Hassan Kunju vs Ahammad

M.S. Menon, J.—This petition is directed against the judgment of the Additional Sub Judge of Alleppey in Small Cause Suit No. 6 of 1958. The suit was instituted on 26-2-1958 and was based on a promissory note for a sum of Rs. 800/- executed by the 1st defendant in favor of the 2nd defendant and endorsed by the latter in favor of the plaintiff. The sole question for determination is whether the Subordinate Judge had jurisdiction to try the suit in view of Section 12 of the Kerala Small Cause Courts Act, 1957. That Act came into force on 1-8-1957, that is, prior to the date of the institution of the suit. Subsection (1) of Section 12 of the Kerala Small Cause Courts Act, 1957, says:

A court of Small Causes shall not take cognizance of the suits specified in the Schedule as suits excepted from the cognizance of a Court of Small Causes.;

sub section (2):

Subject to the exceptions specified in the Schedule and to the provisions of any enactment for the time being in force, all suits of a civil nature of which the value does not exceed five hundred rupees shall be cognizable by a Court of Small Causes.

and sub section (3):

Subject as aforesaid, the Government may, by notification in the Gazette, direct that all suits of a civil nature of which the value does not exceed one thousand rupees shall be cognizable by a Court of Small Causes mentioned in the notification.

No notification has been issued by the Government under sub section (3) of Section 12 and the contention of the petitioner is that in the absence of such a notification the present suit, the value of which exceeded Rs. 500/-, was not triable as a small cause suit.

We are not prepared to accept this contention. What we are concerned with is not a Court of Small Causes constituted under the Kerala Small Cause Courts Act, 1957, or a person exercising jurisdiction under that Act in any such court. What we are concerned with is a Subordinate Judge invested with small cause jurisdiction u/s 18 of the Kerala Civil Courts Act, 1957, which reads as follows:

The High Court may, by notification in the Gazette, invest within such local limits as it shall from time to time appoint, any District or Subordinate Judge with the jurisdiction of a Judge of a Court of Small Causes for the trial of suits cognizable by such courts up to the amount of one thousand rupees, and any Munsiff with the same jurisdiction up to the amount of five hundred rupees.

A notification was issued by the High Court u/s 18 of the Kerala Civil Courts Act, 1957, on 6-4-1957. By that notification the High Court invested "all the Subordinate Judges and Munsiffs in the State of Kerala with the jurisdiction of a Judge of a Court of Small Causes for the trial of suits cognizable by such courts up to the amount of one thousand rupees in the case of Subordinate Judges and up to the amount of five hundred rupees in the case of Munsiffs within their respective territorial limits." By a subsequent notification dated 22-7-1957 the High Court modified the notification mentioned above and directed that the jurisdiction of a Court of Small Causes conferred on Subordinate Judges in the State "will be confined to the municipal or panchayat areas within which the Subordinate Judge''s Court is situate.

Section 22(3) of the Kerala Civil Courts Act, 1957, repealed the Travancore-Cochin Civil Courts Act, 1951, and in doing so specifically stated that all District Judges, Subordinate Judges and District Munsiffs, who, immediately before the commencement of the Act, were empowered by or under the Travancore-Cochin Civil Courts Act, 1951, to hear and determine certain classes of suits as small causes "shall continue to exercise such power in respect of such classes of suits in accordance with the provisions of the said Civil Courts Act as if such provisions were not repealed." The reason for the saving was given in the "Reasons for the Enactment" as follows:

Sub section (3) contains a transitional provision for preserving the small cause jurisdiction of District Judges, Subordinate Judges and District Munsiffs during the period between the commencement of this Act and the commencement of the law which may be enacted shortly in regard to the exercise of small cause jurisdiction by courts.

Section 13 of the Travancore-Cochin Civil Courts Act, 1951, provided that every District Munsiff, unless otherwise directed by Government, shall hear and determine as small causes all suits of a civil nature, except suits specified in the Schedule hereto annexed, the amount or value of which does not exceed Rs. 200/-, and section 14 that the Government may invest any of the District Judges or Subordinate Judges with small cause powers and empower them to hear and determine as small causes all suits of a civil nature, except those specified in the Schedule hereto annexed, the amount or value of which does not exceed Rs. 500/-.

Section 18 of the Kerala Civil Courts Act, 1957, empowered the High Court to raise the pecuniary limits to five hundred rupees in the case of Munsiffs and to one thousand rupees in the case of District and Subordinate Judges. And that is exactly what the High Court did by the notification dated 6-4-1957.

Section 33 of the Kerala Small Cause Courts Act, 1957, repealed sub-section (3) of section 22 of the Kerala Civil Courts Act, 1957, and section 29(1) of the Kerala Small Cause Courts Act, 1957, provided that so much of Chapter III and IV of that Act as relats to-

(a) the nature of the suits cognizable by Courts of small causes,

(b) the exclusion of the jurisdiction of other Courts in those suits,

(c) the practice and procedure of Courts of Small Causes,

(d) appeal from certain orders of those Courts and revision of cases decided by them, and

(e) the finality of their decrees and orders subject to such appeal and revision as are provided by this Act,

applies "to Courts invested by or under any enactment for the time being in force with the jurisdiction of a Court of Small Causes so far as regards the exercise of that jurisdiction by those Courts.

In view of section 18 of the Kerala Civil Courts Act, 1957, the notification of 6-4-1957 issued thereunder by the High Court and section 29(1) of the Kerala Small Cause Courts Act, 1957, we must hold that the Subordinate Judge had the power and the jurisdiction to try the suit concerned as a small cause suit and that this petition should be dismissed. We do so. In the circumstances of the case however, we make no order as to costs.