The State Of Rajasthan vs Ram Nath Nirottamdas Chaturvedi
- AIRAIR 1978 SC 1477
Ratio decidendi
The rule this decision rests on
A Court of Appeals may, in the exercise of its discretionary power, condone delay in the filing of an appeal before a High Court and remand the appeal for disposal on the merits, notwithstanding that the prescribed time limit has expired. Where an appellant has already received money from the respondent pending the determination of an appeal, and the appeal is decided wholly or partly in the appellant's favour, the appellant shall not be entitled to interest on the amounts received during the period between receipt and ninety days after the appellate decree, as a condition of remand and reconsideration of the matter. Where a party has received money from the opposite party pending appellate proceedings, and such proceedings result in a decree requiring refund of that money, the recipient may be made liable to refund the principal and accrued interest, with interest on any amount not refunded within ninety days of the appellate decree to be computed at six per cent per annum from the expiry of the ninety-day period until payment. A party seeking to contest a remanded appeal before the High Court remains entitled to contest all questions of fact and law except those already concluded (here, the question of limitation to file the appeal), and retains the right to file cross-objections within the prescribed time. A party against whom a remanded appeal is decided may apply for stay of the decree from the High Court and retains the right to appeal further, subject to liability for interest accruing under the terms imposed by the Court in ordering the remand.
Written by Miss Lucy from the judgment below, not taken from a headnote.
Judgment
As delivered
Civil Appeal No. 1126 of 1973 is allowed and the delay of two days caused in filing C. F.A.No. 70/70 in the High Court is condoned. We remand the aforesaid appeal (C.F.A.No. 70/70) to the Rajasthan High Court for disposal in accordance with law, but subject to the following conditions:
(1)Regardless of the result of C.F.A. No. 70/70 or of any further appeal or appeals to the High Court or to this Court arising out of the present suit, the State of Rajasthan shall pay to the plaintiff (a) costs of suit No. 4 of 1957 as already awarded to him by the trial Court, (b) costs of the plaintiff in C.F.A. No. 70/70 both before and after the remand, and (c) the costs incurred by the plaintiff in this Court in C.A.No. 1126/73.
(2) In the event of C.F.A. No. 70/70 filed by the State in the High Court of Rajasthan being allowed in full, the state shall not be entitled to the payment of any interest either on the decretal amount of Rs. 1,26,710.53 or on the interest amount of Rs. 1,00,810.05 for any part of the period between the data of payment of the said amount by the state to the plaintiff and for a period of 90 days from the date on which the High Court will pass a decree in C.F.A. No. 70/70.
(3)In the event that C.F.A. 70/70 is allowed in part, the State shall not be entitled to payment of any interest on the decretal amount nor to any interest on the amount of interest as may be determined by the High Court to be refundable to the State. This clause will be operative for the period between the dates of payment of the aforesaid amounts by the State to the plaintiff and for a period of 90 days from the date on which the High Court passes the decree in C.F.A.No. 70/70.
(4) In the event that C.F.A. 70/70 is decided in favour of the State either wholly or in part, the plaintiff shall be liable to refund to the State the decretal amount and the amount of interest which he has already received from the State or such portion of each of these amounts as may be determined to be payable by him under the decree passed against him in C.F.A. No. 70/70.
(5) The State shall not execute the decree, if any, passed in its favour in C.F.A. No. 70/70 for a period of 90 days from the date of the decree.
(6) In the event that Clause (2) or (3) above comes into operation, if the plain tiff fails to pay to the State within the period mentions in those clauses (i.e. 90 days) the amount payable by him, ha shall be liable to pay interest at 6 per cent on the. amount payable by him on the expiry of the period of 90 days from the date of the High Court decree until payment.
(7) Since the High Court will now be seized of C.F.A.No. 70 of 1970 in pursuance of the Order of remand which we are passing today, the plaintiff will be entitled to contest the appeal on all questions of fact and law, except the question of limitation in regard to the filing of the C.F.A. No. 70/70 and ha will also be entitled to file cross-objections, if he is so advised within 30 days of this Order.
(8) In the event that C.F.A. No. 70/70 is decided against the plaintiff by the High Court either fully or partly, the plaintiff's right, if any to prefer an appeal or appeals there from either to the High Court or to this Court will remain unaffected subject to his liability to pay interest on the expiry of 90 days from the date of the High Court decree, if any such liability arises there under. The plaintiff will be at liberty to apply for stay of the decree passed by the High Court in the event that the aforesaid decree is against him, and
(9) In the event that C.F.A. 70/70 is dismissed by the High Court, but if the State succeeds either fully or in part, in any further appeal, the terms as to the payment of interest mentioned in Clauses (2) and (3) above shall apply except with the modification that the plaintiffs liability to pay interest will commence on the expiry of 90 days after the decision in the further appeal that the State may file. And, the plaintiff in that event, shall not be liable to pay any interest for the period up to and inclusive of 90 days from the date of the decree.
This page reproduces a public judgment and a summary of it. It is research material, not legal advice, and it is no substitute for advice from an advocate on your own facts.
Research this judgment with Miss Lucy
Ask what it holds, what has followed it, and what it means for your matter — in plain English, with the citations.
Try Miss Lucy free