S.H.A. Raza, J. - (1.) In all the aforesaid first appeals filed under Section 54 of the Land Acquisition Act, the Stamp Reporters reported the deficiency of Court fee.
(2.) Learned Counsel for the appellants, relying upon Diwan Brothers v. Central Bank of India, Bombay and others, 1976 (3) SCC 800. submitted that the decision of the Tribunal did not amount to a decree as contemplated by Section 2(2) of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 ad valorem Court fees were not payable and the appellants were entitled to pay Court fees as prescribed in Schedule II, Article 11 of the Court Fees Act.
(3.) The Tribunal, whose order was challenged in the said application was constituted under the Displaced Persons (Debts Adjustment) Act, 1951. Hon'ble Supreme Court indicated in the aforesaid case that under the Act the decree which the Tribunal passed was not decree of the Civil Court, but the decree passed by the Tribunal in a proceeding under Section 5 and under Section 9 of the Act. Whether a claim is disallowed or allowed, the order passed by the Tribunal would be a decree in both cases. But it is a decree for purposes of Article 11 of Schedule II, it was further indicated:- "The Court Fees Act and the Code of Civil Procedure being statutes complementary to each other should be read as one harmonious whole. The term 'decree' as used in the Court Fees Act is a term of art and it must be deemed to have been used in the same sense as understood by the Code of Civil Procedure. So that an order rejecting a claim clearly falls under the term 'decree'. Under the definition of 'decree' in Section 2(2) Civil Procedure Code three essential conditions are necessary: (i) that the adjudication must be given in a suit; (ii) that the suit must start with a plaint and culminate in a decree; and (iii) that the adjudication must be formal and final and must be given by a Civil or Revenue Court." It was further indicated:- "Here the tribunal constituted under the Act cannot be called a Court. The proceedings before the tribunal starts with an application and not a plaint and lastly the claim before the tribunal is a proceeding and not a suit. Hence none of the requirements of a decree arc to be found in the decision given by the Tribunal even though the Legislature may have described the decision as a decree. A mere description of the decision of the Tribunal as a decree docs not make it a decree within the meaning of the Court Fees Act. More over the object of the Act is to benefit displaced persons by providing them a cheap and expeditious remedy.";