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2020 Supreme(Cal) 277

IN THE HIGH COURT OF CALCUTTA
Dipankar Datta, Protik Prakash Banerjee, J.
Nagendra Kumar Rathi - Appellant
Versus
Rajendra Kumar @ Rajendra Kumar Rathi And Others - Respondents
FMAT No. 278 of 2018; Appeal From Order No. 905 of 2019; C A N No. 2740 of 2018, 6745 of 2019, 269 of 2019
Decided On : 19-03-2020

Advocates Appeared:
Sakti Nath Mukherjee, Advocate, Aniruddha Chatterjee, Advocate, Ananda Basu, Advocate, Emon Bhattacharya, Advocate, Biswaroop Bhattacharya, Advocate, Sounak Bhattacharya, Advocate, Debabrata Das, Advocate, Partha Banerjee, Advocate, P.K. Das, Advocate, Arindam Banerjee, Advocate, Suddha Satwa Banerjee, Advocate, Biswajit Kumar, Advocate

The main legal point established in the judgment is that the plaintiff had made out a triable case of possession and some sort of tenancy right on the premises, and a substantial question of law was to be determined. The court also found that the trial court erred in not giving proper weightage to the admission made by the defendant no. 1, and set aside the impugned order and restored the temporary injunction.

Headnote:

Real Estate Dispute - Temporary Injunction - Code of Civil Procedure, Order 39 Rules 1 and 2, Section 151 - [Krishna Chandra Saha Sardar and others-v- Hem Chandra Rai Chowdhury,1915 SCCOnline(Cal) 339 equivalent to AIR 1916 Cal 782] - The court considered whether the plaintiff had made out a prima facie case for possession and whether there was a triable issue for which an injunction ought to have been granted. The court found that the plaintiff had made out a triable case of possession and some sort of tenancy right on the premises, and a substantial question of law was to be determined. The court held that the trial court erred in not giving proper weightage to the admission made by the defendant no. 1, and set aside the impugned order and restored the temporary injunction.

Fact of the Case:

The plaintiff/appellant sought a temporary injunction under Order 39 Rules 1 and 2 read with Section 151 of the Code of Civil Procedure, in a real estate dispute. The plaintiff claimed to have become the tenant of the property by operation of law, and obtained an ex parte ad interim order which was later dismissed. The dispute revolved around the possession and tenancy rights of the plaintiff on the property situated at 6A, Dr. Harendra Coomar Mukherjee Sarani, Kolkata-700071.

Finding of the Court:

The court found that the plaintiff had made out a triable case of possession and some sort of tenancy right on the premises, and a substantial question of law was to be determined. The court held that the trial court erred in not giving proper weightage to the admission made by the defendant no. 1, and set aside the impugned order and restored the temporary injunction.

Issues: The main issue was whether the plaintiff had made out a prima facie case for possession and whether there was a triable issue for which an injunction ought to have been granted. The court also considered the objections raised by the defendants and the authenticity of the documents produced in support of the plaintiff's claim.

Ratio Decidendi: The court held that the plaintiff had made out a triable case of possession and some sort of tenancy right on the premises, and a substantial question of law was to be determined. The court also found that the trial court erred in not giving proper weightage to the admission made by the defendant no. 1, and set aside the impugned order and restored the temporary injunction.

Final Decision: The court set aside the impugned order and restored the temporary injunction, restraining the defendants from interfering with the possession and enjoyment of the plaintiff/appellant of and in the suit property till the disposal of the suit. The findings arrived were tentative and for the purposes of deciding the question of grant of temporary injunction and shall not bind the learned Trial Court while deciding the main suit which it shall do uninfluenced by the observations and findings recorded hereinabove. The hearing of the suit is expedited. All interim orders passed merge with the final order passed hereon, in this appeal from the refusal of the interim order. The applications for adducing additional evidence were allowed and disposed of. The appeal and the application for injunction were allowed. The parties shall bear their own costs.

JUDGMENT

Protik Prakash Banerjee, J. - This storm in the real-estate tea cup of Kolkata arises out of an appeal from an order dated March 8, 2018 by which the Learned Judge, 6th Bench in the City Civil Court at Calcutta rejected a petition for temporary injunction under Order 39 Rules 1 and 2 read with Section 151 of the Code of Civil Procedure, in Title Suit No.1471 of 2017 inter alia for declaration and permanent injunction pending before it. There are three defendants in the suit - the defendant no. 1 who is the brother of the plaintiff/appellant and claims to be the erstwhile lessee of the property, the defendant no. 2, the original owner of the property, and the defendant no. 3, being the alleged transferee of the lease by the defendant no. 2 to it, on surrender of the original lease by the defendant no. 1. The plaintiff/appellant claims to have become the tenant of the defendant no. 2 by operation of law, on the surrender of the lease by the defendant no. 1, with the defendant no. 3 merely obtaining the rent receiving interest, since the deed of lease itself recorded the presence of existing occupants and the schedule indicated that the 40 year old two storied building thereon as transferred by the said lease was fully tenanted. Initially, the plaintiff/appellant obtained an ex parte ad interim order on the basis of the documents annexed to the petition and copies filed with the plaint, on November 17, 2017, which was extended from time to time. However, on contested hearing on objections in writing being filed by the defendants no.1 and 3 separately, the said petition for injunction was dismissed, primarily on a finding that no prima facie case had been made out in favour of the plaintiff/appellant before the said learned court, by the order dated March 8, 2018. The temporary injunction sought was in respect of the property situated at 6A, Dr. Harendra Coomar Mukherjee Sarani (previously 6, Pretoria Street) Police Station Shakespeare Sarani, Kolkata-700071. Even though the defendant no.2/respondent appeared before the learned trial court, he has not appeared before us because no notice was served on him. On January 28, 2020 after recording the above facts, we also recorded the submission of Mr. Mukherjee, learned senior advocate who, on instructions, prayed for dispensation of service of notice on the defendant no.2/respondent. We had granted the said prayer at the appellant's risk and peril. The defendant no.2/respondent having executed a long term lease in favour of the defendant no.3/respondent, has been party to a transfer and may not immediately be too concerned as to what transpires in respect of the leasehold prospects so long the lessee performs its part of the obligations under the lease with respect to the defendant no.2/respondent.

2. The heat generated by the learned counsel arguing the matter with great ability in January 2020, dissipated in the cooler confines of mature reflection and I have found that despite the seductive allure of the various arguments made before me, and the precedents cited, the dispute in this case, is in a short compass: whether on the face of the documents annexed to the plaint and the petition, to the extent objected to by the defendants/respondents, the plaintiff/appellant has made out a prima facie case that it was in possession, and whether there was any triable issue for which the matter would go to trial and till disposal whereof, an injunction protecting such possession, if any, ought to have been granted and/or continued?

3. The learned court below and the defendants/respondents have waxed lyrical on the mistake in the case number of the challans showing deposit of rents, though the same was plausibly explained by additional documents, which we had granted leave to adduce before us, and had for this purpose taken up CAN 6745 of 2019 and CAN 269 of 2019 at the time of hearing and now allow since we require the documents thus adduced to pronounce judgment. The learned court be

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