Calcutta High Court (Appellete Side)
Arkabrati Singha (Neogi) vs Soujit Singha on 20 May, 2016
1 (06) 20.05.2016
(p.j.) IN THE HIGH COURT AT CALCUTTA CIVIL REVISIONAL JURISDICTION APPELLATE SIDE C.O. No. 3723 of 2015 Arkabrati Singha (Neogi)
-versus-
Soujit Singha Mr. Partha Pratim Roy Mr. Sarbananda Sanyal Ms. Sayantanee Chatterjee Mr. Dyutiman Banerjee ... for the petitioner In this application under section 24 of the Code of Civil Procedure the petitioner wife has prayed for, transfer of the Miscellaneous Case (Act VIII) No. 10 of 2015 (4/15) filed by herself against the opposite party and pending before the learned District Judge, Jalpaiguri, to the Court of the learned District Judge at Suri, Birbhum.
Being prima facie satisfied with the grounds urged by the petitioner in this application on December 1, 2015 this Court passed an interim order directing stay of all further proceeding in Miscellaneous Case (Act VIII) No. 10 of 2015 (4/15) pending before the Court of the learned District Judge, Jalpaiguri, till December 24, 2015. The petitioner was directed to serve a copy of this application on the opposite party by speed post with acknowledgement due and the application was made returnable on January 13, 2016. On January 13, 2016 when the application was taken up for hearing, the petitioner filed an affidavit of service wherefrom it appeared that the Postal Department returned the envelope forwarded to the opposite party with an endorsement "Not 2 Claimed". Thereafter, various attempts to serve a copy of this application and the order passed by this Court remained unsuccessful.
In these circumstances, the petitioner filed an application being CAN 4276 of 2016 for substituted the service of the notice of the application. By an order dated May 4, 2016 this Court allowed the petitioner to publish the notice with this application in the Bengali newspaper "Aajkal" and the matter was directed to appear on May 18, 2016. On May 18, 2016 the counsel appearing for the petitioner submitted that as directed by this Court on May 4, 2016 the petitioner has caused publication of the notice of the application on May 11, 2016 in the Bengali newspaper "Aajkal". However, none appeared on behalf of the opposite party. Today this matter was fixed for filing of proper affidavit by the petitioner to disclose the notice published in the said newspaper. Even today when the application is taken up for hearing, none appeared on behalf of the opposite party. In these circumstances, it appears that the opposite party is not interested to contest this application.
The petitioner is a Judicial Officer presently posted at Berhampore and in order to avoid all future controversies, she has prayed for transfer of the aforementioned miscellaneous case from the Court of the learned District Judge, Jalpaiguri to the Court of the learned District Judge, Birbhum at Suri.
Mr. Roy, learned counsel appearing for the petitioner, however, submitted that on March 29, 2016 when the Miscellaneous Case (Act VIII) No. 10 of 2015 was taken up for hearing before the learned District Judge, Jalpaiguri, the opposite party in this application appeared before the learned Court below and he was all along aware of the pendency of the application, as well as the orders passed by this Court.
The grounds urged in this application for transfer of the Miscellaneous Case (Act VIII) No. 10 of 2015 (4/15) are that the opposite party is a practising advocate in the Court of the learned 3 District Judge, Jalpaiguri, he is an influential person in Jalpaiguri, most of the advocates of the Jalpaiguri Bar have refused to represent the petitioner in the said case and the petitioner is unable to obtain assistance of a competent lawyer to represent her case before the Court of the learned District Judge, Jalpaiguri. The other ground urged by the petitioner is the long distance between her present residence at Berhampore, Murshidabad and the Court of the learned District Judge, Jalpaiguri covering a distance of 400 kilometres, each way.
The above grounds urged by the petitioner remained uncontroverted by the opposite party. Accordingly, the Miscellaneous Case (Act VIII) No. 10 of 2015 (4/15) [Smt. Arkabrati Singha (Neogi) vs. Soujit Singha] is withdrawn from the Court of the learned District Judge, Jalpaiguri and the same is transferred to the Court of the learned District Judge, Birbhum at Suri.
The learned District Judge, Jalpaiguri is directed to forthwith transmit all the records of the Miscellaneous Case (Act VIII) No. 10 of 2015 (4/15) [Smt. Arkabrati Singha (Neogi) vs. Soujit Singha] to the Court of the learned District Judge, Birbhum at Suri.
Mr. Roy, appearing for the petitioner, submitted that the petitioner is ready to deposit the Special Messenger cost for communication of this order to the Court of the learned District Judge, Jalpaiguri.
Let the special messenger cost be deposited within June 10, 2016. If the petitioner deposits the Special Messenger cost, the Department shall communicate this order to the Court of the learned District Judge, Jalpaiguri by Special Messenger.
With the above directions, CO 3723 of 2015 stands disposed of. However, there shall be no order as to costs.
Certified website copies of the order, if applied for, be urgently made available to the party, subject to compliance with all requisite formalities.
4(Ashis Kumar Chakraborty, J.)