The Judgment of the Court was as follows:—
This is an appeal from the decision of the Judicial Commissioner of Chota Nagpore, dated the 7th January 1895.
It was first objected that no second appeal lay to this Court; but this objection was overruled some years ago. We think therefore that the objection fails.
Then it was argued, and that is the point upon which the appeal turns, that the appeal lay not to the Judicial Commissioner but to the Deputy Commissioner. The suit is of the nature mentioned in clause (4), section 37, and by sec. 39 several claims of that kind may be joined in one suit. It would appear therefore that the several claims as mentioned in the second clause of sec. 39 form one suit and one suit only.
We now come to determine to what Court the appeal lay. Section 137 says that in suits under clause (4) and certain other clauses of section 37, if tried and decided by a Deputy Commissioner, if the mount sued for, or the value of the property claimed does not exceed one hundred rupees, the judgment of the Deputy Commissioner shall be final except under certain conditions which do not arise in ??? case. Sec. 139 refers to appeals ??? the decisions of a Deputy Collector. ??? then comes sec. 144 which ??? as follows;— “In all suits other ??? those in which, when tried and deed by a Deputy Commissioner, the ??? of the Deputy Commissioner ??? to be final, or when tried and ??? by a Deputy Collector, an appeal allowed to the Deputy Commissioner, appeal from the judgment of the Deputy Commissioner or Deputy Collector shall lie to the Judicial Commissioner of the Division, unless the amount or value in dispute exceeds five thousand rupees, in which case the appeal shall lie to the High Court.” Bearing in mind that we are of opinion that a suit under sec. 39 includes a number of claims in one suit, and that under section 137 the judgment in such a suit as this is not final, we think, looking at the somewhat obscure language of sec. 144, that the appeal in this case lies to the Judicial Commissioner; the aggregate amount of the claims being more than one hundred rupees.
We therefore dismiss this appeal with costs.
J.B
Appeal dismissed.