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1997 Supreme(Cal) 173

High Court Of Calcutta
Nirendra Krishna Mitra, Debi Prasad Sarkar
DEBA PROSAD MAZUMDAR - Appellant
Versus
MAN MOHAN MAZUMDAR - Respondent
F. M. A.  965  Of  1989
Decided On : 04/11/1997

Advocates Appeared:
KASHINATH DEY, SHYAMAL BAREN CHATTERJI

A third party to a suit or a decree can file an objection under section 47 of the CPC or an application under Order XXI Rule 97 of the CPC for filing of such application and/or objection by a third party, his dispossession from the suit premises is not a condition precedent.

Headnote:

CIVIL PROCEDURE - Execution of Decree - Application for Injunction - Maintainability - Plaintiff Challenging Decree in Suit Instead of Filing Application Under Order XXI Rule 97 CPC - Held, Plaintiff Should Have Filed Application Under Order XXI Rule 97 CPC - Impugned Order of Injunction Set Aside.

Fact of the Case:

Plaintiff filed a suit challenging an ejectment decree obtained by the defendant in an ex-parte proceeding. The plaintiff also filed an application for a temporary injunction to restrain the defendant from executing the decree. The trial court granted the injunction, and the defendant appealed.

Finding of the Court:

The court held that the plaintiff should have filed an application under Order XXI Rule 97 of the Code of Civil Procedure (CPC) in the execution proceeding, instead of filing an independent suit. The court found that the provisions of Order XXI Rule 104 CPC, which provide that an order made under Rule 101 or Rule 103 of Order XXI CPC shall be subject to the result of any suit pending on the date of commencement of the proceeding in which such order is made, were not applicable in the present case.

Issues: Whether the plaintiff could file an independent suit challenging the ejectment decree, instead of filing an application under Order XXI Rule 97 CPC.

Ratio Decidendi: The court relied on the Supreme Court decisions in Bhanwar Lal v. Satyanarain and Babu Lal v. Raj Kumar, which held that a third party to a suit or a decree can file an objection under section 47 of the CPC or an application under Order XXI Rule 97 of the CPC for filing of such application and/or objection by a third party, his dispossession from the suit premises is not a condition precedent.

Final Decision: The court allowed the appeal and set aside the impugned order of injunction.

N. K. MITRA, J.

( 1 ) THE respondent No. 1 as plaintiff filed a Title Suit in the City Civil Court, Calcutta against the appellant and the respondent No. 2 making the respondent No. 3 as a pro-forma defendant inter alia, for a declaration that the decree passed in the ejectment Suit No. 514 of 1987 by the learned judge, XIth Bench, City Civil Court, Calcutta was void, inoperative and not binding upon the respondent No. l as also upon the respondent Nos. 2 and 3, for further declaration that the respondent No. l and the other respondents were joint tenants in respect of the suit premises, and for permanent injunction. The said suit was numbered as Title Suit No. 700 of 1988 of the court of the learned judge, III Bench, City Civil Court, Calcutta. It was alleged inter alia, in the plaint that one Shyama Das Chatterjee, since deceased, was the owner of premises No. 125, Keshab Chandra Sen Street, Calcutta and a tenancy was held in respect of the same premises in the name of the plaintiff's elder brother Nalini Kanta Majumdar jointly with his friend Purunjit Biswas. The plaintiff with his family came to Calcutta in or about the year 1946 and started living with his elder brother in the suit premises and though the rent was being paid by the plaintiff's mother, who lived in the suit premises along with her three sons namely, the plaintiff, the defendant No. l and also the proforma defendant but the rent receipts were continued to be issued in the name of Nalini Kanta Majumdar as he was the eldest brother. After the death of the plaintiff's mother in the year 1962, all the brothers used to contribute towards the rent, though the rent receipts were being issued by the landlord in the name of Nalini Kanta Mazumdar alone. In or about the year 1986, the defendant No. 2 who is the appellant before this court, purchased the suit premises by a registered deed of conveyance in a clandestine manner and behind the back of the plaintiff and the proforma defendant and in collusion with his father the defendant No. 1, filed Ejectment Suit No. 514 of 1987 before the learned judge, XIth Bench, City Civil Court, Calcutta and obtained an ex-parte decree on 9th February, 1986 by practising fraud upon the court. The said decree was put into execution and a false report was submitted by manipulation and/or collusion with the court bailiff that Nalini Kanta Majumdar appeared to have given a mock resistance just to facilitate the prayer for police help. Though the plaintiff was a joint tenant of the suit premises, no notice of the suit was served upon the plaintiff. In the said Title Suit No. 700 of 1988, the plaintiff-respondent No. l also filed an application under Order 39 Rules 1 and 2 read with section 151 of the Code of Civil procedure inter alia, praying for temporary injunction against the defendant No. 2 appellant restraining him from proceeding further with the Ejectment Execution Case No. 9 of 1989 pending in the court of the learned judge, XI Bench, City Civil Court, Calcutta till the disposal of the suit. The said application was objected to by the defendant No. 2-appellant as well as by the respondent No. 2, inter alia, denying the plaintiff's allegations regarding the joint tenancy. The learned judge, IIIrd Bench, City Civil Court, Calcutta, however, by his Order No. 27 dated 28th February, 1989 allowed the plaintiff respondent No. 1's said application for temporary injunction holding inter alia, that the plaintiff had got a prima facie case to go to trial. The said order is the subject matter of challenge in the present appeal by the defendant No. l appellant.

( 2 ) MR. Bidyut Banerjee, learned counsel appearing on behalf of the defendant No. l-appellant challenges the impugned order infer alia, on the ground the respondent No. l instead of filing a suit, should have filed an application and/or objection under Order XXI Rule 97 of the Code of Civil Procedure in the execution proceeding pending at the time of institution of his suit, as













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