1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY, BENCH AT AURANGABAD WRIT PETITION NO.8216 OF 2009 1 Vijaya w/o Balasaheb Bothe, aged 45 years, Occ: Household, R/o Pimpalwadi Road, Bothe Wasti, Rahata, Tq. Rahata, District Ahmednagar. 2 Yogesh s/o Balasaheb Bothe, age: 25 years, Occ: Agril., R/o Pimpalwadi Road, Bothe Wasti, Rahata, Tq.Rahata, District Ahmednagar. 3 Kum.Pallavi d/o Balasaheb Bothe, aged 22 years, Occ: Household, R/o Pimpalwadi Road, Bothe Wasti, Rahata, Tq. Rahata, District Ahmednagar. Petitioners VERSUS 1 Ratnamala @ Ratan Balasaheb Bothe, age: 45 years, Occ: Household, R/o C/o Balasaheb Bendre, Babhleshwar, Tq. Rahata, District Ahmednagar. 2 Nilesh s/o Balasaheb Bothe, age: 26 years, Occ: Agril., R/o C/o Balasaheb Bendre, Babhleshwar, Tq. Rahata, District Ahmednagar. 3 Balasaheb s/o Radhuji Bothe, age: 58 years, Occ: Agril., R/o Pimpalwadi Road, Bothe 2 Wasti, Tq. Rahata, District Ahmednagar. Respondents Mr.R.S.Tambe, advocate holding for Mr.V.R.Dhorde, advocate for petitioners. Mrs.A.N.Ansari, advocate for Respondents No.1 & 2. Respondent No.3 served. CORAM : R. M. BORDE, J. DATE : 06th April, 2010. ORAL JUDGMENT : 1 Heard learned Counsel for respective parties. Rule, made returnable forthwith and heard finally by consent of learned Counsel for respective parties. 2 Learned Principal District Judge, Ahmednagar, has directed transfer of Regular Civil Suit No.225/2006 pending in the Court of Joint Civil Judge, Junior Division, Rahata to the Court of Civil Judge, Senior Division, Kopargaon, for disposal in accordance with law along with pending Special Civil Suit No.97/2006. 3 It appears that an application was tendered by plaintiffs in Regular Civil Suit No.225/2006 requesting to transfer said suit to the Court at 3 Kopargaon and also for direction to the Court of Civil Judge, Senior Division, Kopargaon, to hear both suits i.e. S.C.S. No.97/2006 and R.C.S. No.225/2006, simultaneously. 4 On receipt of application, learned Principal District Judge, Ahmednagar, did not feel it necessary to hear other side and issuance of notice to defendants is dispensed with and learned Principal District Judge proceeded to pass order under Section 24 of the Code of Civil Procedure, transferring pending suit from the Court at Rahata to the Court of Civil Judge, Senior Division, Kopargaon. 5 The impugned order, on the face of it, is bad in law and needs to be quashed and set aside. Section 24 of the Code of Civil Procedure invests power with the District Court, however, in view of sub section (1) of Section 24, on receipt of application from either of the parties, only after issuance of notice and after hearing such of them as desired to be heard, the District Court can transfer the proceedings of pending suit from one Court to another Court. In the instant matter, it is clear that learned Principal District Judge has not exercised suo motu power and on consideration of application tendered by one of the parties, suit came to be transferred to 4 another Court. In view of provisions of Section 24 of the Code of Civil Procedure, it was incumbent upon learned Principal District Judge to hear all the parties and thereafter proceed to pass order. 6 In this view of the matter, impugned order dated 15.12.2008, passed by Principal District Judge, Ahmednagar in Misc.Civil Application No. 233/2008, deserves to be set aside and same is accordingly set aside. The matter is remitted back to learned Principal District Judge, Ahmednagar, for consideration in accordance with law. Learned Principal District Judge, Ahmednagar, is directed to hear parties concerned before passing any order in respect of transfer of pending suit/s. It is expected of learned Principal District Judge to reconsider the request made by one of the parties in respect of transfer of suit, after extending opportunity of hearing to the parties concerned. 7 Rule is accordingly made absolute. There shall be no order as to costs. ( R. M. BORDE) JUDGE adb/wp821609