AMAN ULLAH Versus WAZIR ALI

ORDER

MUHAMMAD AFZAL ZULLAH, J. --Leave to appeal has beer sought from judgment, dated 18-10-1978 of the Lahore High Court whereby petitioner's regular second appeal arising out of a pre-emption matter was dismissed on the ground that the petitioner had not correctly valued the suit for purpose of court-fee.

2. The main ground urged before the High Court was that despite ",efforts made by the petitioner the statement of Annual Net Profits was not supplied well in time, and therefore, proper court-fee could not be paid. A learned Judge in the High Court took the view that it was for the petitioner to have made proper arrangement for obtaining the said statement well in time so as to furnish the proper court-fee on the date of the filing of the plaint. It was also held that the plaintiff had not acted bona fide, and therefore, was not entitled to any inquiry with regard to court--fee under sections 9 and 10 of the Court Fees Act (VII of 1870) .

3. This judgment was rendered by the High Court in 1978. The law as declared by this Court has undergone change. Learned counsel for the petitioner has contended that the plaint could not have been rejected for not making an application within a certain time for the statement of Net Profits nor the inquiry with regard to correct court-fee could be avoided and that it was the duty of the trial Court to determine the court-fee and then afford at least one chance as a matter of right to the petitioner to supply the deficiency. All this was not done. He has relied on Shahna Khan v. Aulia Khan and others P L D 1984 S C 157 and Siddique Khan and 2 others v. Abdul Shakur Khan and others P L D 1984 S C 289.

4. These questions, inter alia, require examination. Leave to appeal is accordingly granted.

M.I./A-156/S Leave granted.