GUJARAT MARITIME BOARD Vs. JOGADIA POLYMERS PVT LIMITED

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellant-original plaintiff by this Appeal, preferred under Section 96 of the Civil Procedure Code, 1908 ["the Code" for short], has challenged the judgment and order dated 17th March 2017 passed below Application Exh. 22 by the learned Judge, Commercial Court, Rajkot in Commercial Civil Suit No. 20 of 2016 by rejecting the plaint under the provisions of Order VII Rule 11 CPC.

(2.) In order to adjudicate the controversy between the parties, at the outset, it is imperative to cull out respective facts of the case on hands from the pleadings in suit filed by the plaintiff to the extent of deciding the dispute raised before us. In a Special Civil Suit No. 15 of 2011 filed before the Court of learned Special Judge, Special Court [Alang], Bhavnagar filed under Order XXXVII of the Code, the appellant-original plaintiff [hereinafter referred to as, "the plaintiff"] sought recovery of a sum of Rs. 1,98,63,129/- from the opponent-original defendant [hereinafter referred to as, "the defendant"] towards the long standing dues to be paid by the defendant against various head enumerated therein.

(3.) Upon noticing that the suit involves commercial dispute of a specified value; as defined under Section 2 [c] read with Section 12 of the Commercial Courts, Commercial Division & Commercial Appellate Division of High Courts Act, 2015 ["hereinafter to be referred to as, "the Act of 2015"], the learned Special Judge, Bhavnagar under Order dated 23rd May 2016 made below Exh. 1 in Special Civil Suit No. 15 of 2011, transferred the case papers to the Commercial Court, Rajkot, relying upon provisions of Sections 9 [1] and 15 [2] of the Act of 2015. Accordingly, the said suit came to be transferred to the Commercial Court at Rajkot, wherein it was re-numbered as Commercial Civil Suit No. 20 of 2016.