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TMI Blog2015 (1) TMI 1490X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the plea of limitation can be decided as a preliminary issue Under Section 9A of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (for short, "the Code") and thereby, allowed the parties to lead evidence for determination of the same. 2. The parties in the appeal are referred as arrayed before the Trial Court. The Appellant is the Plaintiff and the Respondents are the Defendants. 3. The facts, in brief, are: the Defendants Nos. 1 to 3 agreed to sell the suit schedule property situated at Mouje Takli Taluka, Pandharpur, District Solapur by an agreement of sale in favour of the Plaintiff for the total consideration of Rs. 12,00,000/-. The Plaintiff in part-payment of the aforesaid agreed consideration had paid Rs. 10,00,000/- to the Defendants Nos. 1 to 3 ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... fact, it would require to be considered along with the other issues on merits of the Plaintiffs case and thus, cannot be decided at the threshold as a preliminary issue. The Trial Court, upon consideration of the pleas advanced, has concluded that the issue of limitation as preliminary issue requires to be framed Under Section 9A of the Code to determine the maintainability of the suit and accordingly, had passed order dated 13.03.2012. 6. Aggrieved by the framing of the issue of limitation as a preliminary issue Under Section 9A of the Code, the Plaintiff had filed Writ Petition No. 7495 of 2012 before the High Court. By the judgment and order, dated 19.12.2012, the High Court has dismissed the writ petition preferred by the Plaintiff and ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... tion as a preliminary issue before granting for setting aside the order granting the interim relief. Any such application shall be heard and disposed of by the court as expeditiously as possible and shall not in any case be adjourned to the hearing of the suit. (2) Notwithstanding anything contained in Sub-section (1), at the hearing of any such application the court may grant such interim relief as it may consider necessary, pending determination by it of the preliminary issue as to the jurisdiction." 10. Shri Vinay Navare, Learned Counsel for the Plaintiff, would submit that by way of a State amendment, Section 9A has been inserted in the Code, which provides that if an objection as to the jurisdiction of the Court is taken in the cour ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ection 9A(2) provides that the Court shall have the power to grant interim relief, as it may deem appropriate, pending determination of such preliminary issue regarding jurisdiction before it. 14. The provision, read in its entirety, neither contemplates nor refers to any circumstance where an objection besides the jurisdiction of the Court may be determined as a preliminary issue. It only contemplates the issue of jurisdiction to be framed and determined as a preliminary issue by the Court. 15. This Court in Hari Prasad Mulshankar Trivedi v. V.B. Raju and Ors., (1974) 3 SCC 415, in context of the expanse of the term "jurisdiction" has observed that: "28....Though the dividing line between lack of jurisdiction or power and erroneous exe ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e of certain provisions of law, it does not follow that the non-compliance with the said provisions is a defect which takes away the inherent jurisdiction of the Court to try a suit or pass a decree. The law of limitation operates on the bar on a party to agitate a case before a Court in a suit, or other proceedings on which the Court has inherent jurisdiction to entertain but by operation of the law of limitation it would not warrant adjudication. 17. To aid the discussion, a reference may be drawn to the Statement of Objects and Reasons of Section 9A of the Code. The said statement reads as under: "... the Bombay City Civil Court for the purposes of granting interim relief cannot or need not go into the question of jurisdiction. Someti ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... to jurisdiction of the Court, approached by the Plaintiff, as a preliminary issue. 19. The provision contemplates that when an issue of jurisdiction is raised, the said issue should be decided at first as expeditiously as possible, and not be adjourned to a later date. The primary reason is that if the Court comes to finding that it does not have jurisdiction vested in it in law, then no further enquiry is needed and saves a lot of valuable judicial time. 20. A perusal of the Statement of Object and Reasons of the Amendment Act would clarify that Section 9A talks of maintainability only on the question of inherent jurisdiction and does not contemplate issues of limitation. Section 9A has been inserted in the Code to prevent the abuse of t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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