JANARDHAN BARKU AND ANOTHER Vs. MADANGOPAL VALLABHDAS

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This revision application has been filed by the defendants against the order dated 9-1-1967 passed by the Civil Judge, Junior Division, Ramtek. The suit is for possession of agricultural land and the court-fees are paid on the market value calculated at 12½ times the assessment payable to Government. The same valuation has been shown by the plaintiff for the purpose of jurisdiction. The defendants raised a question of law before the trial Court that it had no jurisdiction. The jurisdictional value ought to be the market value of the land and the market value will have to be independently assessed apart from its assessment. Since this objection has been overruled by the trial Judge the defendants have filed this revision application.

(2.) Before I come to the consideration of the point raised by Mr. Chandurkar for the plaintiff-respondent No. 1, let me make it clear that the court-fees now payable in this State are governed by the Bombay Court-fees Act, 1959. The present valuation for the purpose of court-fees falls under clause (v) of section 6 of the Bombay Court-fees Act, 1959. To this provision, section 8 of the Suits Valuation Act, 1887, does not apply. It is not necessary, therefore, that the valuation for the payment of court-fees and the valuation for the purpose of jurisdiction need be the same. Since section 8 of the Suits Valuation Act, 1887, does not apply, it is obvious that the jurisdiction of the Court in a suit for possession of property would be the market value of that property. Sec. 3 of the Suits Valuation Act, 1887, enables the State Government to make rules for the purpose of valuation for jurisdiction under suits falling under section 6 (v) of the Bombay Court-fees Act, along with some other kinds of suits. So far as the State of Maharashtra is concerned before and after reorganization of States no rules have ever been made by this State or its predecessor-State.

(3.) When that was the position namely, that section 8 of the Suits Valuation Act did not apply to suits falling under section 7(v) of the former Court-fees Act and section 6(v) of the present Bombay Court-fees Act, 1959, a consistent view has been taken by this Court that the market value of the property will be the value for jurisdiction. In Ganesh Gopal Vs. Moreshwar Narayan, AIR 1951 Bom. 352 the then Chief Justice had to deal with the suit relating to the possession of land assessed to revenue. A judgment of the Madras High Court was cited before the learned Chief Justice. However, he differed from the observations in that judgment and came to the conclusion to the following observation in para. No. 8: