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Shivkishan v. Sujata Tarachand Makhija and Ors.

Civil Appeal · 2019 INSC 1095Decided 27 Sept 2019
Civil Appeal Nos. 7652-7653 of 2019
Justice Uday Umesh Lalit · Justice Vineet Saran

Background

A member (the "disputant") of a Cooperative Housing Society in Nagpur alleged the Society's Secretary had misappropriated funds and wrongly denied her the allotment of a residential plot for which she had properly applied and paid in 1988, despite her seniority entitling her to it. The plot was instead later allotted and sold to the appellant, Shivkishan, by the Society: a sale executed even though a court had already issued an injunction stopping the Society from allotting that very plot. The High Court quashed the resolution and sale deed in Shivkishan's favour, and he appealed to the Supreme Court.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court found that the sale deed in Shivkishan's favour was executed after an injunction was already in place barring the Society from allotting that plot, and before the Society resolution purporting to authorise it even existed, so the allotment to him could not stand. The Court also confirmed the disputant had properly applied and paid for the plot in her own right on the relevant date, before anyone else had opted for it. The appeals were dismissed, upholding the High Court's decision to cancel the allotment to Shivkishan, with directions that fresh allotment be made strictly among those who had validly exercised their option for the plot as of that date.

Lesson Learnt

Any transfer or allotment of property made in violation of a court's injunction order has no legal protection, and buying or accepting property with knowledge of such a pending restraint carries real risk of losing it later.

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

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