Chand ex parte (1901) L.R. 29 I.A. 10 and I do not think it can make any difference whether the original deficiency in value is subsequently made up by the accrual of interest, or by a claim for mesne profits for the intervening period, or by costs. The decision in Dalgleish v. Damodar Narain Chowdry (1906) I.L.R. 33 C. 1286, proceeded on the authority of Mohideen Hadagain v. Pitchey (1893) A.C. 193, a case under the Ceylon Ordinance No. 1 of, 1889 which does not impose any condition as to the amount or value of the subject matter of the suit in the Court of First Instance. This condition was first imposed in India by the Privy Council Appeals Act of 1874 (Act VI of 1874). The order of 10th April 1838 had prescribed that the amount or value of the subject matter in dispute in appeal to His Majesty in Council must be Rs. 10,000 or upwards. The alternative which now forms the second paragraph of Section 110 C.P.C. was introduced in Clause 39 of the Letters Patent which contained a proviso "that the sum or matter at issue is of the amount or value of not less than Rs. 10,000 or that such judgment, decree or order shall involve directly or indirectly some claim, demand, or question to or respecting property amounting to or of the value of not less than Rs. 10,000." So far the amount or value of the subject matter of the suit in the Court of First Instance did not in any way affect the right of appeal, but it is clear to my mind that in 1874 the legislature intended to alter this and by the new provision inserted in the section to impose an additional restriction with reference to the amount or value of the suit when filed. It is, of course, necessary co read the whole section together and to give effect to every part of it, and when doing so it becomes necessary in my opinion, in order to give effect to the new provision in the first paragraph to put a restrictive construction on the general words of the second paragraph which are reproduced from Section 39 of the Letters Patent and to read them in their present collocation as applying only to cases which involve some claim or question to or respecting property additional to the actual subject matter in dispute in the appeal and to be taken into account therewith in making up the appealable value. Something might be said for this construction of the alter native provision as it stood in Clause 39 of the Letters Patent and I think that it is imperatively required in the present Section 110 C.P.C. which first appeared as Section 5 of the Act, of 1874, if the provision in the earlier part of the section is not to be rendered nugatory. Some difficulty is no doubt occasioned by the retention in the second paragraph of the words "involve directly." But I think my learned brother in his judgment which I have had the advantage of reading has shown how effect may be given to the word directly consistently with this construction; and in any case I think that in the section as it now stands the words, "involve directly," cannot be read as including cases which involve nothing but the actual subject matter in dispute in the appeal. Cases which involve nothing else are in my opinion governed exclusively by the first paragraph. The petition is dismissed with costs.

Srinivasa Aiyangar, J.

