Maha Nand & Others vs Gurbaz Singh & Another

Sudhanshu Dhulia, J

The petitioners before this Court were the plaintiffs in a suit being Suit No.89 of 2011 "Maha Nand & others Vs. Gurbaaz Singh", which was filed for cancellation of two sale deeds dated 04.08.1980 and 22.08.1980. In the suit, the defendant moved an application under Section 11 of CPC on ground that the suit itself was barred by res judicata. The application under Section 11 of CPC was rejected by the First Additional Civil Jude (J.D.), Rudrapur vide order dated 27.11.2018. Against the order dated 27.11.2018, the defendant/respondent no.1 filed a revision being Civil Revision No.60 of 2018 "Gurbaz Singh vs. Maha Nand & others", which was allowed by the revisional court vide order dated 18.07.2019, and the order dated 27.11.2018 passed by the trial court was set aside. Aggrieved, the petitioners have filed the present writ petition before this Court.

The fact of the matter is that regarding the same matter i.e. cancellation of the two sale deeds dated 04.08.1980 and 22.08.1980 an earlier suit being O.S. No. 122 of 2005 was filed, inter alia, by the plaintiff, namely, Maha Nand. This suit which was filed in the year 2005 was dismissed on 29.09.2006.

This is an admitted fact that on the ground of res judicata alone, the suit of the present petitioners was liable to be dismissed. It is an admitted case that for the same cause of action that is for the cancellation of the same two sale deeds dated 04.08.1980 and 22.08.1980, a civil suit was instituted way back in the year 2005 being Civil Suit No.122 of 2005 which was admittedly dismissed on 29.09.2006.

It cannot be said that the present plaintiffs had no knowledge of the said suit as they were party to the said suit. The present suit was therefore squarely barred by the principle of res judicata. Apart from this, the fact that the plaintiffs had earlier instituted a suit being Suit No. 122 of 2005, which was dismissed, was never disclosed by them in the present case. The petitioners have concealed this vital and valuable information and have clearly abused the process of law.

Under these circumstances, no interference is liable to be made in the matter. In any case, the order passed dated 18.07.2019 passed by the 1st Additional District and Sessions Judge, Udham Singh Nagar is a perfect and just order.

Consequently, the writ petition fails and it is hereby dismissed. Let the Trial Court decide the matter in terms of the order passed by the revisional court as expeditiously as possible.

This Court was inclined to dismiss the writ petition with an exemplary cost but since the learned counsel for the petitioners has fairly submitted that the petitioners belong to lower strata of the society and it may cause unnecessary financial burden on them, this Court refrains to impose the cost.