H.V.R. ATHRE Vs. THE CHIEF SECRETARY AND ANOTHER

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE question involved in this revision petition is whether a suit brought by the petitioner against His Highness Sri Jayachamaraja Wadeyar Bahadur who is defendant 2 in that suit without the consent of the Central Government certified by a Secretary to that Government is maintainable. This is how the question arises : -

(2.) THE petitioner who is the plaintiff in the suit brought by him in the Court below, sought an injunction against the Government of the new State of Mysore and against His Highness Sri Jayachamaraja Wadeyar Bahadur for a permanent injunction restraining them from infringing the copyright of the plaintiff in a work entitled "History of Mysore (1399 -1799)" and also for damages. The plaintiff's case was that his father, Rajacharita Visharada Rao Bahadur C. Hayavadana Rao was the author of the work in which the plaintiff claimed a copyright and which recorded the authentic history of Mysore based on the materials collected by the author. This work, according to the plaintiff, had been dedicated by the author to the second defendant and the author had the right to be handed over the copies of the work after the books were printed by the Government of Mysore, which according to the plaintiff, published a Government Order on March 26, 1936, recording the arrangement on which the plaintiff relied. The plaintiff's complaint was that after the printing of the volumes by the Government at its own press, some books had been sold to the public, others taken by the Palace of defendant 2 and the others distributed to the various Government Offices, colleges and libraries. This action, according to the plaintiff, constituted an infringement of the copyright in the book which his father had and which, according to him now vests in him.

(3.) IT would now be necessary to refer to the two relevant sections of the Code of Civil Procedure which are Sections 86 and 87B. Those Sections read : 86. "Suits against foreign Rulers, Ambassadors and Envoys. - - (1) No Ruler of a foreign State may be sued in any Court otherwise competent to try the suit, except with, the consent of the Central Government certified in writing by a Secretary to the Government............" 87B. "Application of Sections 85 and 86 to Rulers of former Indian States. : - - (1) The provisions of Section 85 and of Sub -sections (1) and (3) of Section 86 shall apply in relation to the Rulers of any former Indian State as they apply in relation to the Ruler of a foreign State. (2) In this section - -