Punjab and Haryana High Court: In a revision petition challenging an order passed under Order 7 Rule 11 CPC; Raj Mohan Singh, J., allowed the petition while setting the order aside.
The present petition arises from the order dated 07-03-2020 passed by the Additional Civil Judge (Senior Division), Sirsa, vide which application under Order 7 Rule 11 CPC filed by the respondent was allowed and petitioner was directed to pay the ad valorem Court fee as per the market value of the suit property.
Counsel for the petitioner, Mohit Garg has submitted that there is a pending application before the trial court under Order 6 Rule 17 read with Order 1 Rule 10 and Section 151 CPC for amendment of the plaint. Through the proposed amendment, the petitioner intends to challenge the sale deed(s) executed by the plaintiff. In the event of acceptance of the said application under Order 6 Rule 17 CPC, the amended plaint would be tested at the threshold of Order 7 Rule 11 CPC. Consequently, if the proposed amendment is incorporated, the suit would be for declaration, challenging the sale deed and for possession.
The Court relied on the judgment delivered in the case of Suhrid Singh v. Randhir Singh, (2010) 12 SCC 112 which lays down the following principle-
“the executant of the sale deed if seeks cancellation of the deed, then the plaintiff has to pay the ad valorem Court fee on the consideration as shown in the deed.”
Based on this, the Court observed that the application under Order 6 Rule 17 CPC has to be decided before the decision of the application under Order 7 Rule 11 CPC. It is opined that the order dated 07-03-2020 passed by the trial court is pertinently illegal in nature.
“In any case, the pending application under Order 6 Rule 17 CPC ought to have been decided prior to the decision in the application under Order 7 Rule 11 CPC.”
In view of the above, the Court allowed the present revision petition directing the trial court to decide the application under Order 6 Rule 17 CPC. The Court also set aside the impugned order dated 07-03-2020. Only after consideration of the application under Order 6 Rule 17 will the trial court proceed with the application under Order 7 Rule 11 CPC.[Dera Baba Bhumman Shah Sangar Sarista v. Subhash Narula, 2020 SCC OnLine P&H 1625, decided on 08-10-2020]
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