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1991 Supreme(All) 755

IN THE HIGH COURT OF ALLAHABAD
D. P. S. CHAUHAN
DEVESH CHANDRA GUPTA - Appellant
Versus
DINA NATH - Respondents
Second Appeal 546 Of 1986
Decided On : 10/11/1991

Advocates Appeared:
B.K.Srivastava, P.C.Mathur, V.K.Gupta

A suit for eviction of a tenant and for recovery of rent and damages for use and occupation is not bad for misjoinder of causes of action.

Headnote:

MISJOINDER OF CAUSES OF ACTION - SUIT FOR EVICTION AND DAMAGES - U. P. URBAN BUILDINGS (REGULATION OF LETTING, RENT AND EVICTION) ACT, 1972 - TRANSFER OF PROPERTY ACT, 1882, S. 106 - CODE OF CIVIL PROCEDURE, 1908, ORDER II, RULES 2 AND 3 - EXPLANATION II TO RULE 2 - INTERPRETATION AND APPLICATION.

Fact of the Case:

Plaintiff filed a suit for eviction of defendants from the suit property and for recovery of rent and damages for use and occupation. The trial court decreed the suit, but the lower appellate court set aside the decree on the ground that the suit was bad for misjoinder of causes of action.

Finding of the Court:

The High Court held that the lower appellate court erred in allowing the objection to be raised regarding misjoinder of causes at the lower appellate Court stage and also on the merits. The court held that the joinder of causes was permitted under Rule 3 of Order II of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, and that the Explanation to Rule 2 of Order II was not contrary to the provisions of Rule 3 of Order II. The court further held that the alleged causes of action, in the present case, was one and the same and, therefore, the question of misjoinder of the cause of action was not there.

Issues: 1. Whether the suit was maintainable against the defendants. 2. Whether the lower appellate court erred in allowing the defendants to raise the question of misjoinder of causes at the appellate stage. 3. Whether the view taken by the lower appellate court, even on merits, is unsustainable.

Ratio Decidendi: 1. The objection on the ground of misjoinder of causes of action have to be taken at the earliest possible opportunity, i. e. before the trial Court unless such an objection is of a nature which has subsequently arisen. 2. The provisions of Explanation II to Rule 2 of Order II, C. P. C. as added by the U. P. Amendment, does not make any prohibition but only creates a fiction that the rent or compensation for use and occupation of the property, shall be deemed to be claims in respect of distinct causes of action. 3. Where causes of action are united, the jurisdiction of the Court as regards the suit shall depend on the amount or value of the aggregate subject-matters at the date of instituting the suit.

Final Decision: The appeal was allowed. The judgment and decree of the lower appellate court were set aside and the judgment and decree of the trial of Court were restored.

D. P. S. CHAUHAN, J.

( 1 ) THE plaintiff-appellant of Suit No. 437 of 1981, Devesh Chandra Gupta, claimed the following reliefs in the suit :-" (A) That by a decree of possession against the defendants and in favour of the plaintiff, the defendants be evicted from the property as detailed at the foot of the plaint in Schedule A and B and the plaintiff be put in actual and physical possession thereof after total eviction of defendants therefrom. (B) That a decree for recovery of Rs. 2,705. 00 as rent and damages for use and occupation since 1-1-1980 to 20-10-1981 be passed in favour of the plaintiff against the defendants first set; (C) That a decree for recovery of pendente lite and future damages for use and occupation at the rate of Rs. 300. 00 P. M. viz. at the present rental value of the suit property be passed in favour of the plaintiff against the defendants first set on payment of additional court-fee in execution side; (D) That the costs of the suit be also awarded to the plaintiff against the defendants; (E) Any other relief/ reliefs which may be found suitable and proper in the opinion of the Court may also be awarded to the plaintiff. "

( 2 ) THE suit was decreed by the trial court on 21-10-1982, in particular, granting relief (A) directing the defendants for handing over the vacant possession of the suit property within a period of three months failing which the plaintiff was entitled to have possession through the agency of the court at the costs of the defendants, and also the relief (C) decreeing the claim relating to pendente lite and future damages at the rate of Rs. 125-00 per month, subject to the adjustment of the amount deposited by the defendants, and the liability was to continue till the suit property was vacated by the defendants. The lower appellate court on 24-12-1985 set aside the said decree of the trial court where against the present second appeal, filed in this Court, was admitted on the following substantial question of law. "whether the suit of the plaintiff was maintainable against the defendants. "

( 3 ) THE brief facts relating to the controversy under the substantial question are - (I) That the plaintiff, the owner of the property in suit, let out to the defendant Nos. 1 and 2 the northern portion of building, as contained in Schedule A to the plaint, at the rate of Rs. 65-00 per month, and the southern portion of the same building, as contained in Schedule B, at the rate of Rs. 60. 00 per month, which contains a Kothari appurtenant thereto and the same was not let out. The defendant Nos. 1 and 2, illegally and without his consent, sub-let the property in question to one Hari Shanker, defendant No. 3, who illegally placed a wooden structure on the property described in Schedule B. On 19-8-1981 a composite notice, as required by S. 106 of the Transfer of Property Act, 1882, terminating the tenancy and requiring them to handover vacant possession of the suit property, was given. Consequent upon the notice, the vacant possession of the property was not handedover and, accordingly, the plaintiff filed the suit for the reliefs, as quoted earlier :- (ii) That the defence, as set up by the defendant Nos. 1 and 2, was that they never sublet the property in suit but, in fact, they gave the saw machine, which was installed thereon, for running it to the defendant No. 3 on Rs. 225-00 per month.

( 4 ) THE trial court framed as many as seven issues which all were decided in favour of the plaintiff. The defendant aggrieved therefrom filed Civil Appeal No. 3 of 1983 wherein the lower appellate Court did not upset the finding on any of the issues, but allowed to raise a new plea, which was neither pleaded in the written statement nor there was any objection before the trial Court. The question was as to whether the composite suit for two different causes of action was maintainable or the same was bad for joinder of different causes of action regarding the two tenancies.

( 5 ) HEARD the learned counsel for th

















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