V.K. Shali, J.

1. This is a regular first appeal filed by the appellant Ramesh Dutt Salwan (since deceased) against the judgment and decree dated 15.07.1985 passed in a suit for partition.

2. It is really very unfortunate that this appeal has remained pending on the Board of this Court for almost 30 years and has to pass through hands of as many as 75 Hon'ble Judges or so but still the solution to the problem of dividing the property (which happens to be the piece of land measuring approximately 7794.63 square yards along with superstructure) could not be found out to the satisfaction of all the parties. In city of Delhi, the prices of land have risen beyond the imagination. As a matter of fact, the prices have become prohibitive to own the house, plot or flat. As a necessary consequence of this, wherever there is a dispute between the co-sharers of a property, effort of one party is to bring the other party to its knees by tiring out its resources and patience so that it becomes almost a distress sale by such a party to the other co-sharer.

3. During the course of hearing the submission which has been advanced on behalf of respondent No. 1 as well as respondent No. 2 are of such a nature that in case those submissions are accepted then instead of leading to the final disposal of the appeal and bring about a closure to the matter, it would result in keeping the matter alive at least for another five to ten years which, in my view, would not only be unfair to the parties, who have been stuck up in courts for three decades but also the fact that such an order only adds to the pendency of the case when it is already reeling under the burden of back log of cases.

4. Before dealing with the submissions of the respective sides, the facts of the case are that a suit for partition bearing No. 90/1984 was filed by Shiv Dutt Salwan, respondent No. 1/plaintiff against his brother Ramesh Dutt Salwan, appellant/defendant (since deceased) and mother Smt. Kaushalya Devi (since deceased), respondent No. 2, Rita Salwan widow and Chetan Salwan son of Late Shri Naresh Dutt Salwan, respondent No. 3 and 4 respectively. The partition was sought of a plot of land bearing No. 104, Block No. B, Rewari Line, Industrial area, Phase-I, Maya Puri, New Delhi area measuring 7794.63 square yards.

5. The parties in the instant appeal would be referred by their names or the status in the present appeal.

6. On the basis of the submissions of the parties, a preliminary decree dated 24.04.1981 was passed by the learned trial court holding that Shiv Dutt Salwan, respondent No. 1/plaintiff, Ramesh Dutt Salwan, the appellant/defendant No. 1 were entitled to one-third share each leaving balance one-third to be shared by respondent Nos. 2 to 4/defendants No. 2 to 4, namely, Smt. Kaushalya Devi, Rita Salwan and Master Chetan. It may also be pertinent here to mention that as on date Smt. Kaushalya Devi and Master Chetan are stated to be no more and only Smt. Rita Salwan, the widow of Naresh Dutt Salwan survives. Simultaneously Ramesh Dutt Salwan has also died and his widow Urmil Salwan and two daughters have not been brought on record. In fact, in the year 2013, Shiv Dutt Salwan filed an application for abatement of the appeal on account of death of Ramesh Dutt Salwan because no steps are taken for bringing on record his legal heirs. The said application was not pressed by Shiv Dutt Salwan vide order dated 29.7.2013 and was dismissed. In any case, in a suit for partition, each defendant/respondent is a plaintiff. Therefore, irrespective of the fact whether any application is filed or not, the proceedings do not abate and the partition by metes and bounds has to be effected. In the present case, Mr. Saini has been appearing for Urmil Salwan and making submissions for partition by metes and bounds.

7. The learned trial Court after passing of the preliminary decree proceeded ahead to pass a final decree and for that purpose appointed one Mr. V.K. Goel, Architect as the Local Comm