CHUNNILAL Vs. GULABCHAND

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS is an application for leave to appeal to His Majesty in Council against the judgment and decree passed, by Staples, A.J.C., in the case which will be found reported in Gulabchand v. Chunnilal . The subject matter of the suit and the appeal is admittedly very much less than Rs. 10,000 in value, and no property of any such value is involved in the decree. Thus, unless the case falls under Clause (c), Section 109, Civil P.C., the application must be dismissed.

(2.) IT is contended on behalf of the applicant that the case involves a point of Taw of general importance and hence is fit to be certified under Section 109(c), Civil P.C., but it is not material whether the case involves a point of law of general importance. The principle to be observed in granting certificates for leave to appeal to the Privy Council has been clearly stated by their Lordships of the Privy Council in Banarasi Prasad v. Kashi Krishna Narain [1901] 23 All. 227, Radha Krishna Das v. Rai Krishna Chand [1901] 23 All. 415 and Radhakrishna Ayyar v. Swaminatha Ayyar A.I.R. 1921 P.C. 25. In the last of these cases their Lordships, after referring to the previous cases, state: It is not necessary to examine them again, for the principle which they establish is plain and cannot be questioned. That principle is this that as an initial condition to appeal no His Majesty in Council, it is essential that the petitioners should satisfy the Court that the subject matter of the suit is Rs. 10,100 and in addition that in certain cases there should be added some substantial question of law. This dons not cover the whole grounds of appeal, because it is plain that there may be certain cases in which it is impossible to define in money value the exact character of the dispute, there are questions as for example, those relating to religious rights and ceremonies, to caste and family rights, or such matters as the reduction of the capital of companies, well as questions of wide public importance in which the subject matter in dispute cannot be reduced into actual terms of money. Sub-section (c), Section 109, Civil P.C., contemplates that such a state of things exists, and Rule 3, Order 45 regulates the procedure.