The Civil Court can adjudicate title disputes even when linked to administrative orders under the Patta Passbook Act, and amendments pertinent to such disputes can be permitted without restriction.

COMMON ORDER

The Civil Revision Petitions are directed against the fair and decreetal order passed by the Additional District Munsif Court, Thirumangalam, dated 30.11.2021 in I.A.Nos.141 and 142 of 2021 in O.S.No.224 of 2018.

2.By the said order, the trial Court had allowed the application for amendment filed by the plaintiff. By the said petition, the plaintiff had prayed for an amendment to amend the relief prayed for in the suit by including a prayer to declare that the order passed by the 9th defendant in its proceedings dated 18.01.2021, is null and void are not binding upon the plaintiffs and also had prayed to include paragraph in IX(aa) of the plaint averments as against the alteration of the patta.

3.Heard Mr.S.Sankar, learned counsel appearing on behalf of petitioners, Mr.J.Barathan, learned counsel appearing for R1 to R3, R5 to R10 and Mr.J.K.Jayaseelan, learned Government Advocate appearing on behalf of the respondent Nos.11 to 13.

4.The learned counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioners would submit that the instant suit is one of bare injunction. The defendant has already filed a written statement disputing the title of the plaintiff. Thereafter, the suit was not amended for any declaratory relief. The original case of the plaintiff is that the property was allotted to one Aya Thevar by way of oral partition and therefore, patta was issued in their name and therefore, the injunction was prayed.

5.The case of the defendants is that the property was never given exclusively to give Aya Thever and his brother Maya Thever also had a share in the said property and originally the property was standing in the name of their predecessor in title Paramasamy Thevar and only during the alteration of records in the UDR scheme, patta was wrongly mutated in the name of Aya Thevar, which is now corrected by the authorities. The said proceedings are not directly in issue in the suit. When nothing has been offered in the suit regarding the pending proceedings before the revenue authorities, the trial Court ought to have seen that the very amendment, changes the entire character of the suit and it is based on a different cause of action and as such, the trial Court ought not to have permitted the amendment. In any event, the relief prayed for in the civil suit cannot also be granted in the absence of a declaratory relief in respect of the title. If they had to sue for a declaration, the same would be barred by limitation as of today. It is his further contention that the trial Court did not also give any reasons and did not also consider the aspect of the bar of suit under Section 14 of the Patta Passbook Act. For all the above reasons, he would pray that the Civil Revision petition should be allowed.

6.Per contra, the learned counsel appearing on behalf of the respondent would submit that on a perusal of the order of the Tahsildar, dated 27.07.2018 and the order of the District Revenue Officer, dated 18.01.2021 in the appeal, it can be seen that the authorities have gone into the title of the parties and have decided them. As a matter of fact, when the DRO had opined that the parties could approach the civil Court if they are aggrieved, he ought to have said that without effecting the changes made in patta. When title is being disputed between the legal heirs of Aya Thevar and the legal heirs of Maya Thevar, it is not for the revenue authorities to have decided the said title and ought to have left the question to the Civil Court. When the authorities themselves have opined that the matter has to be decided in the civil Court and when the matter of title is being disputed and is writ large before the civil Court, when pending the civil suit the patta was changed in the name of Paramasamy Thever, it cannot be said that it is an entry which is made under the Patta Passbook Act and if the authorities exceed their jurisdiction or grant any relief other than making an entry in Patta Passbook, then in that case, the suit is not barred u