Manoharan vs Sivarajan & Ors

The appellant approached the respondent no. 1 - a money lender, for a loan of [pic]2,20,000/-. The respondent no. 1 agreed to give him the loan in return of execution of a sale deed with respect to 3 cents of land in re- survey No. 111/13-1 in Block No. 12 of Maranalloor village by the appellant in his favour. It was agreed upon between the parties that the respondent no. 1 will reconvey the property in favour of the appellant on repayment of the loan. The appellant accordingly executed sale deed No. 575 of 2001 at sub Registrar’s office at Ooruttambalam with respect to 3 cents of land in Re-survey No.111/13-1 in Block no.12 of Maranalloor village in favour of respondent no.1. The respondent no. 1 executed an agreement of re- conveyance deed in favour of the appellant regarding the above mentioned property on the same day.

5. It is also the case of the appellant that respondent no.1, instead of issuing a deed of re-conveyance, sold the property to Respondent nos. 2 and 3 without the knowledge of the appellant. The appellant sent a legal notice to the respondent no.1 requesting him to appear before the sub Registrar’s office for the execution of re-conveyance deed regarding the plaint schedule property to which the respondent no. 1 did not oblige. The appellant then filed a suit being OS No. 141/2007 before the Court of sub Judge, Neyyattinkara for mandatory injunction, for declaration of the sale deed executed by Respondent no.1 in favour of Respondent nos. 2 and 3 as null and void, for execution of re-conveyance deed in his favour and also for consequential reliefs. The suit was valued at [pic]3,03,967/- and the court fee was valued at [pic]28,797/-. The appellant paid 1/10th of the court fee i.e., [pic]2880/- at the time of filing the suit. The Court of sub Judge, Neyyattinkara granted injunction in favour of the appellant restraining the respondents from carrying out new construction activities including the parts of the plaint schedule property until further orders.

6. The court of sub Judge, Neyyattinkara heard the application for extension of time sought by the appellant for paying the balance court fee. However, the application was rejected and the file was closed by the learned sub Judge. The appellant then filed Regular First Appeal No. 678 of 2011 along with an application for condonation of delay in filing the appeal. The High Court dismissed the application for condonation of delay on the ground that the delay in filing the appeal was not explained by the appellant and consequently, dismissed the Regular First Appeal filed by the appellant. The High Court’s opinion that the appellant has not given any ground for delay in filing the Regular First Appeal is not sustainable since the appellant has categorically claimed that he was not aware of the rejection of the suit of the appellant for delayed payment of court fee by the learned sub Judge.

‘……The expression 'sufficient cause' should, therefore, be considered with pragmatism in justice-oriented process approach rather than the technical detention of sufficient case for explaining every day's delay. The factors which are peculiar to and characteristic of the functioning of pragmatic approach injustice oriented process. The Court should decide the matters on merits unless the case is hopelessly without merit. No separate standards to determine the cause laid by the State vis-a-vis private litigant could be laid to prove strict standards of sufficient cause. The Government at appropriate level should constitute legal cells to examine the cases whether any legal principles are involved for decision by the Courts or whether cases require adjustment and should authorize the officers to take a decision to give appropriate permission for settlement. In the event of decision to file the appeal needed prompt action should be pursued by the officer responsible to file the appeal and he should be made personally responsible for lapses, if any. Equally, the State cannot be put on the same footing as an individual. The individual would always be quick in taking the decision whether he would pursue the remedy by way of an appeal or application since he is a person legally injured while State is an impersonal machinery working through its officers or servants.’ To the same effect is the judgment of this Court in Special Tehsildar, Land Acquisition, Kerala v. K.V. Ayisumma AIR 1996 SC 2750.

Answer to Point no. 3

17. In view of the aforesaid reasons, the impugned judgment passed by the High Court is not sustainable and is liable to be set aside as per the principle laid down by this Court in as much the High Court erred in rejecting the application for condonation of delay filed by the appellant. We accordingly, condone the delay in filing the appeal in the High Court as well.

Answer to Point no. 4

18. In view of the reasons assigned while answering point nos. 1,2 and 3 in favour of the appellant, the impugned judgment passed by the High Court is set aside and the application filed by the appellant for condonation of delay is allowed. Therefore, we allow the appeal by setting aside the judgments and decree of both the trial court and the High Court and remand the case back to the trial court for payment of court fee within 8 weeks. If for any reason, it is not possible for the appellant to pay the court fee, in such event, he is at liberty to approach the jurisdictional district legal service authority and Taluk Legal Services Committee seeking for grant of legal aid for sanction of court fee amount payable on the suit before the trial court. If such application is filed, the same shall be considered by such committee and the same shall be facilitated to the appellant to get the right of the appellant adjudicated by the trial court by securing equal justice as provided under Article 39A of the Constitution of India read with the provision of Section 12(h) of the Legal Services Authorities Act read with Regulation of Kerala State. We further direct the trial court to adjudicate on the rights of the parties on merit and dispose of the matter as expeditiously as possible.

19. The appeal is allowed in terms of the observations and directions given as above to the trial court. There will be no order as to costs.