Narasus Coffee Company vs L. Venkatraman

The petition is directed against order dated 26.9.2019 of the High Court of Madras. By the impugned order the High Court set aside the order of the Trial Court rejecting the plaint under Order 7 Rule 11 of the Code of Civil Procedure. The plaintiff-respondent had filed the suit claiming ownership basing his title on adverse possession. The defendant-petitioner before us took a stand that the property was leased to the plaintiff and therefore, the question of raising the plea of adverse possession does not arise.

This may be a triable issue but we agree with the High Court that Order 7 Rule 11 cannot be invoked to reject the plaint. The plaint discloses a cause of action. Having held so we feel that the High Court while allowing the petition filed by the defendant has made observations on merits, which were not called for at this stage. Therefore, though we uphold the order of the High Court we direct that any observations made by the High Court shall not influence the decision of the trial Court which shall decide the issue of adverse possession strictly on the basis of the evidence led by the parties before it.

We leave it to the petitioner to approach the Trial Court for trial of the issue as a preliminary issue if it falls within the realm of Order 14 Rule 2 of the Code of Civil Procedure. The question whether the issue can be treated as a preliminary issue, shall be decided by the Trial Court.

In view of the above, the special leave petition is disposed of along with all pending applications.