[2] This is an application for leave to appeal to His Majesty in Council The original suit was to recover possession of a portion of a house with mesne profits from the defendant. Though the plaintiff claims the whole house he does not sue for the remaining portion as he is in possession of it. It is, however, admitted that the market value of the whole house together with the amount claimed for mesne profits up to the date of the institution of the suit is much less than ten thousand rupees. It is stated that the value of the whole house together with mesne profits as claimed by the plaintiff up to the date of the decree in appeal would amount to over ten thousand rupees. Two points are taken for the petitioner, first that the value of the subject matter of the suit in the Court of First Instance should be taken to be above ten thousand rupees, second that whether the subject matter of the suit in the Court of the First Instance was above ten thousand rupees or not, the final decree of this Court involves a claim to property of over ten thousand rupees in value. As regards the first point, petitioner contends that the subject matter of the suit in the Court of First Instance includes mesne profits subsequent to the date of the suit. If this contention is right, mesne profits subsequent to the date of the institution of the suit up to the date of the final determination by the Judicial Committee, or even beyond, till the delivery of possession of the property, or 3 years after the date of the final decree, whichever event first occurs, could be the subject matter of the suit, and its value would vary with the length of time during which the suit may be pending in the Courts. This construction renders the enactment of this portion of the, clause perfectly useless; for there can be no case in which the matter in dispute on appeal to his Majesty in Council would be of the appealable value in which the subject-matter of the suit would not at least be of the same value. Prior to Act VI of 1874, it was well settled that interest on money claims and mesne profits of immovable property subsequent to the date of the institution of the suit actually awarded by the decree appealed against may be added in computing the value of the matter in dispute in appeal to His Majesty in Council, but not interest accruing subsequent to the decree, and, if that amount was Rs. 10,000 or Over, a party was entitled to appeal, though the value of the subject-matter of the suit in the Court of First Instance was less. Gooroopershad Khoond v. Juggat Chunder (1860) 8 M.I.A. 166 at 168, Doorga Doss Chowdry v. Ramanath Chowdry (1860) 8 M.I.A. 262 at 264, Goordoss Roy v. Gholam Mowlah (1862) Marshall s reports, p. 24, see also Bank of New South Wales v. Owston (1879) 4 App. Cas. 270, at 274. Act VI of 1874 for the first time enacted that the value of the subject matter of the suit in the Court of First Instance should also be ten thousand rupees or upwards and imposed an additional restriction on the right of appeal. I think except in British India and Straits Settlements no such restriction is to be found in the laws of the other colonies or British possessions. In Motichand v. Ganga Parshad Singh (1901) L.R. 29 I.A. 40 : 24 A. 174, the Judicial Committee expressly decided that when the amount claimed in the suit was less; than ten thousand rupees, no appeal lay to His Majesty in Council, though the amount of the matter in dispute in appeal by the addition of interest subsequent to the institution of the suit came to ten thousand rupees or upwards. This decision is conclusive on the question, and I am unable to draw any distinction between interest and mesne profits in this respect. The petitioner relied on Dalgleish v. Damodar Narain Choudry (1906) I.L.R. 33 C. 1286 and Basanta Kumar Roy v. Secretary of State for India (1910) 6 I.C. 792 in support of his contention. In the first of the above cases it seems to have been assumed that future mesne profits formed part of the subject-matter of the suit, and reliance was placed on the Judgment of the Judicial Committee in Mohideen Hadgian v. Pitchey (1893) L.R.A.C. 193. That was a case from Ceylon and attention of the learned Judges, of the Calcutta High Court was apparently not drawn to the provisions of the Ceylon Ordinance, which contains no clause similar to the first portion of Clause I of Section 110 of the Code of Civil Procedure. Though the case of Motichand v. Ganga Prashad Singh (1901) L.R. 29 I.A. 40, was cited in the argument there is no reference to it in the Judgment. In the second case, it is said that "as the Court could provide in the decree for the payment of mesne profits from the institution of the suit, until the delivery of possession or until the expiration of 3 years from the date of the decree, such mesne profits can legitimately be regarded as part of the subject matter of the suit." So also can the Court award interest from the date of the institution of the suit up to the date of payment or realisation. There is no reference in the judgment to the case in Motichand v. Ganga Prashad Singh (1901) L.R. 29 I.A. 40. In the case of future mesne profits, the cause of action, it must be remembered, does not accrue even at the date of the institution of the suit. With the greatest respect to the learned Judges I am unable to follow these decisions. I therefore disallow the 1st contention. As to the second point, petitioner contends that inasmuch as the decree of this Court directs him to surrender possession of the house and pay mesne profits the decree necessarily involved a claim to property of over the appealable value. This construction renders the whole of the 1st clause nugatory. It must be remembered that provisions similar to these are to be found in the laws of a large majority of the colonies, (see the table in Burge s Colonial Laws Vol. I 362 et. seq) and it is impossible to construe the second clause of Section 110 of the Code of Civil Procedure so as to render the first perfectly useless. If the second clause stood by itself (see Wheeler s Privy Council Practice p. 694) it would be legitimate to construe it in the manner suggested, as the word "involves" is sufficiently wide to cover direct adjudications in respect of the subject-matter in dispute. In this case we have to take both the clauses together so as to give a meaning to both. In my judgment, the first clause applies to cases where the decree awards a particular sum, or property of a particular value, or refuses that relief, (i.e.), to cases where the object-matter in dispute is of a particular value. In fact, the words objects in dispute are used in the provisions relating to appeals from Guernsey. If the operation of the decision is confined only to the particular object-matter, Clause 2 does not apply and unless the case satisfies the conditions in Clause 1, there is no right of appeal, If the decision beyond awarding relief in respect of the particular object-matter of the suit affects rights in other properties, Clause 2 would apply; also if the matter in dispute is one which is incapable of valuation as in the case of easements, Clause 2 may apply. A few illustrations from the decided cases would make the matter plain. In Sreemutty Ranee Surnomoyee v. Maharajah Sutteshchunder Roy (1860) 8 M.I.A. 165 the plaintiff sued to establish his right to enhance the rent of a holding in the possession of the defendant, which the defendant claimed to hold at a fixed rent of Rs. 65. The plaintiff obtained a decree establishing his right to enhance the rent to Rs. 800 or thereabouts. The question was raised whether the value of the subject-matter in appeal to the Privy Council was the capitalised value of this Rs. 800 which would be the amount by which the value of the defendant s estate would be diminished. Their Lordships found it difficult to bring the case within the words of the Order in Council of April 10, 1838, but gave special leave to appeal on the ground that the decision involved a claim to property of more than ten thousand rupees in value. I may draw attention to the fact that this decision was given in the year 1860 and the present second clause was introduced into the Letters Patent in the year 1862.

