NABA KUMAR DAS Vs. DAMODAR DAS

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE short point involved in this case is whether the suit should be valued according to the valuation as given by the plaintiff or whether the plaintiff is to pay ad valorem Court-fees on the value of the property as stated in the Deed of Gift challenged in the suit.

(2.) THE plaintiff petitioners filed Title Suit No. . 1634/87 in the III Bench of the learned Judge, City Civil Court of Calcutta against the defendant opposite party, Shri Madhusudan Das, the defendant no. 2 and several others for the following declarations: -

(3.) THE allegations of the plaintiff-petitioners in the plaint inter alia were, that the deed of gift purported to have been executed on March 31, 1986 by the said Madhusudan Das, the defendant no. 2 in he suit, who was the father of the plaintiff-petitioners as well as of the defendant no. 1 - opposite party, in favour of the defendant no. 1, was; a nullity and void inasmuch as the defendant no. 2 was suffering from melancholia and schizophrenia at the material time and he had no mental equilibrium and the defendant ho. 1 by exercising undue influence and coercion obtained the aforesaid gift from the defendant no. 1 in his favour. The suit was valued at Rs. 51/- for injunction under Section 7 (iv) (b) of the West Bengal Court-Fees Act, 1970. The defendant no. 1 - opposite party raised a preliminary objection regarding the valuation of the suit and the Court-fees paid on it and the said matter came up for hearing before the learned Judge, III Bench, City Civil Court, Calcutta, who by his order No. 20 dated 28th June, 1988, had inter alia, that the plaintiffs, in fact, wanted to set aside the disputed deed of gift made in favour of the defendant no. 1 by the defendant no. 2, under the garb of a declaration that the said deed was void, and as such the plaintiffs were to pay ad-valorem Court-fees on the valuation of the property as stated in the deed of gift and the learned Judge valued the suit at Rs. 47,000/- and directed to pay the requisite court-fees within a stipulated time. Against the said order, the plaintiff-petitioners have moved this Hon'ble Court in revision and obtained the present civil order.