1940 Supreme(Mad) 457
IN THE HIGH COURT OF MADRAS
Pandrang Row, J.
Chithuri Ramamohana Rao
Versus
Peteti Raghavamma and Ors.
Decided On : 19.11.1940
The main legal point established in the judgment is the deliberate and wilful non-impleading of a party respondent and the court's authority to set aside such orders due to non-compliance with the conditions of Order 41, Rule 20, Civil Procedure Code.
Headnote:
Impleadment - Civil Procedure Code - Order 41, Rule 20, Order 41, Rule 33 - The judgment discusses the impleadment of respondents in an appeal and the conditions prescribed by law for impleading a party respondent. The court sets aside the order directing the impleading of the 2nd defendant as a party respondent due to non-compliance with the conditions of Order 41, Rule 20, Civil Procedure Code.
Fact of the Case:
The petitions seek to revise the orders of the District Judge allowing two persons to be impleaded as respondents in an appeal. The third defendant's application to be made a respondent is found to lack serious opposition, as the trial Court's decree was entirely in her favor. The second defendant was not impleaded in the appeal due to a alleged mistake, which was later found to be deliberate and wilful.
Finding of the Court:
The court found that the third defendant lacked any interest in being impleaded as a party respondent in the appeal, and the non-impleading of the second defendant was deliberate and wilful. The court set aside the order directing the impleading of the 2nd defendant as a party respondent due to non-compliance with the conditions of Order 41, Rule 20, Civil Procedure Code.
Issues: The issues revolved around the impleadment of respondents in the appeal, the alleged mistake in non-impleading the second defendant, and the compliance with the conditions of Order 41, Rule 20, Civil Procedure Code.
Ratio Decidendi: The court held that the third defendant lacked any interest in being impleaded as a party respondent in the appeal, and the non-impleading of the second defendant was deliberate and wilful. The court set aside the order directing the impleading of the 2nd defendant as a party respondent due to non-compliance with the conditions of Order 41, Rule 20, Civil Procedure Code.
Final Decision: The court set aside the order directing the impleading of the 2nd defendant as a party respondent and allowed the petition with costs.
Pandrang Row, J.
1. These are petitions to revise the orders of the District Judge of Kistna dated the 30th March, 19-39 allowing two persons to be impleaded as respondents in an appeal which had come on for hearing and in which an objection had been taken by the only respondent in the appeal till then that the appeal itself was liable to be dismissed in limine in view of the omission to implead one of those persons as a respondent, namely, the second defendant in the suit. The application to implead the second defendant was made by the appellants. The other application was made by the third defendant herself to be impleaded as a respondent. Both the applications were allowed by the Court below in very short orders which merely were to the effect that the persons in question were to be added as respondents subject to objections that might be made regarding amendment of the grounds of appeal.
2. So far as C. R. P. No. 746 of 1939 is concerned, it relates to the application by the third defendant to be made a respondent. In that petition there has not been very serious opposition, because it is impossible to say that the third defendant has any interest in coming on record in an appeal while the trial Courts decree was entirely in her favour and the suit was dismissed by the trial Court as against her. The suit was to declare that two alienations made by the third defendant in favour of the second defendant are not binding on the plaintiffs and the 4th defendant after the lifetime of the 3rd defendant, the third defendant being the mother of the plaintiffs and the fourth defendant being a sister of the plaintiffs, the plaintiffs themselves being sisters. The second defendant is the husband of the fourth defendant and both the alienations that were sought to be declared not binding were alienations made in his favour by his mother-in-law. The decree of the trial Court was that the suit is dismissed. In these circumstances it is difficult to understand what possible interest the third defendant could have in asking the appellate Court to implead her as a party respondent when the appellants themselves did not implead her as a respondent and did not even subsequently apply to implead her. No interest has been established and the application should have been dismissed because it did not comply with the conditions of Order 41, Rule 20, Civil Procedure Code. The order of the lower Court directing that the third defendant be impleaded as a respondent is accordingly set aside and the petitioner in this petition (C.R.P. No. 746 of 1939) will have his costs in the petition from the third defendant (respondent).
3. As regards the other civil revision petition it is contended that the non-impleading of the second defendant in the appeal originally was due to a mistake. It is alleged in the affidavit filed in support of the application that the second defendant was not added originally as a respondent because it was believed that as he was ex parte in the trial Court his presence might not be necessary in the appeal. It was also mentioned that the omission to add the second defendant as a respondent was due to a bona fide mistake on the part of the appellants, the bona fide mistake being that because there was a subsequent sale of the property by the second defendant to, the first defendant who at the time of the suit was only a mortgagee under the second defendant, it was considered that the first defendant having become the owner of the property could sufficiently represent the property and it was not necessary to make the second defendant also a party. The alleged mistake was denied in the counter affidavit and it is abundantly clear that there could not have been any bona fide mistake. The non-impleading of the second defendant was deliberate. - The Memorandum of appeal was returned by the District Judge and the appellants were asked to state why all the parties to the proceedings in the lower Court had not been added as parties in