Case: Commerclal Aviation &amp; Travel Company &amp; Ors Vs. Vimal Pannalal

3. The respondent, who is the plaintiff, has filed a suit against the appellants, inter alia, for dissolution of partnership and for accounts. The suit has been valued for the purpose of jurisdiction at Rs. 25 lakhs and at Rs. 500 for the purpose of Court fee4. The appellants filed an application wherein a preliminary objec-tion was raised as to the valuation of the suit. It was contended by them that the relief sought for in the suit had been grossly undervalued and the Court should reject the plaint under Order VII Rule 11 (b) of the Code of Civil Procedure. The learned Single Judge of the High Court overruled the said preliminary objection and held that the suit was not undervalued. On appeal by the appellants, a Division Bench of the High Court took the same view as that of the learned Single Judge. The Division Bench placed reliance upon and followed a Full Bench decision of the same High Court in Smt Sheila Devi and Ors. v. Mr. Kishan Lal Kalra and Ors., AIR 1974 Delhi 491 where it has been observed, inter alia, that paragraph (iv) of Section 7 of the Court Fees Act gives a right to the plaintiff in any of the suits mentioned in the clauses of that paragraph to place any value that he likes on the relief he seeks, subject, however, to any rule made under Section 9 of the Suits Valuation Act and the Court has no power to interfere with the plaintiff?s valuation. The Division Bench felt itself bound by the said Full Bench decision and, accordingly, it dismissed the appeal of the appel-lants. Hence this appeal.

Reasoning:
In our opinion, ordinarily it is not possible for the Court at a preliminary stage to determine the value of the relief in a suit for accounts simplicitor. If the Court is itself unable to say what the correct valuation of the relief is, it cannot require the plaintiff to correct the valuation that has been made by him. Indeed, in a suit for accounts it is also difficult for the Court to come to a finding even as to the approximate correct valuation of the relief. In such a case, the Court has no other alternative than to accept plaintiff?s valuation tentatively10. There has been a divergence of judicial opinion on the question as to whether the plaintiff in a suit for account is entitled to put any valua-tion he likes. It is not necessary to refer to the decisions of different High Courts on the point, and suffice it to say that they are not uniform, some holding that the plaintiff is free to give his own valuation and others hold-ing the plaintiff is not entitled to give an arbitrary valuation without having any link or connection with the relief in question23. We are also of the view that the plaintiff cannot whimsically choose a ridiculous figure for filing the suit most arbitrarily where there are positive materials and/or objective standards of valuation of the relief appearing on the face of the plaint. These materials or objective standards will also enable the Court to determine the valuation for the purpose of Order VII, Rule 11 (b) of the Code of Civil Procedure. Indeed, in Abdul Hamid Shamsi?s case, it has been noticed by this Court that the plaintiff has laid a claim to a sum of Rs. 1,26,79672. besides another sum of over Rs. 84,000 as his share in the profit for a particular period by reference to the proceedings of the Income-tax Department mentioned in paragraph 11 of the plaint. Further, a copy of the profit and loss account for the calendar years 1979 was annexed by the plaintiff to the additional affidavit filed on his behalf before this Court, which also gave positive indication as to the valuation of the relief. The plaintiff in that case valued the suit without making any reference whatsoever to those materials or objective standards available to him and in the context of these facts, this Court made the above observation. But, if there be no material or objective standard, the plaintiff?s valuation has to be acceptedWe are unable to accept the con-tention. The statement does not, in our opinion, constitute any objective standard of valuation or a positive material from which it can be said with any amount of certainty that the valuation of the relief for accounts should be at the sum of Rs. 25 lakhs. The respondent was not required to make such a statement in the plaint. It is the wishful thinking of the respondent that no account being taken, she would be entitled to such a huge amount. The respondent has not given in the plaint any material in support of the estimate of Rs. 25 lakhs to Rs. 30 lakhs to her share. As has been stated already, this is no material at all on which any reliance can be placed for the purpose of valuation of the relief. In this connection, we may refer to a decision of the Lahore High Court in Atma Ram Charan Das v. Bisheshar Nath Dina Nath, AIR 1935 Lahore 689., In that case also, the question was whether the plaintiff had correctly valued the relief for the rendition of accounts. In the plaint, the plaintiff stated that a sum of Rs. 8,000 was due to him from the defendants, but he valued the suit for purposes of jurisdic-tion and Court fee at Rs. 500 tentatively. It was held that the plaintiff could not be prejudiced or damnified merely because he added to the plaint a computation which was unnecessary for him to give25. We have considered the facts and circumstances of the case and also the legal position and, in our view, the valuation of the relief for the rendition of accounts under Section 7(iv)(f) of the Court Fees Act is neither unreasonable nor it is demonstratively arbitrary.