MUKUNDA DAS NANDY Vs. BIDHAN CHANDRA ROY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an application for a certificate under Article 133(1)(a) at the Constitution that the amount of value of the subject matter of dispute in the Court of first instance and still in dispute on appeal is not less than Rs. 20,000/-; and also under Article 133(1)(c) of the Constitution that the case is a fit one for appeal to the Supreme Court.

(2.) The facts which are relevant for the purposes of the present application are as follows:

(3.) One Krishnadas Nandy was a monthly tenant under the plaintiff-respondent No. 1 at a monthly rent of Rs. 450/- payable according to English Calendar in respect of premises No. 33 Rowland Road. On June 23, 1955 the plaintiff-respondent No. 1 instituted a suit for ejectment of Krishnadas Nandy alleging that he reasonably required the premises for his own occupation. In the plaint the suit was valued at Rs. 6,400/-, Rs. 5,400/- for ejectment and Rs. 1,000/- for mesne profits. On August 10 1956, the suit ended in a decree in favour of the plaintiff-respondent No. 1. On September 11, 1956 the defendant Krishnadas Nandy filed , an appeal against that decree to this Court and that appeal was registered as A. F. O. D. Not 338 of 1956;, Krishna Das Nandy v. Bidhan Chandra Roy. On January 28, 1958, a Division Bench of this Court remanded the suit to the trial Court for deciding the question whether the requirement of the plain-lift could be satisfied by a partial eviction of the defendant. On April 21, 1958, the original tenant Krishnadus Nandy died and his widow, three sons and five daughters were substituted in his place. On November 14, 1958, the suit was again decreed in full by the trial Court and against that decree four of the heirs namely, the three sons and the widow of the original tenant filed an appeal to this Court which was registered as A. F. O. D. No. 11 of 1959 :, Mukunda Das Nandy v. Bidhan Chandra Roy. This appeal was presented on December 24, 1958. In the meantime the Bengal, Agra and Assam Civil Courts Act was amended by the State Legislature of West Bengal by West Bengal Act XVI of 1957 and this Act came into force on January 1, 1958. By Section 3 of this Act the pecuniary limit of the appellate jurisdiction of the District Judge was raised from Rs. 5,000/- to 10,000/-. Section 4 of the Act provides that nothing in the Act shall apply to or affect any appeal from any decree or order passed before the commencement of the Act. By a judgment dated the 1st of July, 1959, a Division Bench of this Court held that since the valuation of the appeal was Rs. 6,400/- only and since the decree in the present case was passed after the coming into operation of West Bengal Act XVI of 1957, this Court had no jurisdiction to entertain the appeal. The concluding portion of the judgment of the Division Bench runs as follows: