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Sucha Singh Sodhi (D) Thr. LRs. v. Baldev Raj Walia & Anr.

Civil Appeal · 2018 INSC 338Decided 13 Apr 2018
Civil Appeal No. 3777 of 2018
Justice R.K. Agrawal · Justice Abhay Manohar Sapre

Background

The original plaintiff, Sucha Singh, had agreed to buy a house in Delhi from the respondent and paid part of the price, but when the respondent allegedly tried to dispossess him, Sucha Singh first filed a suit only for a permanent injunction. He later withdrew that injunction suit, telling the trial court he intended to file fresh, appropriate proceedings, and subsequently filed a new suit seeking specific performance of the sale agreement. The trial court and the Delhi High Court held this second suit was barred because the first suit had been withdrawn without the trial court expressly granting liberty to file a fresh suit, and dismissed it under Order VII Rule 11 of the Code.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court examined the record of the earlier withdrawal and found that the plaintiff's recorded statement that he wanted to withdraw the suit in order to pursue appropriate proceedings, combined with the trial court's order permitting withdrawal, together satisfied the requirement of Order 23 Rule 1(3) of the Code, meaning permission to file a fresh suit did not need to be stated in so many separate words. The Court held that the lower courts had wrongly treated the second suit as barred by Order 2 Rule 2, set aside their judgments, dismissed the respondent's application under Order VII Rule 11, and declared the civil suit maintainable. The case was restored to the trial court's file with a direction to decide it on merits, preferably within one year, without being influenced by any of the Supreme Court's observations.

Lesson Learnt

When a plaintiff withdraws a suit and clearly states on record that it is to pursue the correct remedy elsewhere, and the court permits the withdrawal, that combination can itself amount to the "liberty to file a fresh suit" required by law: it need not be spelled out as a separate, explicit sentence in the withdrawal order.

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

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