HIRJIBHAI NAVROJI ANKLESARIA Vs. JAMSHEDJI NASSARWANJI GINVALLA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The first question needing to be answered is whether this case fulfils the pecuniary conditions imposed in Sections 109, no of the Civil Procedure Code, read together, Section 109 provides that-- Subject to such rules ...... an appeal shall lie to His Majesty in Council- (a) from any decree or final order passed on appeal by a High Court ... (b) from any decree or final order passed by a High Court in the exercise of original civil jurisdiction ; and (c) from any decree or order, when the case, as hereinafter provided, in certified to be a fit one for appeal....

(2.) Then follows Section 110, which provides : In each of the cases mentioned in Clause (a) and (b) of Section 109, the amount or value of the subject-matter of the suit in the Court of first instance must be Rs. 10,000 or upwards, and the amount or value of the subject-matter in dispute on appeal to His Majesty in Council must be the same sum or upwards, or the decree or final order must involve, directly or indirectly, some claim or question to or respecting property of like amount or value, and where the decree or final order appealed from affirms the decision of the Court immediately below the Court passing such decree or final order, the appeal must involve some substantial question of law.

(3.) The natural meaning of the first para, of Section no appears to us to be that the amount or value of the subject matter of the suit in the Court of first instance may exceed by any amount, but must not be less than Rs. 10,000 while the amount or value of the subject-matter in dispute on appeal while it may be less than the amount or value of the subject-matter of the suit in the Court below, must not be less than Rs. 10,000. It seems plain that in enacting this section the Legislature was contemplating an appellant preferring an appeal for a less, but not for a greater amount, than he had claimed in the Court of first instance. In the course of the argument addressed to us, it seemed to be more than once suggested that the claim might be increased for the purposes of applying this section in appeal. But this part of the section must be read as a whole, and it clearly prohibits an appeal where the subject-matter of the suit in the Court of first instance was less in amount or value than Rs. 10,000. It is also important to keep in mind the words "the subject-matter of the suit". These are the same words which are used in Section 24 of Act XIV of 1869. This is an Imperial Act. Its provisions have to be read pari vigore with those of the Civil Procedure Code.