Written authority and court-fee compliance: a signed post card with fee labels was sufficient to validly present an appeal.

A written authority appointing a pleader is sufficient if it is signed by the person concerned, even if it is not in the ordinary form of a vakalatnama and its description of the appeal is incomplete. A post card stitched to a sheet bearing court-fee labels was treated as valid authority under Order 3, Rule 4 CPC because it was a signed written authorisation. The court-fee requirement was also satisfied, since the proper fee had in fact been paid by affixing labels of the required amount to the sheet; physical stamping of the document itself was not necessary for validity. The appeal was therefore properly presented.

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Issues: Whether a post card stitched to a sheet of paper bearing court-fee labels constituted a valid written authority under Order 3, Rule 4 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, and whether the appeal was properly presented.

Analysis: A document appointing a pleader in writing is sufficient if it is signed by the person concerned. The post card filed with the appeal, though not in the ordinary form of a vakalatnama and though its description of the appeal was incomplete, was treated as a written authority complying with the rule. Under Section 4 of the Court-fees Act, the requirement is payment of the proper fee in respect of the document; it is not necessary that the document itself be physically stamped if the requisite fee has in fact been paid. Since court-fee labels of the required amount were affixed to the sheet to which the post card was stitched, the statutory condition was satisfied.

Conclusion: The post card conferred sufficient authority on the advocate to file the appeal, and the appeal was properly presented.

Ratio Decidendi: A written authority signed by the party is sufficient for a pleader to act, and where the requisite court-fee has been paid in respect of the document, physical stamping of the document itself is not for validity.

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