Delhi District Court
Mrs. Preeti vs Mrs. Rita Devi on 19 December, 2019
1
Mrs. Preeti & Anr. v. Mrs. Rita Devi
IN THE COURT OF MS BHARTI GARG, CIVIL JUDGE 01,
SAKET COURTS, SOUTH DELHI
Civil Suit No: 665/18
CNR No. : DLST030011262018
Date of Institution: 23.07.2018
Date of Decision: 19.12.2019
1.Mrs. Preeti W/o Sh. Dharmendra Choudhary R/o 670/22, Nai Basti Devli Village New Delhi110062
2. Dharmendra Choudhary S/o Sh. Jalim Choudhary R/o 670/22, Nai Basti Devli Village New Delhi110062 ..................Plaintiffs Versus Mrs. Rita Devi W/o Sh. Baini Madhav Jha C/o Gajraj R/o H.No. 604, Village Devli Near Amrita Public School New Delhi110062 .............Defendant Suit for recovery of Rs. 2,43,500/ along with interest ExParte Judgment :
1. This is the suit for recovery of Rs. 2,43,500/ along with interest @ 18% p.a. from the date 30.07.15 till the date of realization.
Civil Suit No: 665/18(Bharti Garg) CJ01/(South) Saket Court/New Delhi 2 Mrs. Preeti & Anr. v. Mrs. Rita Devi
2. Briefly, it is averred in the plaint that plaintiff no. 2 is the husband of plaintiff no. 1 and are known to the defendant for a long time as they reside in the same area. It is stated that the defendant approached plaintiff no. 1 in the last week of October 2014 for a credit of Rs. 1.50 lacs on the pretext that the said amount was required for the treatment of his soninlaw and thereafter, the plaintiff no. 1 lent a sum of Rs. 1,43,500/ to the defendant on 31.10.14 which was duly acknowledged by the defendant by executing a receipt on the same date. The defendant had promised to repay the said amount at the earliest. When the plaintiffs approached the defendant after three months for repayment of the said amount, the defendant sought some time by expressing her inability to repay the same on the ground of financial difficulty. Again, the defendant approached the plaintiffs in the month of July 2015 asking for some more money and upon her repeated requests, the plaintiff no. 2 lent a sum of Rs. 1 lac to the defendant on 29.07.15 which was also acknowledged by the defendant by executing a receipt and it was promised that the defendant shall repay the entire amount within 18 months therefrom. However, after the lapse of 18 months, the defendant failed to repay the said amount and despite repeated requests, kept avoiding the same on one pretext or another. It is further averred that the plaintiff then sent a legal notice to the defendant on 30.11.17 demanding the payment of the due amount of Rs. 2,43,500/ along with interest @ 18% p.a. to which the defendant neither replied nor repaid the said amount. Therefore, another legal notice dated 17.05.18 was sent to the defendant for the similar purpose and receiving no response thereto, the present suit has been filed seeking the recovery of Rs. 2,43,500/ along with interest as mentioned in para no. 1 of the judgment.
Civil Suit No: 665/18(Bharti Garg) CJ01/(South) Saket Court/New Delhi 3 Mrs. Preeti & Anr. v. Mrs. Rita Devi
3. Consequent to the service of summons upon the defendant, she did not appear before the court and thereafter, was proceeded exparte vide order dated 01.05.2019 for nonappearance.
4. In the exparte plaintiff evidence, plaintiff no. 1 namely Smt. Preeti has examined herself as PW1 and tendered her affidavit as Ex. PW1/A and has relied upon following documents:
(i) Ex. PW1/1 (OSR) i.e. receipt cum acknowledgement dated 31.10.14;
(ii) Ex. PW1/2 i.e. legal notice dated 30.11.17;
(iii) Ex. PW1/3 i.e. postal receipt dated 30.11.17;
(iv) Ex. PW1/4 i.e. second legal notice dated 17.05.18;
(v) Ex. PW1/5 i.e. postal receipt dated 17.05.18; and
(vi) Ex. PW1/6 (OSR) i.e. copy of adhar card of plaintiff no. 1.
5. Thereafter, plaintiff no. 2 namely Sh. Dharmendra Choudhary was examined as PW2 who tendered his affidavit of evidence as Ex. PW2/A and has relied upon following documents:
(i) Ex. PW2/1 (OSR) i.e. receipt cum acknowledgement dated 29.07.15; and
(ii) Ex. PW2/2 (OSR) i.e. copy of adhar card of plaintiff no. 2.
