AIR 2010 DELHI 4 ::2010 (1) AIR Kar R 106 ::2010 AIHC NOC 261 ::(2009) 159 DLT 624

Delhi High Court

Hon'ble Judge(s): Mukul Mudgal, Valmiki J. Mehta , JJ

Court-fees Act (7 of 1870) , S.17— Suits Valuation Act (7 of 1887) , S.8— Civil P.C. (5 of 1908) , S.15, O.6 R.17— Pecuniary jurisdiction - Suit for value of Rs. 1600/- - To be tried by civil Judge and has to be filed before civil Judge - Not open for plaintiff to pay court fee of more than 20 lakhs and file suit before High Court - Court which does not have pecuniary jurisdiction cannot pass any orders allowing an application seeking amendment of a plaint to bring the suit plaint within the pecuniary jurisdiction of a Court. A plaint in a suit when the same fixes the value of the different causes of action and reliefs claimed thereon for the purposes of pecuniary jurisdiction, the total value for the purposes of pecuniary jurisdiction would be the sum total of the values resulting from the addition to the valuation of the causes of action. This is the effect of reading Section 17 of the Court Fees Act, 1870 and Section 8 of the Suits Valuation Act, 1887. Once that is done, the plaintiff cannot thereafter arbitrarily state that the pecuniary jurisdiction is a wholly different figure than the sum total of the valuations of the different causes of action. Clearly, the suit, therefore, could not have been filed before Court in the exercise of original civil jurisdiction as pecuniary valuation of the suit was only Rs. 1600/- i.e. less than Rs. 20 lakhs when the ....