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TMI Blog1912 (7) TMI 2X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... d order the plaintiffs have lost peace of mind and are much troubled." The plaintiffs ask for a decree granting an injunction restraining the first defendant, that is, the Secretary of State for India in Council or any of his servants, from collecting any amount from the plaintiff. The Subordinate Judge held that no notice was required under Section 424, Civil Procedure Code, in such a case. The view he took was that the section applied only to suits for damages. This position is in our opinion entirely untenable. Section 424 enacted "no suit shall be instituted against the Secretary of State for India in Council, or against a public officer in respect of an act purporting to be done by him in his official capacity, until the expi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ed Judges in England to lay down such a rule would be equally applicable in the construction of statutes in this country. The question, however, does not depend on the punctuation alone. Now the expression "Secretary of State for India in Council" is, as urged by Mr. Krishnaswami Ayyar himself for his own purposes, merely a name under which the Government is to be sued and does not denote either an individual or a Corporation. See Kinlock v. Secretary of State for India in Council (1880) 15 Ch. D., 1. If that be so, to speak of an act being done by the "Secretary of State for India in Council" understood in that sense seems to involve some straining of language although it is pointed out that in Secretary of State for In ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... after the word 'officer.' Besides there is reason to believe that the object of the statute was to give the Government time for reflection whenever a suit is threatened against it and this would apply whatever be the nature of the suit. No authority has been cited in support of this contention. Secretary of State for India in Council v. Rajlucki Debi (1898) I.L.R. 25 Calc. 239, Bachchu Singh v. The Secretary of State for India in Council (1903) I.L.R. 25 All. 187, Secretary of State v. Gajanan Krishnarao (1911) I.L.R. 35 Bom. 362 and Sahharam Bhagwan Patil v. The Secretary of State (1912) 14 Bom. L.R. 353 are all in favour of the construction contended for by the appellant that notice is necessary in all suits of whatever descripti ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ny immediate arrest was threatened. On the other hand, the suit itself was not instituted until after the expiration of more than two months from the date on which the cause of action is alleged to have arisen. There is therefore no room for any contention that it was not possible to give two months' notice before the suit was launched. The result is that the suit must be held to be not maintainable on the ground that no notice was given of it as required by Section 424 of the Civil Procedure Code. The decree of the lower Appellate Court must be set aside and that of the District Munsif restored with costs both here and in the lower Appellate Court. Sandasiva Ayyar, J. 3. I do not think I could usefully add any observations of my own ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... as to the legality of the acts done by subordinate public officers in respect of acquisitions of land under the Land Acquisition Act, recovery of arrears of all kinds of revenue, of prevention and removal of encroachments and of the performance of similar public duties and most of them do involve reliefs in the nature of an injunction. The Legislature must be deemed to have been aware of this patent consideration and if they had intended to exclude suits against the Secretary of State for India claiming the relief of injunction from the necessity of notice, they would have put in an exception under the section itself, stating that in cases of injunction or in cases where irrepairable injury is likely to be caused if an injunction is not at ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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