SupremeToday Landscape Ad
Back
Next
Judicial Analysis Court Copy Headnote Facts Arguments Court observation
Listen Audio Icon Pause Audio Icon
judgment-img

2021 Supreme(Mad) 499

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS
A.A. NAKKIRAN, J.
C. Mani & Others – Appellant
Versus
C.M. Venkatesalu – Respondent
CRP(PD) No. 4786 of 2017
Decided On : 11-02-2021

Advocates Appeared:
For the Petitioners:V. Suryanarayana Reddy, Advocate.
For the Respondent:A.R. Suresh, Advocate.

The main legal point established is that the invocation of Article 227 of the Constitution of India to strike off a plaint requires extraordinary circumstances and is not maintainable when an alternative remedy under Order 7 Rule 11 of CPC is available.

Headnote:

Resjudicata - Civil Revision Petition - The court dismissed the petition to strike off the plaint, stating that the alternative remedy under Order 7 Rule 11 of CPC is available and there are no extraordinary circumstances to invoke Article 227 of the Constitution of India.

Fact of the Case:

The Defendants filed a Civil Revision Petition to strike off the plaint in a suit filed by the Plaintiff for declaration of title over the suit property and for injunction, citing resjudicata as the grounds.

Finding of the Court:

The court found that the Civil Revision Petition seeking to strike off the plaint under Article 227 of the Constitution of India is not maintainable when there is an alternative remedy available under Order 7 Rule 11 of CPC.

Issues: The main issue was whether the Civil Revision Petition to strike off the plaint was maintainable under Article 227 of the Constitution of India.

Ratio Decidendi: The court held that the petition was not maintainable as there were no extraordinary circumstances and an alternative remedy under Order 7 Rule 11 of CPC was available.

Final Decision: The Civil Revision Petition was dismissed, and no costs were awarded. The court stated that the Petitioners could work out their remedy in the manner known to law.

JUDGMENT :

(Prayer: This Civil Revision Petition has been filed, under Section 227 of the Constitution of India, to strike off the plaint in OS.No.126 of 2017, on the file of the Principal District Judge, Tiruvallur, with exemplary costs.)

1. This Civil Revision Petition has been filed, to strike off the plaint in OS.No.126 of 2017, on the file of the Principal District Judge, Tiruvallur.

2. The Defendants in OS.No.126 of 2017 are the Petitioners and the Respondent is the Plaintiff. The said suit was filed for declaration of title over the suit property and for consequential relief of injunction, restraining the Defendants from interfering with the Plaintiff-s possession and enjoyment of the suit property. This Civil Revision Petition has been filed by the Defendants to strike off the plaint.

3. The learned counsel for the Petitioners has submitted that since the present suit has been filed, suppressing the earlier suits in OS.Nos.630 of 1983 and 629 of 1983, to which the 1st Petitioner and the father of the Respondent were parties and material facts and since the suit property is a part and parcel of the properties covered under the earlier decrees made in the earlier suits and since the issue involved in OS.No.126 of 2017 was already decided in OS.No.630 of 1983, which was confirmed in AS.No.65 of 1997, it would amount to abuse of process of Court and the present suit is hit by the principles of resjudicata and consequently, the present plaint is to be rejected. The learned counsel has relied on 2010 4 CTC 690 (Southern and Rajamani Transport Private Limited Vs. R.Srinivasan and others), 2017 6 CTC 723 (S.Thiagarajan Vs. Supreme Pipe Syndicate), 1994 1 SCC 1 (S.P.Changalvaraya Naidu (dead) by LRs Vs. Jagannath (dead) by LRs) and 2020 5 CTC 781 (Saraswathy Ammal and others Vs. Govindan and others).

4. The learned counsel for the Respondent has submitted that the Petitioners have filed IA.No.7 of 2020, after filing of this Civil Revision Petition for the very same relief and that as per the Article 227 of the Constitution of India, the plaint cannot be struck off by this Court, when there is an alternative remedy under Order 7 Rule 11 of CPC is available and hence, the learned counsel has sought for the dismissal of this civil revision petition.

5. This court heard the learned counsel on either side and considered their submissions and also carefully perused the materials placed on record.

6. This Civil Revision Petition has been filed under Article 227 of the Constitution of India to strike off the plaint in the year 2017. The Petitioners have also filed an application in IA.No.7 of 2020 before the court below for the very same relief and it is pending.

7. When there is an alternative remedy available to the petitioner to approach the concerned court under Order 7 Rule 11 of CPC, seeking to reject the plaint, the Civil Revision Petition filed under Article 227 of the Constitution of India to struck off the plaint cannot be maintained parallely.

8. Only when there are extraordinary circumstances, jurisdiction of this Court under Article 227 of the Constitution of India can be invoked to strike off the plaint. In this case, there is no such extraordinary circumstance pointed out by the learned counsel for the Petitioners. Hence, when there being no extraordinary circumstances and where there is an application under Order 7 Rule 11 of CPC pending before the court below for the very same relief, this Civil Revision Petition, seeking to strike off the plaint, invoking Article 227 of the Constitution of India, is not maintainable.

9. In fine, this Civil Revision Petition is dismissed. No costs. Consequently, the connected MP is closed. If at all the Petitioners has any grievance, it is always open to them to work out their remedy, in the manner known to law.

Click Here to Read the rest of this document
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
SupremeToday Portrait Ad
supreme today icon
logo-black

An indispensable Tool for Legal Professionals, Endorsed by Various High Court and Judicial Officers

Please visit our Training & Support
Center or Contact Us for assistance

qr

Scan Me!

India’s Legal research and Law Firm App, Download now!

For Daily Legal Updates, Join us on :

whatsapp-icon Back to top