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Shivnarayan (D) by LRs. v. Maniklal (D) Thr. LRs. & Ors.

Civil Appeal · 2019 INSC 152Decided 6 Feb 2019
Civil Appeal No. 1052 of 2019
Justice Ashok Bhushan · Justice K.M. Joseph

Background

The plaintiff filed a single civil suit before the District Judge, Indore, claiming a one-third share in two separate properties belonging to an extended family, one plot in Indore and another flat in Bandra, Mumbai, and also sought to challenge a will as forged. Two of the defendants connected only to the Mumbai property asked the trial court to strike out all pleadings and relief relating to that property, arguing the Indore court had no territorial jurisdiction over the Mumbai flat and that combining two unrelated properties, with different defendants and different causes of action, in a single suit amounted to misjoinder. The trial court agreed and struck out the Mumbai-property claims, a decision the High Court upheld on writ petition, leading to this further appeal to the Supreme Court.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that the Indore and Mumbai properties arose from entirely different causes of action involving different sets of defendants, and that Order II Rule 2 and Rule 3 of the Civil Procedure Code only permit joining multiple causes of action in one suit when they are against the same defendant(s) jointly, not when, as here, separate defendants are connected to separate, unrelated properties. The Court rejected the plaintiff's argument that the defendants could not raise misjoinder since they had not separately challenged the "cause of action," noting their application had expressly pleaded both misjoinder of parties and of causes of action together. Finding no error in either the trial court's or the High Court's reasoning, the Supreme Court upheld the striking out of the Mumbai-property pleadings and dismissed the appeal, meaning the plaintiff's claim to the Mumbai flat could not be pursued within this Indore suit (though the dispute over the Indore property and the challenge to the will could continue separately).

Lesson Learnt

A single lawsuit cannot bundle together claims to unrelated properties involving different sets of defendants and different facts merely because they involve related family members: each distinct property dispute, with its own cause of action and defendants, generally needs to be pursued in its own appropriately-filed suit.

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

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