Case: Shamsher Singh Vs. Rajinder Prashad &amp; Ors

2. On 13-7-1962 the father executed a mortgage deed in favour of the appellant of a property of which he claimed to be the sole owner for a sum of Rs. 16,000/-. The mortgagee, the appellant filed a suit on the foot of this mortgage and obtained a decree. When he tried to take out execution proceedings for the sale of the mortgaged property, respondents 1 and 2 filed a suit for a declaration that the mortgage executed by their father in favour of the appellant is null and void and ineffectual as against them as the property was a joint Hindu family property, and the mortgage had been effected without consideration and family necessity. On this plaint the plaintiffs paid a fixed court fee of Rs. 19.50 and the value of the suit for purposes of jurisdiction was given as Rs. 16,000. A preliminary objection having been raised by the appellant that the suit was not properly valued for purposes of court fees and jurisdiction, the Subordinate Judge tried it as a preliminary issue. He held that although the case is covered by Section 7 (iv) (c) of the Court Fees Act, the proviso to that section applied and directed the plaintiffs to pay court fee on the value of Rs. l6,000 which was the amount at which the plaintiffs values the suit for the purposes of jurisdiction. The court fee not having been paid the plaint was rejected. The plaintiffs thereupon carried the matter upon appeal before the High Court of Punjab and Haryana. Before that Court the plaintiffs did not seriously contest the position that the consequential relief of setting aside the decree within the meaning of S. 7 (iv) (c) of the Court Fees Act was inherent in the declaration which was claimed with regard to the decree. But taking the view that the plaintiffs were not at all bound by the mortgage in dispute or the decree, the High Court held that there was no consequential relief involved since neither the decree nor the alienation binds the plaintiffs in any manner. The 1st defendant in the suit has, therefore, filed this appeal.

Court's reasoning:
4.As regards the main question that arises for decision it appears to us that while the court-fee payable on a plaint is certainly to be decided on the basis of the allegations and the prayer in the plaint and the question whether the plaintiffs suit will have to fail for failure to ask for consequential relief is of no concern to the Court at that stage, the Court in deciding the question of court-fee should look into the allegations in the plaint to see what is the substantive relief that is asked for. Mere astuteness in drafting the plaint will not be allowed to stand in the way of the Court looking at the substance of the relief asked for. In this case the relief asked for is on the basis that the property in dispute is a joint Hindu family property and there was no legal necessity to execute the mortgage. It is now well settled that under Hindu Law if the manager of a joint family is the father and the other members are the sons the father may by incurring a debt so long as it is not for an immoral purpose lay the joint family estate open to be taken in execution proceedings upon a decree for the payment of the debt not only where it is an unsecured debt and a simple money decree for the debt but also to a mortgage debt which the father is personally liable to pay and to a decree for the recovery of the mortgage debt by the sale of the property even where the mortgage is not for legal necessity or for payment of antecedentwhen the plaintiffs sued for a declaration that the decree obtained be the appellant against their father was not binding on them they were really asking either for setting aside the decree or for the consequential relief of injunction restraining the decree holder from executing the decree against the mortgaged property as he was entitled todecision of the Lahore High Court in Prithvi Raj v. D. C. Ralli, AIR 1945 Lah 13 is exactly in point. It was held that in a suit by the son for a declaration that the mortgage decree obtained against his father was not binding upon him it is essential for the son to ask for setting aside of the decree as a consequence of the declaration claimed and to pay ad valorem court fee under Section 7 (iv) (c). It was pointed out that a decree against the father is a good decree against the son and unless the decree is set aside it would remain executable against the son and it was essential for the son to ask for setting aside the decree. In Vinayakrao v. Mankunwarbai, AIR 1943 Nag 70 it was held that in a suit by the son for a declaration that decree against the father does not affect his interests in the family property, consequential relief is involved and ad valorem court fee would be necessary.