IMPORTANT POINT
Once a person is proceeded ex parte that does not mean that the person is proceeded ex parte for all times.

O.A Nos. 94/2014 and 95/2014

Valmiki J.Mehta, J.—[Chamber appeals by legal heirs of defendant no. 1 against the orders dated 20.11.2013 and 23.4.2014 passed by the Joint Registrar refusing to implead the legal heirs of defendant no. 1 and allowing the application of the plaintiff under Order XXII Rule 4(4) CPC being IA No. 1293/2013 for exempting the plaintiff from substituting the legal heirs of defendant no. 1 in place of defendant no. 1 as also to condone the delay under Section 5 of the Limitation Act, 1963 by allowing IA No. 11687/2014] OA No. 119/2014 [Chamber appeal filed by defendant nos. 9 and 10 against the order dated 21.5.2014 passed by the Joint Registrar disallowing the applications being IA No. 10800/2010 filed under Order IX Rule 7 CPC for setting aside the ex parte proceedings against these defendants and IA No. 10801/2014 filed under Section 5 of the Limitation Act,1963 for condonation of delay in filing IA No. 10800/2014]

1. Without in any manner being distracted by the many Original Appeals and various applications which have to be decided, in sum and substance, the prayers are for allowing the legal heirs of defendant no. 1 to appear and contest the proceedings by being substituted in place of the deceased defendant no.1 and that the defendant nos. 9 and 10 who are the purchasers of rights from defendant no. 1 are allowed to get set aside the ex parte proceedings against them and thus permitting them to contest the suit on merits.

2. The subject suit is a suit for partition of a property stated by the plaintiff to be joint Hindu family property. The property is the property bearing no. 3/64, Old Rajinder Nagar, New Delhi. Originally, there were four defendants in the suit and subsequently, after allowing of the two amendments, the number of defendants increased to 9 and then to 10, defendant no. 10 being the wife of defendant no. 9 and both these defendants being purchasers of the suit property.

3. The defendant nos. 2(a), 3, 4 and 7 as also defendant nos. 5, 6 and 8 are in fact supporting the plaintiff because they fall in the plaintiff’s branch. The effective contesting defendant in the case was defendant no. 1. Defendant no.1 had filed his initial written statement on 7.1.2005 taking the plea that the suit property is not a joint Hindu family property but the said property is exclusively owned by defendant no. 1 as the title deeds of the property are in the name of defendant no. 1.

4. The defendant nos. 9 and 10 who have purchased the rights of defendant no. 1, and therefore, they will be taken up as one group along with defendant no. 1.

5. For disposal of various applications, a few dates are relevant for the purpose of adjudication. These are:-

S.No. Date Facts

1. 07.01.2005 Defendant no. 1 appeared and filed his written statement.

2. 06.11.2007 The defendant no. 9 was impleaded and subsequently served on

07.12.2007.

3. 25.03.2008 Amended written statement was filed by defendant no. 1 after plaint was

amended to add defendant no. 9, the husband of defendant no. 10 and

which defendant no.10 was subsequently impleaded. (Though the

counsel for the plaintiff argued that after this amendment adding

defendant no.9, the right to file the amended written statement shall be

closed, since the same was not filed within one week as per order dated

25.3.2008 and the same was filed on 2.5.2008, however it is noted here

that there is no specific order taking the amended written statement of

defendant no. 1 off the record and in fact the defendant no.1 would have

a right to file fresh written statement on account of addition of defendant

no.10 subsequently).

4. 08.05.2009 The defendant no. 10 was impleaded and who was served on 26.7.2008.

It is the second time the plaintiff was allowed to make amendments

accordingly in the plaint; and make averments against defendant no. 10

including a prayer for cancellation of the sale deed in favour of

defendant no. 10.

As per this ord