1. This is an appeal on behalf of the defendants in a suit for rent. A preliminary objection has been taken to the competency of the appeal on the
ground that it is barred u/s 153 of the Bengal Tenancy Act. The claim was for recovery of Rs. 99-14 15 gandas on account of rent, cesses and
damages. Prima facie, therefore, the decree of the District Judge, passed on appeal, is final.
2. But it has been argued on behalf of the defendants-appellants that the expression ""amount claimed in the suit"" in Section 153 of the Bengal
Tenancy Act includes costs and interest. In our opinion, there is no foundation for this contention. The plaint, on the face of it, shows the precise
amount claimed, as required by Order VII, Rule 2 of the Code of Civil Procedure; that amount is less than Rs. 100 and determines the
competency of the appeal. The costs of the suit are not part of the ""amount claimed;"" if they were allowed to be added to the sum claimed, it
would be, as Lord Chelmsford said in Doorga Doss Chowdry v. Rama Nauth Chowdry 8 M.I.A. 262 in the power of every litigant, by swelling
the costs, to bring any suit up to the appealable value. Nor can interest pendente lite be included in the ""amount claimed,"" though it may possibly
have been included, if the expression had been amount decreed: Gooroo Persad Khoond v. Juggut Chunder 8 M.I.A. 166 : 3 W.R. 14; Moti
Chand v. Ganga Prasad 29 I.A. 40 : 4 Bom. L.R. 156 : 6 C.W.N. 362 : 24 A.C 174. In any event, interest or costs cannot be regarded as
amount claimed.
3. It has finally been contended that the decree has by implication decided a question relating to the amount of rent annually payable by the tenant.
No question, however, as to the amount of annual rent was raised before the District Judge; nothing, therefore, has been decided. If the grievance
of the appellant is that the question ought to have been decided before a decree was made against him, his remedy clearly was not by way of an
appeal but by means of an application for revision, This appeal is consequently incompetent and is dismissed with costs.
