A single-judge bench of the High Court of Chhattisgarh, on 14.02.2019 disposed of the appeal filed against judgment and decree passed by Forth Additional District Judge, Bilaspur (CG) in AHMAD HUSSAIN AND OTHERS Vs. KAMAL KUMAR SARAF (FA 176 of 2004) wherein the Court decreed the suit for Rs.1,17,400/- with interest in favour of the respondent /plaintiff. The bench was headed by Justice Ram Prasanna Sharma.

FACTS:

The respondent/plaintiff filed civil suit before the trial Court for recovery of amount against the appellants/defendants inter alia on the ground that both the parties had entered into the agreement for purchase of suit land situated at village Talapara, Bilaspur Patwari Halka for a case consideration of Rs.7,87,500. An amount of Rs.4,15,000/- was given to the appellants as advance amount of sale transaction. Due to some reasons agreement could not be performed. Thereafter the appellants returned Rs.3,00,000/- to the respondent and rest of the amount Rs.1,15,000/- was not returned that was why the suit was filed and the same was decreed.

ISSUES:

·       Whether the appellants/defendants received Rs.4,15,000/- from the respondent/plaintiff or they received Rs.3,00,000/-?

CONTENTIONS:

By appellants:

·       Witnesses of the agreement to the sale hadn’t supported the said agreement and document was executed under undue influence making it not binding on the appellants.

·       Yasin Hasan who paid the amount hadn’t been examined in the present case, therefore finding arrived at by the trial Court was not sustainable.

OBSERVATIONS:

The court observed that:-

·       It was established that the appellants received Rs.4,15,000/- from the respondent/plaintiff.

·       Admittedly Rs.3,00,000/- was returned to the appellants and as per the finding of the trial Court, Yasim Hasan returned Rs.28,250/- to the respondent. This finding wasn’t challenged and the same attains finality. The amount of Rs.3,28,750/- was returned to the respondent and balance amount to be recovered from the appellants was Rs.86,250/-.

·       Case of the appellants was based on oral evidence but the fact remains that oral evidence is not sufficient to rebutt the documentary evidence which was proved by the respondent before the trial Court.

·       The trial Court was right at awarding decree for Rs.86,250/- which was the balance amount and awarded interest of 12% from the date of agreement to the date before the filing of the suit and awarded interest of 9% from the date of filing of the suit till realization.

HELD:

The court dismissed the appeal with cost and the decree was passed in favour of the respondent.

For full judgement refer:

[embeddoc url=”http://cg.nic.in/hcbspjudgement/judgements_web/FA176_04(14.02.19).pdf” download=”all”]