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Om Prakash v. Suresh Kumar

Civil Appeal · 2020 INSC 111Decided 30 Jan 2020
Civil Appeal Nos. 833-834 of 2020
Justice A.M. Khanwilkar · Justice Hemant Gupta · Justice Dinesh Maheshwari

Background

The appellant-landlord owned non-residential premises in Hamirpur, Himachal Pradesh, which were let out to the respondent's father as a tenant. The landlord obtained an eviction order to reconstruct the premises, and during a revision petition before the High Court, his counsel made an unequivocal statement agreeing that the tenant would be re-inducted in equivalent area in the newly constructed building after reconstruction. The landlord later changed advocates and tried to resile from this commitment, claiming his counsel acted without instructions, but the High Court rejected his review petition.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that a lawyer's unequivocal statement made within the scope of his engagement binds the client unless the client can show the lawyer had no authority to make it, and the appellant had not shown he expressly instructed his counsel otherwise. The Court found the landlord was bound by his counsel's commitment to re-induct the tenant in the newly constructed building. However, taking into account that the originally offered space had shrunk due to an internal staircase, the Court modified the arrangement to give the tenant a larger, more usable frontage portion of the ground floor plus monetary compensation for the reduced area, and appointed a court officer to oversee compliance. The appeals were partly allowed with this modified, equitable arrangement.

Lesson Learnt

A statement made by one's own lawyer in court, within the scope of the case for which he was engaged, is generally binding on the client: clients should give clear instructions to their counsel and cannot easily disown a commitment made on their behalf simply by changing lawyers later.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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