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2004 Supreme(Cal) 393

High Court Of Calcutta
Jayanta Kumar Biswas
PREMLATA NAHATA - Appellant
Versus
CHANDI PRASAD SIKARIA - Respondent
C. S.  29  Of  2003
Decided On : 06/16/2004

Advocates Appeared:
Chandi Prasad Sikaria, Premlata Nahata

Multifariousness is not a bar to the filing of a suit under Order 7 Rule 11 (d) of the CPC, and a suit is not bad for multifariousness if the causes of action arise out of the same transaction, there are common questions of fact, and the plaintiffs are jointly interested against the defendant.

Headnote:

MULTI-PLAINTIFF SUIT - JOINDER OF CAUSES OF ACTION - MULTI-FARIOUSNESS - NOT A BAR TO FILING SUIT - ORDER 7 RULE 11 (D) CPC - INTERPRETATION - COURT ANALYSIS AND CONCLUSION - SUIT NOT BARRED BY LAW - NO MULTI-FARIOUSNESS

Fact of the Case:

Plaintiffs, husband and wife, filed a suit against the defendant, a share broker, for recovery of loans given to him on separate dates. The plaintiffs claimed that the defendant had failed to repay the loans and had filed two separate suits against them. The defendant contended that the plaintiffs' suit was barred by law due to multifariousness, as the transactions were independent and there was no common source or nexus between the causes of action.

Finding of the Court:

The court held that multifariousness is not a law that bars the filing of a suit under Order 7 Rule 11 (d) of the CPC. The court further held that the plaintiffs' suit was not bad for multifariousness as the causes of action arose out of the same transaction, there were common questions of fact, and the plaintiffs were jointly interested against the defendant.

Issues: 1. Whether multifariousness is a law that bars the filing of a suit under Order 7 Rule 11 (d) of the CPC? 2. Whether the plaintiffs' suit was bad for multifariousness?

Ratio Decidendi: 1. Multifariousness is not a law that bars the filing of a suit under Order 7 Rule 11 (d) of the CPC. Multifariousness is a rule of convenience and does not render a suit unsustainable. 2. The plaintiffs' suit was not bad for multifariousness as the causes of action arose out of the same transaction, there were common questions of fact, and the plaintiffs were jointly interested against the defendant.

Final Decision: The court dismissed the defendant's application for rejection of the plaintiffs' plaint, holding that the suit was not barred by law and was not bad for multifariousness.

JAYANTA KUMAR BISWAS, J.

( 1 ) THIS is the defendant's application under Order 7 Rule 11 (d) of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (in short "the CPC" ). His case is that the plaint is liable to be rejected, because it is apparent from the statements in it that the plaintiff's suit is barred by law; the law that bars the suit is multifariousness.

( 2 ) THE case made out in the plaint is this. The defendant is a share broker. Sri Mahendra Kumar Nahata is the husband of the first plaintiff and the father of the second plaintiff Sri Nahata and the defendant were known to each other. The plaintiffs and the defendant had entered into several different transactions before the transactions leading to the suit took place. In early 2000 the defendant approached Sri Nahata for arranging a loan of Rs. 5,00,000/- from the first plaintiff. Accordingly, a cheque dated April 7th, 2000 for Rs. 5,00,000/- was given to the defendant by way of loan, the terms and conditions where of were decided by oral agreement between Sri Nahata and the defendant. The cheque was deposited by the defendant in his personal account, and not in his clients' account, which is maintained by him according to the rules and regulations of the exchange and the other authorities, for carrying on share transactions on behalf of his clients. Similarly, a loan of Rs. 5,00,000/- was given to the defendant by the second plaintiff by a cheque dated April 26th, 2000. The cheque was handed over by Sri Nahata. For giving the loans Sri Nahata acted on behalf of the plaintiffs, and the terms and conditions of the loans were identical. The defendant was to repay the loans with interest by December 31st, 2001. He, however, failed and neglected to repay the loans and also the interest accrued thereon. He wrongly instituted two suits against the plaintiffs separately in the City Civil Court at Calcutta. Since the the plaintiffs' causes of action against the defendant, though arose out of two separate loans, raised common questions of fact and law, they joined together and decided to file one suit by joining their identical causes of action; they so decided also for avoiding multiplicity of proceedings and saving costs.

( 3 ) THE case of the defendant is the following one. His transactions with the plaintiffs were separate, and hence they were not entitled to join together for filing one suit by joining their separate causes of action. The causes of action did not emanate from any common source, and there was no inter-dependence and nexus

between them. On facts, it could not be said that the plaintiffs were jointly interested against the defendant. The plaintiffs ought to have filed two independent suits. Hence being bad for misjoinder of parties and misjoinder of causes of action the suit is barred by law.

( 4 ) MR. Ratnanka Banerjee, Advocate, appears for the defendant. His contentions are that the transactions were independent in every respect, the plaintiffs demanded repayment by issuing two separate notices, the defendant filed two separate suits against the plaintiffs, and hence there was no legal basis for the plaintiffs to join their independent causes of action against the defendant in one suit. According to him multifarious ness will attract the provisions of Order 7 Rule 11 (d) of the CPC, and hence the plaint is liable to be rejected.

( 5 ) MR. Banerjee has relied on the decisions in The Corporation of Calcutta v. Radhakrishna Dev and Ors. ,; Smt. Nagendra Bala Debi and Ors. v. Provash Chandra and Ors. ,;ebrahimbhai v. State of Maharashtra and Ors. ,; and the unreported Single Bench decision of this Court dated October 30th, 1995 in Margo Trading and Six Ors. v. Om Credit Pvt. Ltd. (Suit No. 242 of 1995 ).

( 6 ) MR. P. K. Das, Senior Advocate, appears for the plaintiffs. His submissions are these. The provisions in Orders 1 and 2 of the CPC do not prohibit the filing of a suit by two or more plaintiffs by joining their separate causes of action. Misjoinder of parties a
















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