relates to the applicability of Section 15, CPC., to Chartered High Courts. In other words, the question is if a suit is below rupees ten thousand in value, is the litigant bound to institute it in the City Civil Court, as the Court of the lowest grate competent to try it. Section 15 of the Code directs that every suit shall be instituted in the Court of the lowest grade competent to try it. Under clause 12 of the Letters Patent, subject to one qualification, the High Court has unlimited original jurisdiction and this jurisdiction was saved under S.16, City Civil Court Act (VII [7] of 1892). Competency contemplated by this Section is pecuniary competency and it has been held that this section lays down a rule of procedure and not of jurisdiction. While it enjoins the institution of a suit in the Court of the lowest grade competent to try it, it does not oust the jurisdiction of the Court of a higher grade. Even if the Court of a higher grade tries and disposes of a suit which could have been instituted in a Court of a lowest grade, the decision rendered is not without jurisdiction is not a nullity-(See Nidhilal V. Mazhar Hussain, 7 ALL.230:1885 A.W.N.1 F.B.), Matra Mondal Vs. Hari Mohan, 17 Cal. 155; Krishnasami V. Kanakasabai, 14 Mad.
