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2014 DIGILAW 736 (KER)

Sahasrabda Chits (P) Ltd. v. Sudeep

2014-09-22

B.KEMAL PASHA

body2014
JUDGMENT 1. Petitioner, who is the plaintiff in O.S. No.203/2007 of the Subordinate Judge's Court, Irinjalakuda, has come up by challenging Ext.P4 order dated 26.07.2010 passed by the said court in I.A. No.4445/2008 in the said suit. 2. O.S. No.203/2007 was a suit for money filed by the petitioner herein as the plaintiff. The suit was posted on 22.10.2008 for the payment of balance court fee. On that day, the plaintiff was absent and there was no representation. As the balance court fee was not paid, the court below rejected the plaint through Ext.P2 judgment. Thereafter, on 21.11.2008, the petitioner paid the balance court fee and preferred I.A. No.4445/2008 for reviewing the judgment dated 22.10.2008. 3. The court below, through Ext.P4 impugned order, dismissed the I.A. on two grounds; that there was no error apparent on the face of the record so as to entitle the plaintiff to get the earlier judgment reviewed and that the court fee paid on the review petition was insufficient. 4. Heard the learned counsel for the petitioner and the learned counsel for the respondents. 5. The learned counsel for the petitioner has pointed out that a Division Bench of this Court in Gopalan Nair Vs. Bhaskaran [ 2002 (1) KLT 251 ] had taken the view that the rejection of a plaint on account of the non-payment of court fee is a decree within the meaning of Section 2(2) of the Code of Civil Procedure and, therefore, the only remedy available to such a plaintiff is to prefer an appeal or to seek a review of the judgment by making a proper approach before the trial court. In paragraph 7 of the decision in Gopalan Nair (supra), it was held:- “We are of the view that once a plaint is rejected under O.7 R.11(c) of the Code of Civil Procedure for non payment of court fee, the remedy available to the plaintiff is only by way of an appeal or by way of a review and no application either under O.IX R.9 of the Code of Civil Procedure or under S.151 of the Code of Civil Procedure would lie to restore the suit.” It seems that the Division Bench of this Court in Gopalan Nair (supra) has identified a review also as a remedy available to a plaintiff, whose suit was thrown to the dust bin on account of the non-payment of court fee. 6. In Haji Hassan Rawther Vs. Bulgheese Beevi [ 1971 KLT 613 (FB)], a Full Bench of this Court had held that the rejection of a plaint for non-payment of court fee is a decree within the meaning of Section 2(2) of the C.P.C. and in such case, the remedy available to the party, whose plaint was rejected, is by way of an appeal. It seems that 2-3 decisions were rendered subsequently by Single Benches of this Court to the effect that an application under Order IX Rule 9 is maintainable in such cases. In the light of the decision in Haji Hassan Rawther (supra) rendered by the Full Bench of this Court, the said decisions of the Single Benches to the contrary are not legally sustainable. At the same time, by relying on Haji Hassan Rawther (supra) , it was held by a Division Bench of this Court in the decision reported in Gopalan Nair (supra) that the remedy available to such a plaintiff is only by way of an appeal or by way of a review. Review is also identified as one of the remedies available to such a plaintiff. 7. In this particular case, it seems that within 30 days of the rejection of the plaint, the plaintiff had remitted the entire court fee, which is a substantial amount before the court below and filed the review petition for getting the earlier judgment reviewed. It seems that the main reason weighed with the court below to dismiss the said I.A. is that even sufficient court fee was not paid on that review petition. Normally in the case of a review of a judgment, half the court fee payable for the suit has to be remitted. On that point, the learned counsel for the petitioner is relying on the decision of a Division Bench of this Court in Thanappan Vs. Hassan Kappor [ 2003 (2) KLT 39 ]. In that case, an appeal was preferred on the rejection of a plaint on account of non-payment of court fee. Instead of paying the court fee payable on the suit, the said appellant had paid a court fee of Rs.10/-by relying on Schedule II Article 3(iii) of the Kerala Court Fees and Suits Valuation Act, 1959. The Registry has noted an objection to the effect that the entire court fee payable was not paid. Instead of paying the court fee payable on the suit, the said appellant had paid a court fee of Rs.10/-by relying on Schedule II Article 3(iii) of the Kerala Court Fees and Suits Valuation Act, 1959. The Registry has noted an objection to the effect that the entire court fee payable was not paid. In that case, the Division Bench held that such a plaintiff, who lost the suit on account of non-payment of court fee, should not again be saddled with the liability to pay the ad valorem court fee in the appeal; because, if it is so ordered, the plaintiff will have to pay the entire court fee before the court below and merely for getting the rejection set aside, he will have to pay once again the entire court fee payable on the appeal. The same principle can be applied in the case of a review of this kind also. If such a plaintiff is saddled with the liability to pay half the ad valorem court fee for maintaining a review also, the plaintiff would be put to severe financial loss. Therefore, the court below ought not to have thrown away the review on the ground that half the ad valorem court fee was not paid on the review. 8. In an identical case wherein a review petition was filed by a plaintiff, whose plaint was rejected for non-payment of court fee, where the said plaintiff had preferred an application for review along with an application for getting a delay of 275 days condoned, a learned Single Judge of this Court has held in Girija Vallabhan Vs. J.B.J. Plantation Pvt. Ltd. and Others [ 2012 (2) KHC 431 ] that the court should not take a hyper technical attitude in dealing with the cases of delay in such case. In that case, the trial court had dismissed the application for condoning the delay and consequently, dismissed the review petition as time barred. When it was held that a hyper technical attitude should not be taken in such case, in the present case also, this Court is of the view that a hyper technical attitude should not have been resorted to by the court below in dealing with the review petition in this case. When it was held that a hyper technical attitude should not be taken in such case, in the present case also, this Court is of the view that a hyper technical attitude should not have been resorted to by the court below in dealing with the review petition in this case. It seems that in this particular case, the plaintiff had paid the entire balance court fee within 30 days from the rejection of the plaint and filed the review application in question. 9. Over and above all these, it seems that there was no deliberate laches or wilful negligence on the part of the plaintiff in making the payment on the date on which the case was posted. On the date on which the suit was posted for the payment of balance court fee, unfortunately, the plaintiff was not present. The learned counsel, who was appearing for the plaintiff, also was not present to represent the plaintiff and that was how the plaint happened to be rejected for nonpayment of balance court fee. When such a court fee was paid within 30 days from the date of rejection along with an application for review of the order, the court below ought not to have resorted to a hyper technical attitude to dismiss the review petition. Matters being so, the impugned order is only to be set aside, and I do so. In the result, this Original Petition (Civil) is allowed. The impugned order is set aside. The suit is restored and is remitted to the court below for fresh disposal in accordance with law. The parties shall appear before the court below on 27.10.2014.