FIRM MAKHANLAL GIRWARLAL Vs. HARNARAIN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an application under Article 133 (1) of the Constitution of India.

(2.) Firstly, Shri Gupta claims a certificate under Sub-clause (a) on the ground that the value of the suit in the Court o first instance was more than Rs. 10,000/- and it was a suit instituted at a time when the Gwalior State Civil Procedure Code (Zabta Diwani) was in force and the parties had a right of appeal to the Privy Council of that State.

(3.) In order to appreciate this contention, the following dates are material. The suit was instituted on December 19, 1947 in the Court of the District Judge, Gwalior (then in the Gwalior State, a Princely State). The plaintiff's suit was dismissed on March 7, 1955 by the District Judge, Gwalior (then in the State of Page 2 of 3 Madhya Bharat, a Part B State.) The plaintiff preferred an appeal to the High Court of Madhya Bharat on May 14, 1955. That appeal was transferred to this Court on the Reorganisation of States on November 1, 1956 and was decided by us on July 31, 1959. It is against this last mentioned judgment and decree of this Court that the petitioner seeks to take an appeal to the Supreme Court and wants us to issue a certificate under Article 133 (l), (a). It is the argument of Shri Gupta that on the day that the suit was instituted a right to prefer an appeal to the Privy Council (Judicial Committee), of the erstwhile Gwalior State vested in the parties and that was a substantive right, which could not be taken away. Therefore, the plaintiff is entitled to a certificate under Sub-clause (a) even though its conditions are not satisfied. In my opinion this contention is wholly untenable.