IMPORTANT POINT
Conditions precedent for invoking the provision are that averments in the plaint read as a whole must disclose cause of action and the plaint be not barred under any law.

JUDGMENT

RANJAN GOGOI, J.

1. This appeal seeks to challenge two separate though largely similar orders both dated 26th June, 2003 passed by the High Court of Andhra Pradesh at Hyderabad in Civil Revision Petition Nos.1398 and 1399 of 2003. By the aforesaid orders, the High Court, in reversal of the order of the learned trial judge, has allowed the applications filed by the defendants under Order VII rule 11 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (hereinafter referred to as “the CPC”). Aggrieved, the plaintiffs are before us in this appeal.

2. Original Suit Nos. 71 and 72 of 2002 were filed by the plaintiffs (appellants herein) for declaration of title and possession. The case of the plaintiffs in both the suits were more or less similar. According to the plaintiffs as they were living abroad they had reposed trust and faith in defendants Nos.1 and 2 who are their close relatives (sister and brother-in-law of plaintiff No.1) to purchase immovable property in Hyderabad in the name of the plaintiff No.2. According to the plaintiffs, they had made funds available to the defendants Nos. 1 and 2 for the said purpose and had entirely relied on them.

3. The specific case of the plaintiffs in Original Suit No.71 of 2002 is to the effect that the property belonging to one Professor N.S. Iyengar was identified for purchase and an agreement was drawn up with the said person. According to the plaintiffs, they were informed by the defendants that Professor Iyengar has resiled from the agreement which required filing a suit for specific performance. According to the plaintiffs when they visited Hyderabad in November/December 1999, they could notice some construction activity in the plot belonging to Professor Iyengar. It is at that point of time that they had made enquiries and could come to know that though the suit for specific performance filed by the defendants was decreed, the sale deed was executed in the name of the defendant No.4 who is the brother-in-law of the defendant No.1. It is thereafter that the suit being Original Suit No.71 of 2002 was filed.

4. Insofar as Original Suit No.72 of 2002 is concerned, the plaintiffs' case is that the property belonging to one Professor B. Ramchander Rao was identified for purchase. Though the defendant Nos.1 and 2 informed the plaintiffs that the needful was done, it transpired that the said property was purchased on 31.8.1979 jointly in the name of plaintiff No.2 and the defendant No.3, who is the son of defendant No.1. According to the plaintiffs immediately after they came to know of the said facts, they had issued a legal notice on 20.12.1999 and on receipt of the reply to the said notice which contained an unequivocal denial of the plaintiffs' claim, the suit being Original Suit No.72 of 2002 was filed. Both the suits were filed in July, 2002.

5. Rejection of the plaint under Order VII rule 11 of the CPC is a drastic power conferred in the court to terminate a civil action at the threshold. The conditions precedent to the exercise of power under Order VII rule 11, therefore, are stringent and have been consistently held to be so by the Court. It is the averments in the plaint that has to be read as a whole to find out whether it discloses a cause of action or whether the suit is barred under any law. At the stage of exercise of power under Order VII rule 11, the stand of the defendants in the written statement or in the application for rejection of the plaint is wholly immaterial. It is only if the averments in the plaint ex facie do not disclose a cause of action or on a reading thereof the suit appears to be barred under any law the plaint can be rejected. In all other situations, the claims will have to be adjudicated in the course of the trial.

6. In the present case, reading the plaint as a whole and proceeding on the basis that the averments made therein are correct, which is what the Court is required to do, it cannot be said that the said pleadings ex facie discloses that the suit is