Small causes jurisdiction limits cannot be cured by consent where a suit for ejectment falls outside the court's competence.

A suit for ejectment and mesne profits must be characterised from the plaint, and where the defendants are pleaded as unauthorised occupants with no subsisting lessor-lessee relationship, it falls outside the cognizance of a Court of Small Causes. Section 15 of the Provincial Small Cause Courts Act, 1887, read with Article 4 of the Second Schedule as substituted in Uttar Pradesh, preserves only the limited exception for a lessor suing a lessee after determination of the lease. The court further stated that want of inherent subject-matter jurisdiction cannot be cured by consent, acquiescence or waiver, and any decree passed in such circumstances is a nullity.

---

---

Issues: Whether the Court of Small Causes had inherent jurisdiction to entertain a suit for ejectment and mesne profits on the plaint allegations, and whether consent or acquiescence of the parties could validate the decree passed by a court lacking such jurisdiction.

Analysis: The nature of the suit had to be determined from the plaint. On the pleadings, the plaintiff treated the defendants as unauthorised occupants and there was no subsisting lessor-lessee relationship between the plaintiff and the defendants. Under Section 15 of the Provincial Small Cause Courts Act, 1887, read with Article 4 of the Second Schedule as substituted by the Uttar Pradesh Civil Laws Amendment Act, 1972, a suit for possession of immovable property remained excluded from the cognizance of a Court of Small Causes, save for the limited exception of a lessor suing a lessee after determination of the lease. The Court held that where the court lacks inherent jurisdiction over the subject matter, consent, acquiescence, or waiver cannot confer jurisdiction, and a decree so passed is a nullity.

Conclusion: The Court held that the suit was not cognizable by the Court of Small Causes, the decree was a nullity, and the revision was entitled to succeed.

---