TAHSILDAR QUILANDY Vs. VISWANATHAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE dispute here relates to the amount of compensation to be awarded. Under S. 28 (2) of the Kerala Land Acquisition Act the award made by the Court shall be deemed to be a decree within the meaning of S. 2 (2) of the Civil Procedure Code, and under S. 60 an appeal lies from an award of the court as if the award were a decree passed by a civil court under the Civil procedure Code. It is to be noted that neither section says that the proceeding in which the award is made is to be deemed to be a suit. THE fiction extends no further than that the award shall be deemed to be a decree; it is limited to the award and does not extend to the proceeding in which the award is made; and i do not think it is permissible to say that because under the definition in s. 2 (2) of the Code a decree is made in a suit, a proceeding which is not a suit must be deemed to be a suit merely because the decision therein is to be deemed to be a decree. A fiction must be given full scope within the limits set for its operation but beyond those limits it is to be rigidly excluded Now , the award here being a decree, and an original decree, an appeal lies therefrom under S. 96 of the Code. But that section only says that an appeal shall lie to the court authorised to hear appeals from the decision of the court which passed the decree and, so far as first appeals are concerned, the Code makes no provision as to the court authoriseds to hear them. For that we have to go to the Kerala Civil Courts Act. THE award in this case was made by a Subordinate Judge's Court duly empowered under S. 58 (4) of the Kerala Land Acquisition Act, and, under S. 12 of the Kerala Civil Courts act, save as provided in S 13, appeals from decrees of a Subordinate Judge's court lie (when such appeals are allowed by law) to the High Court. S. 13 makes no provision for appeals like the present. It only provides for appeals where the amount or value of the subject-matter of the suit does not exceed Rs 10,000 and can have no application to a case like the present where there is no suit. (It is to be noted that under S. 13 of the madras Civil Courts Act it is the other way about. Appeals from the decrees of a Subordinate Judge's Court ordinarily lie to the District Court and not as under the Kerala Act to the High Court. It is only when the amount or value of the subject-matter of the suit exceeds Rs. 10,000 that the appeal lies to the high Court. I may also point out that the Kerala Civil Courts Act does not specify the court to which appeals from the decrees of a Land Acquisition Court established under s. 58 (1) of the Kerala Land Acquisition Act lie. Nor so far as I can see does the Kerala Land Acquisition Act but luckily that problem does not arise here ). I hold that this appeal lies to this Court.