SAHJADI Vs. MOHD. YUSUF KHAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is a defendants' appeal under Order XLIII Rule 1(u) of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (for short, 'the Code'), assailing an order of remand passed by the Lower Appellate Court.

(2.) The plaintiff-respondent (for short, 'the plaintiff') instituted O.S. No. 63 of 1997 before the Court of the Civil Judge (Sr. Div.), Azamgarh against the defendant-appellant, Sahjadi (since deceased) and now represented by her LRs, defendantappellants Nos. 1/1 to 1/4 (for short, 'the defendant'), claiming a decree for possession. The plaintiff sought to recover possession of a house denoted by letters A B C D E F G H I, as shown in the plaint map. Not much about the parties' case on merits is relevant for the purpose of the present appeal, because the issue here is limited to rejection of the plaint on ground of non-payment of court-fee, determined by the Court.

(3.) On the pleadings of parties, issues were framed and Issue No. 5 was to the effect: Whether the suit is undervalued and the court-fee paid insufficient? The aforesaid issue appears to have been tried as a preliminary and on 16/12/2015, the Trial Court decided it in the affirmative, holding that the proper valuation of the suit was Rs.9,82,034.00. The plaintiff was ordered to pay court-fee on the aforesaid value of the suit property ad valorem. Also, the plaintiff was directed to suitably amend the plaint.