[3] In Amar Chandra Kundu v. Shoshi Bhushan Roy (1903) I.L.R. 31 C. 305 the plaintiff, a tenant-in-common, sued for a mandatory injunction directing the defendant, another tenant-in-common, to demolish buildings erected by him on a plot of common land. The subject-matter of the suit was for purposes of Court fees valued at Rs. 1,500. The plaintiff obtained a decree in the High Court, the result of which was to oblige the defendant to remove buildings worth more than ten thousand rupees. Leave to appeal to the Privy Council was applied for and granted. In a similar case in Madras, Sreemuth Devasikamoney Pandarasannadhi v. Palaniappa Chettiar (1910) I.L.R. 34 M. 535, 20 M.L.J. 970, the plaintiff obtained in the High Court a decree for possession of a piece of land worth at the most Rs. 2,000; the defendant had built on the land and the buildings were valued at over Rs. 20,000, and he had to remove them. Leave to appeal to the Privy Council was applied for by the defendant and granted.

[4] In Mutusawmy Jagavera Yettapa Naikar v. Vencataswara Yettia (1965) 10 M.I.A. 313 a decree was passed by the Civil Court of Tinnevelly, in appeal awarding Rs. 2,500 a year for maintenance, that being the highest sum which the First Court had jurisdiction to give and this decree was confirmed by the High Court. An application for special leave was made to Her Majesty in Council. In discussing the question whether the application should not have been made to the High Court first, their Lordships came to the conclusion that it could not have been made there on the ground that the matter in dispute was below Rs. 10,000. It must, however, be noted that the facts of that case were peculiar.

[5] In Sauvageau v. Gauthier (1874) L.R. 5 P.C. 494, 498 A, who had obtained an assignment of certain choses-in-action from B sued one of the debtors, C, to recover the debt due to him. The assignor had become an insolvent and his assignee in bankruptcy intervened in the suit and claimed the sum as against A, the private assignee, contending that the assignment was void as against him. His contention was disallowed and he applied for leave to appeal to the Privy Council. The Privy Council declined to give leave but they say this, that if he had instituted a suit against the private assignee for a declaration that that assignment was bad, the subject-matter of the suit would have been over the appealable value, but inasmuch as his claim was limited to only one of the debts, he was not entitled to leave; they declined to grant special leave on the ground that that decision need not necessarily affect the title to the other debts.

[6] In Ajuas Koer v. Mussammut Luteefa (1872) 18 W.R. 21 where the suit was to establish the plaintiff s rights to take water from a channel to irrigate his land, Markby, J., held that the value of the subject-matter in dispute was the amount by which the value of the land would be diminished if the right to take the water was not granted. The learned Judge drew a distinction between the value of the relief and the value of the subject-matter.

[7] In Macfarlane v. Leclaire (1862) 15 Moo. P.C.C. 181 the plaintiff sued for a sum of money being the debt due to him from X. He applied for attachment before judgment and attached certain properties in the hands of Y on the ground that Y, was holding those properties on behalf of X. Y claimed the properties as his own under a conveyance from one P, who himself obtained the properties from X. Plaintiff replied that the conveyance from X to P and from P to Y were fraudulent as against the creditors of X. The Plaintiff succeeded. The amount of debt due to him for which he obtained a decree was less than the appealable value, but as the adjudication was also that the purchase by Y was not valid as against the creditors of X, the decision involved a question of title to the property of over the appealable value. The Privy Council, in the absence of a clause like the second clause, were obliged to bring it within the words "matters in dispute in appeal to the Privy Council."