6. However, despite giving opportunity for crossexamination of PW1 & PW2, the same was not availed as the defendant remained exparte. Thereafter, vide joint statement of plaintiffs, plaintiffs closed the plaintiff evidence vide statement dated 18.07.19. Heard the Ld. Counsel for the plaintiffs and perused the case file.
7. PW1 namely Smt. Preeti and PW2 namely Dharmendra Choudhary have deposed along the lines of the pleadings. The perusal of documents i.e. Ex. PW1/1 (OSR) i.e. receipt cum acknowledgment dated 31.10.14 and the document Civil Suit No: 665/18 (Bharti Garg) CJ01/(South) Saket Court/New Delhi 4 Mrs. Preeti & Anr. v. Mrs. Rita Devi Ex. PW2/1 (OSR) i.e. the acknowledgment dated 29.07.15 shows that an amount of Rs. 1,43,500/ and Rs. 1 lac respectively was given as loan by plaintiffs to the defendant on the said dates which duly corroborate the pleadings of the plaint. The defendant has not appeared in the suit to contest her signatures on the said documents i.e. Ex. PW1/1 (OSR) and Ex. PW2/1 (OSR) and hence, it can safely be presumed that the said documents bear her signatures. Moreover, the legal notice dated 30.11.17 Ex. PW1/2 and legal notice dated 17.05.18 Ex. PW1/4 also show that the said amount was demanded from the defendant. The defendant has not appeared in the suit to challenge any of the above said documents and in the absence of any reason to disbelieve the testimony of plaintiffs in that regard, it is proved that the defendant is liable to pay Rs. 2,43,500/ to the plaintiffs.
8. Moreover, the suit is well within the limitation period as the same has been filed within three years from the date when the defendant had promised to repay the amount i.e. 18 months from 29.07.15 as is reflected from the undertaking of the defendant incorporated in document Ex. PW2/1 (OSR). Also, this court has the territorial jurisdiction to try this suit as the part of cause of action has arisen within the jurisdiction of this court as has been established from the unrebutted testimony of PW1 & PW2.
9. As regard the prelitigation interest rate, the plaintiffs have sought the same @ 18% p.a. from the date of receiving of the amount by the defendant. However, since the amount became due to be payable by the defendant to the plaintiffs after 18 months from 29.07.15 in view of the undertaking mentioned in document Ex. PW2/1 (OSR) which has been relied upon by the plaintiffs themselves, the plaintiffs are entitled to the interest from 29.01.17 only. Moreover, it is evident from the perusal of the plaint and the documents on record that there Civil Suit No: 665/18 (Bharti Garg) CJ01/(South) Saket Court/New Delhi 5 Mrs. Preeti & Anr. v. Mrs. Rita Devi was no agreement between the parties as to any specific interest rate. Therefore, the interest rate of 18% p.a. as claimed by the plaintiff appears to be exorbitant without any basis. In these circumstances, the interest rate of 6% p.a. appears to be reasonable in the opinion of this court in view of the provision of Section 34 CPC. Hence, it is held that plaintiffs are entitled to interest @ 6% p.a. on the amount of Rs. 2,43,500/ from 29.01.17 till 23.07.18 (date of institution of suit) which comes out to be around Rs. 21,915/. Additionally, the plaintiffs are entitled to interest @ 6% p.a. on the aggregated amount of Rs. 2,65,415/ so calculated after adding the principal amount as well as the prelitigation interest.
10. Hence, the suit is hereby decreed with costs and the defendant is directed to pay Rs. 2,65,415/ to the plaintiffs along with the interest @ 6% p.a. from the date of filing of the suit till the date of realization of the said amount. Costs of the suit shall be paid by defendant to the plaintiffs as per the rules.
11. The plaintiffs are further directed to pay the court fees on the amount of prelitigation interest i.e. Rs. 21,915/ and decree sheet be drawn up accordingly only thereafter.
12. File be consigned to record room after due compliance.
Pronounced in open court: BHARTI Digitally signed
by BHARTI GARG
Dated: 19.12.2019
GARG Date: 2019.12.19
14:45:50 +0530
(Bharti Garg)
CJ01(South)Saket/New Delhi/19.12.2019
Note : This Judgment contains five pages and all the pages have been
checked and signed by me.
(Bharti Garg)
CJ01(South)Saket/New Delhi/19.12.2019
Civil Suit No: 665/18
(Bharti Garg)
CJ01/(South) Saket Court/New Delhi