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2022 Supreme(Cal) 1460

IN THE HIGH COURT AT CALCUTTA
BISWAJIT BASU, J.
Calcutta Landing & Shipping Co. Limited (Presently Known As CLS Limited) – Petitioner
Versus
Smt. Manbasa Devi, Since Deceased And Duly Substituted By Mr. Kumar Omprakash & Ors. – Respondents
C.O. 1065 of 2021
Decided On : 18-05-2022

Advocates Appeared:
For the Petitioners: Mr. Sabyasachi Chowdhury, Mr. Aniruddha Chatterjee, Mr. S.E. Huda, Mr. A.K. Singh, Mr. Ajit Pandey Ms. Niharika Singh, Ms. Shubhangiri Singh.
For the Respondents: Mr. Probal Kumar Mukherjee, Mr. Debjit Mukherjee, Ms. Susmita Chatterjee, Ms. Dipanwita Ganguly, Mr. Kaustav Bhattacharya.

Headnote:

Constitution of India, 1950 - Article 227 - Civil Procedure Code, 1908 - Order VII Rule 11 - Specific Relief Act, 1963 - Section 34 - Limitation Act, 1963 - Article 58 - Suit for declaration of title - Original plaintiff - Held, Court under Section 34 of Specific Relief Act, 1963 is to exercise its discretion to declare status or right of plaintiff to which he is entitled, plaintiffs are not entitled to a declaration of legal character of their right, title and interest over the suit property as same has already been extinguished by virtue of Section 27 of Limitation Act, 1963, consequently they are also not entitled to other reliefs prayed for in suit as said prayers are ancillary and/or incidental to main prayer of plaintiffs for declaration of their said legal character - Court shall not make any such declaration - In present case in view of fact that title of defendant no. 1 over suit property has been perfected by adverse possession, plaintiffs are not able to seek relief of possession as such, there is no scope to afford plaintiffs opportunity to amend plaint to include unsought relief - Application allowed.

JUDGMENT :

(Biswajit Basu, J.) :

1. The revisional application under Article 227 of the Constitution of India is at the instance of the defendant no. 1 in a suit for declaration of title and is directed against the Order No. 42 dated March 24, 2021 passed by the 4th Court of learned Civil Judge (Junior Division) at Howrah in the said suit being Title Suit No. 543 of 2015. On the death of the original plaintiff, the present opposite party nos. 1 to 5 have been substituted in the said suit in her place as plaintiffs.

2. The petitioner by an application under Order VII Rule 11 of the Code of Civil Procedure prayed for rejection of the plaint of the said suit inter alia, on the grounds that the plaint does not disclose any cause of action against the defendant no. 1 and the suit is barred by limitation as well as under Section 34 of the Specific Relief Act, 1963.

3. The learned Trial Judge by the order impugned has dismissed the said application holding that bare perusal of the plaint discloses some causes of action for the plaintiffs to file the suit and those are not illusory, whether the defendants have any right, title and interest over the suit property or whether the documents filed by the plaintiffs are strong enough to prove their case cannot be decided without holding a proper trial.

4. Mr. Sabyasachi Chowdhury, learned advocate for the petitioner, impugning the said order of the learned Trial Judge, argues as follows:-

    I. Article 58 of the Schedule to the Limitation Act, 1963 prescribes that to get a relief of declaration in a suit, the suit is required to be filed within three years from the date when the right to sue first accrues to the plaintiff, successive violation of the right would not give rise to fresh cause and the suit would be liable to be dismissed if it is filed beyond the said period of limitation counted from the day when the right to sue first accrues to the plaintiff, to fortify his said argument he lends support of the decisions of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in the case of KHATRI HOTELS PRIVATE LIMITED AND ANOTHER VS. UNION OF INDIA AND ANOTHER reported in (2011) 9 SCC 126, in the case of L.C. HANUMANTHAPPA(SINCE DEAD) REPRESENTED BY HIS LEGAL REPRESENTATIVES VS. H.B. SHIVAKUMAR reported in (2016) 1 SCC 332, in the case of DAHIBEN VS. ARVINDBHAI KALYANJI BHANUSALI (GAJRA) DEAD THROUGH LEGAL REPRESENTATIVES AND OTHERS reported in (2020) 7 SCC 366 and the decision of the learned Single Judge of this Court in the case of GPT HEALTHCARE PVT. LTD. VS. SOORAJMULL NAGARMULL & OTHERS. reported in 2018 SCC OnLine Cal 3800.

II. The cause of action of the present suit arose on different dates, as stated in paragraph 27 of the plaint, first of such dates being October 15, 2011 the suit was required to be filed within three years from the said date as mandated under Article 58 of the Schedule to the Limitation Act, 1963, but the suit since has been filed beyond the said period of limitation on April 08, 2015, it is barred by limitation, consequently, the plaint of the suit is liable to be rejected under Order VII Rule 11 of the Code.

III. The plaintiffs are admittedly out of possession of the suit property, in the suit the plaintiffs are praying relief of declaration only without any relief of possession, therefore the suit, as it is framed, is clearly barred under the proviso appended to Section 34 of the Specific Relief Act, 1963. To explain the object of the said provision of the said Act, the decision of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in the case of VENKATARAJA AND OTHERS VS. VIDYANE DOURERADJAPERUMAL (DEAD) THROUGH LEGAL REPRESENTATIVES AND OTHERS reported in (2014) 14 SCC 502 is referred.

IV. It would appear from the averments of the plaint that prior to this suit, the original plaintiff (since deceased) had filed another suit for eviction of the petitioner from the suit property being Title Suit No. 157 of 1990 and the petitioner in its written statement filed in the said suit challenged the title of the plaintiff

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