[8] The above cases, except the cases reported in Amar Chundra Kundu v. Shoshi Bhushan Roy (1903) I.L.R. 31 Cal. 305 and Sreemuth Devasikamoney Pandarasannadhi v. Palaniappa Chettiar (1910) I.L.R. 34 Mad. 535 were decided when the Order in council, dated 10th April 1838, or provisions similar thereto were in force. They afford instances of cases in which the subject-matter of the, suit was incapable of a real or accurate valuation, or where the value of the subject-matter of the suit was below the appealable value, but the decision directly involved a claim or question respecting property of over-ten thousand rupees in value. Even if the words "subject matter of the suit" or "matter in dispute in appeal" do not mean the object-matter, but connote the jural relationship between the parties See Ramaswami Ayyar v. Vythinatha Ayyar (1903) I.L.R. 26 Mad. 760, 763, also Kaveri Ammal v. Sastri Ramaier (1902) I.L.R. 26 Mad. 104, 109, the present case would clearly come within the first clause and the second clause would have no application whatsoever. In some cases it may be difficult to determine under which clause a particular case falls See Ram Kripal Shukul v. Rup Kuar (1881) I.L.R. 3 A. 633 and Bhagvat Sahai v. Pashupathi nath Bose (1906) 3 C.L.J. 257, but I do not think that this would in any way affect the decision, as I think that in all cases in which the final decision involves a claim or question to property of a particular value, the decision of the First Court also would necessarily involve a claim or question in respect of property of the same value.

[9] The following cases are instances in which the decision involves indirectly a claim or question to or in respect of property of the appealable value. Baboo Gopal Lall Thakoor v. Teluk Chunder Rai (1860) 7 M.I.A. 548, Ko Khine v. Snadden (1868) L.R. 2 P.C. 50, Joogulkishore v. Jotendro Mohun Tagore (1882) I.L.R. 8 C 210, In the matter of the petition of Khwaja Muhammad Yusuf (1896) I.L.R. 18A 196, Sri Krishen Lal v. Kashmiro (1913) I.L.R. 35 A. 445. I am supported in the construction which I have adopted by the decision in De Silva v. De Silva (1904) 6 Bom. L.R. 403 and a case from the colonies, Gardiner v. Micullock (1876) 2 U.L.R. 128 (Law) cited in Wheeler s Privy Council, Practice 604. In Dalgleish v. Damodar Narain Chowdry (1906) I.L.R. 33 C. 1286, already cited, a different view was taken, but no reasons were given for the conclusion. I am unable to follow it. On the other hand in Motichand v. Ganga Prasad Singh (1901) L.R. 29 I.A. 40 S.C. 24 A. 174 already referred to the Judicial Committee proceed on the assumption that the second clause was inapplicable to cases of this sort. I would, therefore, disallow this contention also.

Advocates List

For the Petitioner Messrs. T.R. Ramachandra Iyer, G.S. Ramachandra Iyer, Advocates. For the Respondent R. Kuppuswami Iyer, Advocate.

For Petitioner
  • Shekhar Naphade
  • Mahesh Agrawal
  • Tarun Dua
For Respondent
  • S. Vani
  • B. Sunita Rao
  • Sushil Kumar Pathak

Bench List

HON'BLE CHIEF JUSTICE MR. JOHN WALLIS

HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SRINIVASA AIYANGAR

Eq Citation

(1916) 30 MLJ 317

(1916) ILR 39 MAD 843

1915 MWN 941

31 IND. CAS. 296

LQ/MadHC/1915/376

HeadNote

Civil Procedure Code, 1908—Sec. 110—Appeal to His Majesty in Council —Value of subject matter or suit in Court of First Instance less than Rs. 10,000—Whether subject matter of suit in any way involves some claim or question to or respecting property of like amount or value—Alternative provision in second paragraph of Sec. 110, introduced to impose additional restriction with reference to amount or value of suit, when filed. The alternative provision, now forming the second paragraph of Sec. 110 of the Civil Procedure Code, 1908, was introduced by Act VI of 1874, to impose a new and additional restriction with reference to the amount or value of the suit, when filed. The order of the 10th April 1838, in force prior to the said Act, had prescribed that the amount or value of the subject matter in dispute in appeal to His Majesty in Council must be Rs. 10,000 or upwards. The new provision introduced by the Act of 1874, now forms the first paragraph of Sec. 110 and lays down that the amount or value of the subject matter of the suit in the Court of first instance must be above Rs. 10,000 or the amount or value of the subject matter in dispute on appeal to His Majesty in Council must be of the same amount. The alternative provision contained in the second paragraph of the section, which reproduces Section 39 of the Letters Patent of 1862, should be construed in a restrictive manner, and should be deemed to apply only to cases which involve some claim or question to or respecting property additional to the actual subject matter in dispute in the appeal, and taken into account therewith in making up the appealable value. In cases where the value of the subject matter of the suit in the Court of first instance was below Rs. 10,000, and the value of the subject matter in dispute on appeal to the Privy Council exceeded Rs. 10,000 due to the accrual of interest or mesne profits, it has been held that the subject matter of the suit in the Court of first instance was still below the requisite threshold and the appeal to the Privy Council would not be maintainable based solely on the second paragraph of Sec. 110.