2011 Supreme(HP) 2263
DEEPAK GUPTA
Rani Kukreja – Appellant
Versus
Prabha Bhagra – Respondent
Advocates appeared:
For the Petitioner Mr. Tarlok Chauhan, Advocate.
For the Respondent No. 1. M/s B.R. Verma & Rajiv Sood, Advocates.
Judgement Key Points
- Litigants must approach the Court with clean hands, fully disclose all material facts, and avoid misleading the Court, as failure to do so warrants rejection of relief. (!) [18000127920006][18000127920007][18000127920008] (!) (!) (!) [18000127920010] (!) [18000127920012] (!) (!) (!) (!)
- The plaintiff filed an earlier suit for specific performance of agreements to sell land, which was decreed at trial but reversed on appeal due to a forged endorsement, and ultimately dismissed by the Supreme Court. [18000127920001][18000127920002]
- After losing the prior suit, heirs of the original owner sold the same land to the petitioner (defendant No. 5). [18000127920003]
- In the new suit, the plaintiff claimed adverse possession of the same land and sought permanent prohibitory injunction, annexing the prior agreement but omitting all details of the previous litigation. [18000127920003] (!) [18000127920004][18000127920005][18000127920006][18000127920007]
- The trial court granted an ex parte status quo order without service on all parties and without recording findings on prima facie case, irreparable injury, or balance of convenience. (!) [18000127920004][18000127920020][18000127920024]
- Concealment of prior litigation, especially a loss up to the Supreme Court on the same subject matter, constitutes abuse of process and fraud on the court. [18000127920006][18000127920007][18000127920013][18000127920018][18000127920019]
- Plaintiff's possession, if any, was permissive under the agreement, not hostile, undermining the adverse possession claim. [18000127920017]
- Trial courts must apply well-recognized principles for interim injunctions under Order 39 Rules 1 & 2 CPC: prima facie case, irreparable injury, balance of convenience, and no alternate remedy. [18000127920020][18000127920021] (!) [18000127920022] (!) (!) [18000127920023] (!) (!) (!) (!) (!) (!) [18000127920024]
- Courts should reject vexatious suits at threshold under Order 7 Rule 11 CPC if no cause of action is disclosed, and consider exemplary costs or contempt for suppression of facts. [18000127920009] (!) (!) (!) (!) (!) [18000127920025]
- Doctrine of constructive res judicata bars re-litigation of claims or issues that could and should have been raised earlier. [18000127920013] (!) (!) (!) (!) (!) (!) (!) [18000127920015]
- The stay order is quashed; defendant permitted to seek rejection of plaint under Order 7 Rule 11 CPC; trial court to decide expeditiously and consider contempt recommendation if warranted; plaintiff burdened with Rs. 1,00,000 exemplary costs. [18000127920025][18000127920026]
JUDGMENT:
Deepak Gupta, J.
1. This is a rather unusual case where the petitioner-defendant has approached this Court at the very threshold of the suit praying that the plaint in case No. 59-1 of 2011 be struck off and contempt proceedings be initiated against the plaintiff for instituting vexatious proceedings after concealing material facts.
2. This case has a long and chequered history. Respondent No.1 (hereinafter referred to as the plaintiff) first filed a Civil Suit No. 11 of 1999 in this Court against Smt. Jayanti Devi, Smt. Prabha Singh, Ms. Shelja Singh and Ms. Girja Singh. The aforesaid four defendants were the legal heirs of late Kr. Ranvijay Singh being his mother, widow and minor children. According to the plaintiff, she had earlier purchased two bighas of land from late Kr. Ranvijay Singh comprised in khasra No. 245/41/3 and entered into possession thereupon. According to her, after she had purchased this land on 30.7.1994, she entered into another agreement for providing a road to this land and consequently late Kr. Ranvijay Singh entered into an agreement with her on 30.7.1994, agreeing to sell one biswas of land comprised in khasra No. 245/41/1 for a consideration
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