MADAN MOHAN PRASAD Vs. LIFE INSURANCE CORPORATION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This application is made on behalf of the petitioners for grant of a certificate to appeal to the Supreme Court from a judgment of the High Court in First Appeal No, 445 of 1954, dated the 6th of May, 1959. The judgment of the High Court is not a judgment of affirmance, and if the requirement of valuation under Art. 133 of the Constitution is satisfied, the petitioners are entitled to a certificate to appeal to the Supreme Court. It appears that in the Trial Court the suit was valued at Rs. 35,447-9-0 by the petitioners who were the plaintiffs seeking to enforce their claim. The Trial Court decreed the suit in its entirety for a sum of Rs. 35,447-9-0 together with interest at 6 per cent per annum from the date of the institution of the suit. The defendant appealed to the High Court which modified the decree of the Trial Court allowing the claim of the plaintiffs to the extent of half, namely, a sum of Rs. 17,723-8-0. It appears from the judgment of the High Court that no interest was allowed on this amount, and the parties were directed to bear their own costs. The plaintiffs now seek to appeal to the Supreme Court from the judgment of the High Court, and the question is whether the case satisfies the requirement of valuation under Article 133 of the Constitution. The value of the appeal to the High Court is Rs. 38,919 and odd and court-fee was paid by the defendant on this valuation. The valuation includes interest from the date of the Trial Court decree up to the date of the institution of the appeal in the High Court. A special ground was taken in the memorandum of appeal that the defendant should not be saddled with interest or with costs, and so the amount of interest and costs awarded by the Trial Court was made the subject-matter of the appeal to the High Court. In the circumstances of this case we think that the amount of costs and interest awarded by the Trial Court should be taken into account for the purpose of the valuation of the appeal to the Supreme Court. The position has been clearly stated by FazI Ali, J. in the judgment of the Full Bench of this Court in Babu Brijmohan Singh v. Bhuneshwar Prasad Singh, AIR 1941 Pat 255. It is true that in that particular case the Full Bench refused to grant a certificate to appeal to the Privy Council on the ground that the requirement of valuation was not satisfied. But we consulted the record of the First Appeal in that case, and we find that the memorandum of First Appeal was only confined to the amount of Rs. 9,141-5-0, which was the amount of the decree passed by the Trial Court, and there was no plea taken with regard to the costs of Rs. 1,131-6-0 which were awarded by the Trial Court in that case. The appeal to the High Court, therefore, did not comprise the sum of Rs. 1131-6-0 which was awarded as costs, and upon these facts it was held by the Full Bench that the requirement of valuation under Section 109 of the Code of Civil Procedure was not satisfied in that case. But the Special Bench made it clear that

(2.) We accordingly hold that a certificate should be granted to the petitioners to appeal to the Supreme Court under Article 133 (1) (a) of the Constitution.

(3.) We accordingly allow this application. There will be no order as to costs.