- (1.) This appeal by special leave, raises the question whether the amount of interest decreed for the period subsequent to the institution of a suit comes within the expression 'amount or value of the subject matter in dispute ' in Art. 1 of Schedule I of the Bombay Court fees Act, 1959, hereinafter called the Act, for purposes of court-fee payable on the memorandum of appeal.
(2.) The plaintiff-respondent No. 1 instituted Special Suit No. 5 of 1957 in the Court of the Civil Judge (Senior Division) at Ahmednagar to recover Rs. 13,205/- on account of the principal lent to defendant No. 7, and interest up to the date of the suit at the rate of 9 per cent per annum. On July 18, 1960, his claim was decreed in a sum of Rs. 13,033-6-6 with future interest from the date of suit till realisation at 4 per cent per annum on a sum of Rs. 10, 120/-.
(3.) Defendant No. 7 appealed to the High Court against the decree. In the memorandum of appeal, defendant No. 7 valued the claim for purpose of jurisdiction and court-fee at Rs. 13,033/6/6 and his grounds Nos. 1 and 48 of appeal were as follows: "1. That the lower Court erred in decreeing the plaintiff's suit. 48. That the decree is otherwise erroneous, unjust and illegal and therefore deserves to be set aside." The remaining 46 grounds related to the merits of the plaintiffs claim and did not deal with the correctness of the trial Court awarding future pendente lite interest at the rate at which it was to be calculated.;