Vijay Kumar Sud vs Liaq Ram Thakur and Others

V.K. Ahuja, J.—The Appellant has filed the present appeal u/s 96 CPC against the judgment and decree of the court of the learned Additional District Judge, Shimla, dated 1.4.2003, vide which the suit for recovery of Rs. 2,40,000/- filed against the Respondents was dismissed by the learned trail Court mainly deciding issues No. 1 to 5 as against the Appellant, but the findings given on issue No. 5 were that the suit filed by the Plaintiffs was held to be not legally maintainable as the Plaintiffs are neither the money lenders nor entitled for the recovery of the suit amount. This finding was given by the learned trial Court mainly relying upon the judgment passed by a learned Single Judge of this Court in Jawanti Devi and Ors. v. Sunil Mehra on 13.9.2002. The said judgment was challenged and as per the copy of the judgment filed on record, the said judgment of the learned Single Judge was set aside by a Division Bench of this Court, by holding that the suit was maintainable by the legal heirs.

Therefore, in view of the above discussion, the judgment passed by the learned trial Court has to be set aside, as the trial Court is required to give its findings on all issues also, since the findings were given together on all the issues, therefore, the same are set aside as a whole and the learned trial Court shall give its fresh findings accordingly on all the issues. During the course of arguments, it was submitted by the learned Senior Advocate appearing for the Appellant that the pecuniary jurisdiction of the learned Civil Judge (Senior Division) has been enhanced to Rs. 10.00 lacs and, therefore, the jurisdiction to try the present case vests with the learned Civil Judge (Senior Division). Therefore, the case is remanded back to the learned Civil Judge (Senior Division), who shall rehear the parties accordingly and give its findings on all the issues. The Appellant, through his counsel, is directed to appear before the learned Civil Judge (Senior Division)/Senior Sub Judge, Shimla on 15.2.2011. The learned Civil Judge (Senior Division) shall issue notice to the Respondents, since they are not represented by any counsel before this Court and shall proceed with the case in accordance with law.

The appeal is accordingly accepted. Court fee be refunded to the Appellant, as per Rules.