KAILASH CHAND Vs. LALTA PRASAD OPPOSITE PARTY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE important question, which arises for consideration in this case, is as to which of the courts at Fatehpur has jurisdiction to entertain the suit.

(2.) THE suit was filed on April 25, 1972, in the court of munsif at Fatehpur. It was a suit for eviction from certain buildings and for recovery of arrears of rent and compensation for use and occupation. At that time, it was not a suit cognizable by a Court of Small Causes and there is no dispute that the Munsif had jurisdiction to entertain it. While the suit was pending, the U. P. Urban Buildings (Regulation of Letting, Rent and Eviction) Act, 1972 (Act XIII of 1972) came into force. Subsequently, the U. P. Civil Laws Amendment Act, 1972 (U. P. Act No. 37 of 1972) came into force from September 20, 1972. This Act amended certain provisions of the Provincial Small Cause Courts Act, 18x3?, the Bengal, Agra and Assam Civil Courts Art 1887, the Code of Civil Procedure 1908 and the U. P. Urban Buildings (Regulation of Letting, Rent and Eviction) Act, 1972. By virtue of the amendments, suits by lessors for the eviction of lessees from buildings after determination of the lease became suits cognizable by Courts of Small Causes. The Additional Munsif, Fatehpur, to whose court the suit had been transferred, held, by his order dated September 2, 1974, that, since the suit was valued at Rupees 1,409.32 P., it was cognizable only by the court of the District Judge, Fatehpur, and that it stood transferred to that court. He accordingly directed the file to be sent to the court of the District Judge. The District Judge took the view that the suit was still cognizable by the Munsif, Fatehpur. Accordingly, by an order dated January 4,1975, he directed the case to be sent back to the court of the Additional Munsif, Fatehpur. Against the order of the District Judge, the defendants have come up in this revision.

(3.) SECTION 15 of the Provincial Small Cause Courts Act, 1887, as applicable to Uttar Pradesh, was in these terms:-