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Kanihya @ Kanhi (Dead) Through LRs. vs Sukhi Ram & Ors.

Not available · 2024 INSC 374Decided 3 May 2024
Not available
Justice Rajesh Bindal · Justice Prasanna Bhalachandra Varale

Background

The appellants' predecessor won a pre-emption suit in 1988 over agricultural land in Rohtak, Haryana, and was directed to deposit Rs. 9,214 (minus amount already paid) by 10.10.1988. He applied for court permission to deposit the balance, the court itself directed deposit of Rs. 7,600 based on his application, and he paid that amount the same day, but due to a calculation error, this was Rs. 14 short of what was actually owed. Years of litigation followed over this Rs. 14 shortfall: the defendants sought dismissal of the suit for non-compliance, the Trial Court rejected the plaintiff's belated request to make good the deficiency, and the High Court first allowed, then (on review) reversed and dismissed the plaintiff's revision petition.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court allowed the appeal, holding the facts were identical to its earlier ruling in Johri Singh vs Sukh Pal Singh, where a similarly small, inadvertent shortfall (there, Rs. 100) caused partly by the court's own arithmetical role in fixing the deposit amount was held excusable under Section 148 CPC (which lets courts extend time for bona fide, non-negligent errors). Since the decree here didn't specify the exact amount, the court itself directed the Rs. 7,600 figure, and the appellant had promptly offered to make good any shortfall once flagged, the Court found no negligence or bad faith. It set aside the High Court's order, permitted the appellants to deposit the Rs. 14 by 20 May 2024, but, recognising the respondents were dragged through decades of litigation over such a trivial sum due to the appellants' own error, ordered the appellants to pay Rs. 1,00,000 in costs to the respondents.

Lesson Learnt

Courts can excuse small, genuinely inadvertent shortfalls in court-ordered payments (especially where the court's own calculation contributed to the error), but a party who drags an opponent through decades of litigation over a trifling amount may still be made to pay substantial costs even while winning the underlying point.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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