Pitchaikala Mangamma vs Nallamati Peda Ammanna

Curgenven, J.—In the suit out of which this Civil Revision Petition arises an award was filed, and the 1st defendant applied to have the

award set aside. The learned Subordinate Judge has found that this application was made more than 10 days after the award was filed, and that it

was, therefore, out of date. In coming to this conclusion, he has failed to apply the provision in Section 12(4) of the Limitation Act that in

computing; limitation for this purpose the time requisite for obtaining a copy of the award shall be excluded. It is admitted that; if this be done, the

1st defend"" ant''s application would be within time.

I think it is clear that the learned Subordinate Judge''s decision., consisted in a failure to realise that the time taken to procure a copy was a

relevant factor, and not, as the petitioner here has endeavoured to agree, that he merely overlooked the circumstance that four days were so

occupied. His error, in other words, was an error in applying the Law of Limitation, and not an erroneous omission to consider facts which, upon

the view which he should have taken of the law, ought to have been considered. The question for me first to decide is, therefore, whether the

dismissal of a claim on the grounds that it is time-barred amounts to a failure to exercise a jurisdiction with which the Court is vested, so that

Section 115. Civil Procedure Code, will enable the order to be revised.

[B] The meaning of, the word ""jurisdiction"" in this section has been considered by Woodroffe, J., in Shew Prosad Bungshidhur v. Ram Chunder

Hairbux 23 Ind Cas. 977 : 41C. 323. The term, according to one) view, he says ""is here used in the ordinary sense, that is a jurisdiction local,

pecuniary, personal or with reference to the subject-matter of the suit,"" The other view is that, ""the term may mean the legal authority of a Court to

do certain things, namely, to make a particular order in a case over which it has jurisdiction in the sense stated. The learned Judge, expresses a

preference for the former Construction, and it appears to me that it is this construction which forms the basis of a large preponderance of the

decisions upon this point. [B] To accept the alternative construction, and to hold, for instance, that a Court which dismisses a claim as time-barred

fails to exercise a jurisdiction vested in it by law, would entail the position that wherever a Court allows or rejects a claim upon an erroneous view

of law it acts in excess of, or in defect of, its jurisdiction and its decision would be open to revision. The distinction is brought out when we

consider the appropriate procedure. A Court which denies that it has jurisdiction to try a suit returns the plaint. If it admits jurisdiction, it proceeds

to record a decision. Whatever the issues between the parties, if the Court has jurisdiction to decide them no question of jurisdiction arises out of

the manner of the decision. And in the former case, unlike the latter, no issue can become res judicata.

This is in accordance with the view of the Judicial Committee in Amir Hassan Khan v.Sheo Bakhsh Singh 11 C. 6 : 11 I.A. 237 : 4 Sar. P.C.J.

559; Rafique and Jackson''s P.C. No. 83 : 5 Ind. Dec. (N.S.) 760 (P.C.) and that decision has been followed in a large number of cases in this

country Ramgopal Jhoonjhoowalla v. Joharmall Khemka 15 Ind. Cas. 547 : 39 C. 473, Jhotu Lal Ghose v. Ganouri Sahu 46 Ind. Cas. 176 : 3

P.L.J. 376, Bibi Zainab v. Paras Nath 75 Ind Cas.430 : 2 Pat. 800 : 4 P.L.T. 491 : 1 Pat. L.R. 361; AIR 1924 Pat. 37 and Sundar Singh v. Doru

Shankar 20 A 78; A.W.N. (1897) 168 : 9 Ind. Dec. 409.] In this Court I may refer to Kuppusamy Aiyangar v. Narayana Aiyangar 25 Ind. Cas

647 : 16 M.L.T. 438 : 1 L.W. 855 decided by Hannay, J., whose view was accepted by a Bench of the Letters Patent Appeal [Kuppuswami

Iyengar v. Narayana Iyengar 32 Ind. Cas. 3 : 19 M.L.T. 24 : 3 L.W. 36]. A contrary view, it is said Was taken by Spencer and Venkatasubba

Rao, JJ. in the The British India Steam Navigation Co. Vs. H.M. Sharafally Merchant by his Agent H.S. Mahomed Bhoy, . The question that

arose there related to the rejection as time-barred by the Presidency Small Cause Court of an application for re-trial of a Small Cause suit and

Spencer, J., who alone discussed the point, based his conclusion on the ground that the decision if it had been erroneous, would have involved a

refusal by the Court to deal with a petition made to it. In this he followed the Full Bench ruling in Sundaram alias Mytheenbibi Vs. Mamsa

Mavuthar, Sheikkasim Mavuthar, where again there was a refusal to deal with a petition on the ground that the petitioner had not the right to apply.

Such cases are, I think, clearly distinguishable from such one as the present, where the application is entertained and dismissed as; out of time. [A]

No other case decided by a Bench of this Court has been cited in which it has been held that an erroneous decision upon a question of limitation or

upon any question of a like nature, affords ground for the exercise of revisional powers. [A] I conclude accordingly that the Civil Revision Petition

must be dismissed and I dismiss it with costs.