Ramaswamy Pillai and Others vs Inspector of Police and Others

Maheswaran, J.—This revision petition is to revise the order of the Executive First Class Magistrate, Namakkal, in M.C. No.5 of 1975

referring the matter to be decided by a competent Civil Court and passing an order attaching the subject-matter of the dispute and appointing one

Vengarai, the headman of the Village, as a Receiver. There was a dispute in respect of 2 acres of the northern part of the land comprised in S. No.

474 and 1.38 acres in S. No. 475 of S. Vangari Village. ""A"" Party M/s. Singaram Pillai and Chellandi Kandar claimed to be in possession of the

properties while ""B"" Party M/s. Ramasamy Pillai and his lessees in their turn claimed to be in possession of the properties. It is seen from the

records that the ""B"" Party has filed the suit in O.S. No. 1656 of 1974 on the file of the District Munsif s Court, Namakkal, and has obtained an

order of interim injunction in I.A. No. 1793 of 1974 restraining ""A"" party from interfering with the possession of the disputed properties till the

disposal of the suit and that suit is still pending and the order of interim injunction is still in force. It is unfortunate that the Executive Magistrate has

overlooked this important piece of evidence which has been filed but not marked and over-looking this material evidence he has observed that as

regards the claim of ""B"" Party they have not produced any evidence to prove their possession. When a Civil Court takes seisin of the matter and

has passed an order of interim injunction restraining the ""A"" Party from interfering with the possession of suit properties which are the same as the

properties, in dispute, the Executive Magistrate will have not jurisdiction to pass an order under S. 146, Cr. P.C. An order of injunction passed by

a competent Civil Court is binding as between the parties to the proceedings. It is not disputed that such an order of injunction was passed in the

suit filed by ""B"" Party against the ""A"" Party. An order under S. 146 Crl. P.C. is conceivable only in the absence of an order by a competent Court

binding as between the parties to the proceedings. In that view, the order of the Executive Magistrate is wrong and without jurisdiction and has to

be set aside and is hereby set aside. The order directing attachment and appointment of a Receiver is set aside and the revision is allowed.