ALICE MARKOSE Vs. YESUDAS PRASAD

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner, the plaintiff in O.S. No. 744 of 1997 on the file of the Court of the Additional Munsiff of Kottayam, is aggrieved by the order dated 4-1-2010 in I.A. No. 3311 of 2009, by which the court below rejected the prayer made by the petitioner to engross the final decree on stamp paper on deposit of the proportionate value of stamp duty in respect of the share of the plaintiff The preliminary decree provides for division of the property into four shares. The plaintiff is entitled to 1/4 share. The final decree was passed on 21-1-2009. It was not engrossed on stamp paper. All the sharers were not prepared to deposit in Court the amount required for the non-judicial stamp paper for engrossing the decree in proportion to the value of their shares. The petitioner wanted to get the final decree engrossed on stamp paper. She offered to deposit the proportionate amount in respect of the value of her share. But, she was not prepared to deposit the entire amount required for the non-judicial stamp paper for engrossing the final decree. The court below rejected the request of the petitioner.

(2.) A final decree in a partition suit shall be prepared on nonjudicial stamp paper of the requisite value. A copy of the final decree shall be sent to the Sub Registrar for registration. A final decree cannot be engrossed on stamp paper of the value proportionate to the value of the share of one or more sharers. The entire amount required for stamp paper to engross the final decree should be deposited. Even if some of the sharers fail to deposit their share of the amount required for non-judicial stamp paper, any other party is entitled to deposit the entire amount. The excess amount paid by a sharer can be realised from the sharer who failed to deposit his share of the amount

(3.) Rule 236 of the Civil Rules of Practice reads as follows: