Published on: 11 August 2023 at 06:30 IST
Court: Supreme Court
Citation: Kamala V. K.T. Eshwara Sa (2008)
Honourable Supreme Court of India has held that Order 7 Rule 11(d) of Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 provides that the plaint shall be rejected “Where the Suit Appears from the Statement in the Plaint to be barred by any Law”. Hence, in order to decide whether the suit is barred by any law, it is the statement in the plaint which will have to be construed. It is held that the Court while deciding such an application must have due regard only to the statements in the plaint. Whether the suit is barred by any law must be determined from the statements in the plaint and it is not open to decide the issue on the basis of any other material including the written statement in the case.
21. Order 7 Rule 11(d) of the Code has limited application. It must be shown that the suit is barred under any law. Such a conclusion must be drawn from the averments made in the plaint. Different clauses in Order 7 Rule 11, in our opinion, should not be mixed up.
Whereas in a given case, an application for rejection of the plaint may be filed on more than one ground specified in various sub-clauses thereof, a clear finding to that effect must be arrived at. What would be relevant for invoking clause (d) of Order 7 Rule 11 of the Code are the averments made in the plaint. For that purpose, there cannot be any addition or subtraction. Absence of jurisdiction on the part of a court can be invoked at different stages and under different provisions of the Code. Order 7 Rule 11 of the Code is one, Order 14 Rule 2 is another.
22. For the purpose of invoking Order 7 Rule 11(d) of the Code, no amount of evidence can be looked into. The issues on merit of the matter which may arise between the parties would not be within the realm of the court at that stage. All issues shall not be the subject-matter of an order under the said provision.
Drafted By Abhijit Mishra