RENU NAGAR Vs. ANUP SING KHOSLA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE petitioner is aggrieved by an order dated 21st October 2008 whereby an application of the petitioner under Order 7 Rules 10 and 1kb)read with Section 151 of the Civil Procedure Code was dismissed.

(2.) THE petitioner herein is the defendant in a suit filed by the plaintiff (respondent herein) before the trial court. The respondent filed this suit qua property bearing number D-49, Defence "colony, New Delhi. The petitioner was stated to be a licensee in this premises whose license was terminated. The respondent prayed to the trial court for issuing a mandatory injunction against the petitioner directing him to remove himself from the premises. Apart from that, the respondent also made a prayer for mesne profits and damages for use and occupation of the premises from the date of filing of the suit @ Rs, 30,000/- per month. The respondent valued the suit at Rs. 3,05,000/- without disclosing any basis for this valuation. The petitioner by the aforesaid application under Order 7 raised objections against the valuation of the suit and also about maintainability of the suit. The learned trial court held that since the licensee was under an obligation to surrender the possession to the owner on determination of the license, a suit for mandatory injunction was quite maintainable. However, on the issue of court fees, the trial court observed that whether the suit was properly valued or improperly valued was a mixed question of facts and of law. Usually, the valuation put by the plaintiff is accepted except where the defendant submits that the valuation was otherwise. Since under Order 7 Rule 11 CPC only the plaintiff's contentions are to be seen, the contentions of the defendant cannot be accepted at initial stage and the trial court left the issue of court fees open to be decided only after evidence.

(3.) WHEN a fresh suit is filed before the trial court, the trial court has to ensure that the suit has been filed before the court of proper jurisdiction and if the trial court finds that the suit has not been properly valued, it is obligatory upon the trial court to direct the plaintiff to value the suit in accordance with law. No doubt, the plaintiff has a discretion to value the suit, however, this discretion cannot be exercised in an arbitrary manner so as to violate the provisions of Suit Valuation Act and the Court Fees Act or to be in direct conflict with the law settled by the Courts. If this is allowed, then it shall become a free run for every plaintiff to value the suit in any arbitrary manner in order to save the court fees and to cause loss to the public exchequer and also harass the defendant. The plaintiff in that eventuality would value the suit at a value of Rs. 200/- or so even if the actual valuation of the suit property is in crores. If this is allowed, this would encourage frivolous litigation and the people would file suit without paying requisite court fee and would run no risk of losing court fees when the suit is found frivolous. It is, therefore, essential that at the initial stage itself the Court should see that the suits are properly valued and if they are not properly valued, the plaintiff must be told to value the suit in accordance with law.