AO/1120/2008 1/18 JUDGMENT IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD APPEAL FROM ORDER No. 11 of 2008 With CIVIL APPLICATION No. 393 of 2008 In APPEAL FROM ORDER No. 11 of 2008 For Approval and Signature: HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE M.R. SHAH ========================================= 1 Whether Reporters of Local Papers may be allowed to see the judgment ? 2 To be referred to the Reporter or not ? 3 Whether their Lordships wish to see the fair copy of the judgment ? 4 Whether this case involves a substantial question of law as to the interpretation of the constitution of India, 1950 or any order made thereunder ? 5 Whether it is to be circulated to the civil judge ? ========================================= KHODIDAS JOITARAM PRAJAPATI - Appellant(s) Versus VIJAYBHAI AMRATBHAI DESAI & 5 - Respondent(s) ========================================= Appearance : MS TRUSHA K PATEL for Appellant(s) : 1, DS AFF.NOT FILED (N) for Respondent(s) : 1, MR PM VYAS for Respondent(s) : 1.2.1, 1.2.2,1.2.3 M/S THAKKAR ASSOC. for Respondent(s) : 2 - 3. ========================================= CORAM : HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE M.R. SHAH Date : 02/12/2008 ORAL JUDGMENT 1. Admit. Shri Navin Pahwa, learned advocate appearing for Ms. Thakker Associate waives service of notice of admission on behalf of the respondent Nos. 1 and 2 and AO/1120/2008 2/18 JUDGMENT Ms. Sejal H. Vyas, learned advocate waives service of notice of admission on behalf of the respondent Nos. 1/1 to 1/3. With the consent of the learned advocates appearing on behalf of the respective parties, the matter is taken up for final hearing today. 2. Present Appeal from Order under Order 43 Rule 1(r) of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 is preferred by the appellant original plaintiff challenging the order passed by the learned 9th Additional Senior Civil Judge & JMFC, Gandhinagar dated 1.12.2007 passed below Exh.5 in Special Civil Suit No. 95 of 2006, by which the learned trial Court has dismissed the said application Exh. 5 for interim injunction during the pendency of the suit and vacating the ad-interim injunction granted earlier. 3. Appellant original plaintiff has instituted Special Civil Suit No. 95 of 2006 in the Court of learned Principal Senior Civil Judge, Gandhingar for declaration that sale deed dated 6.11.2004 registered on 29.11.2004 executed on the basis of so called power attorney of the plaintiff with respect to the suit land bearing Survey No. 308 situated at Chandkheda, Gandhinagar executed in favour of defendant No.3 is not binding upon the plaintiff as the AO/1120/2008 3/18 JUDGMENT same is based on illegal, forged and fabricated power of attorney. A permanent injunction was also sought restraining the defendants their agents, servants from interfering with the possession of the plaintiff and restraining the defendants from taking the possession from the plaintiff and restraining the defendants from entering into any transaction with any third party. 4. The case on behalf of the plaintiff in the plaint was that he is the owner and in possession of land bearing Survey No. 308 at Chandkheda, Gandhingar. That there was a transaction with defendant No.1 Amratbhai Desai on 21.10.2002 and as per the same, defendant No .1 agreed to purchase the land at the rate of Rs. 481 per sq.yrd totaling Rs. 1,26,87,818/- for which the plaintiff executed the Banachithi and received Rs. 2,51,000/- from him. That there was a writing understanding on 23.12.2002 and as per the same, the said defendant No.1 was to pay 25% of the sale consideration within 45 days and further 25% of the sale consideration on or before 20.3.2003 and further 25% of the sale consideration on or before 20.7.2003 and the balance sale consideration to be paid on or before 20.12.2003. That one public notice was given in the local newspaper on 27.12.2002 by the said AO/1120/2008 4/18 JUDGMENT Amratbhai Desai through his Advocate Mahendra Bhavsar to which one Somabhai Karshanbhai Rabari raised objection and plaintiff tried to remove the objection. That the said Somabhai Karshanbhai Rabari initiated various proceedings and the same came to be resolved by April 2004. That the plaintiff tried to get marketable title clearance certificate, which was objected by the said Amratbhai Desai through his advocate and, therefore, plaintiff immediately approached the advocate of the said Amratbhai Desai and requested to issue title clearance certificate as per his earlier public notice and the said advocate informed the plaintiff that if the plaintiff put his signatures on the declaration in the prescribed formate only thereafter he will give certificate and, therefore, it is alleged by the plaintiff that he put his signatures on the declaration prepared by the said advocate in July 2004 and the said advocate got certain signatures on blank papers. That on 19.7.2004 the said advocate also gave the title clearance certificate to him. It was further alleged in the plaint that on 1.12.2004 when he approached the office of Chandkheda Nagarpalika for payment of revenue at that time Talati cum Mantri, Chandkheda informed the AO/1120/2008 5/18 JUDGMENT plaintiff with respect to the land in question one registered sale deed executed on 6.11.2004 and necessary entry dated 13.11.2004 is also made in the revenue record and thereafter the plaintiff came to know the same and the said Talati cum Mantri thereafter shown necessary document to him and at that time he came to know that with resepct to his land, one Bharatbhai Babulal defendant No. 2 has executed the sale deed in favour of defendant No.3 as his power of attorney for a sale consideration of Rs. 11,50,000/-. It is averred in the plaint that plaintiff has never met any Bharatbhai Babulal and has never executed power of attorney in his favour. It is further averred in the plaint that property worth more than Rs. 11,50,000/- at that time (at present more than Rs. 2 crores) is purported to have been sold only for the sale consideration of Rs. 1,25,00,000/-. Therefore, it is averred by the plaintiff that defendants have played fraud on the basis of the forged and fabricated power of attorney of the plaintiff in favour of defendant No.2 and sale deed has been got executed. It was further averred that plaintiff is still in possession of the suit land and , therefore, for aforesaid declaration and injunction the aforesaid suit has been filed. In the AO/1120/2008 6/18 JUDGMENT said suit, the plaintiff submitted application Exh.5 for interim injunction restraining the defendants from interfering with the possession of the plaintiff and further restraining the defendants from transferring /alienating the suit property in favour of third party in any manner whatsoever. The said application was opposed by the defendants by submitting that defendant No.3 has purchased the suit property for a sale consideration from the defendant No.2 on the power of attorney of the plaintiff and, therefore, it was requested to dismiss the application Exh.5. It was also further submitted that considering Section 34 of the Specific Relief Act, the suit is not maintainable and / or declaration sought in the plaint cannot be granted in absence of any relief of possession as the defendants are in possession of the suit land. That initially when the application Exh.5 was submitted, the learned trial Court granted ex-parte ad-interim injunction directing the parties to maintain status quo and after considering the submissions on behalf of rival parties by impugned order dated 1.12.2007 dismissed the application Exh.5 and vacated ad-interim injunction granted earlier granted on 25.7.2004. Being aggrieved and dissatisfied with the AO/1120/2008 7/18 JUDGMENT impugned order passed by the learned trial Court passed below Exh.5 in dismissing the same, the plaintiff has preferred the present Appeal from Order. 5. Ms. Trusha Patel, learned advocate appearing on behalf of the appellant-plaintiff has vehemently submitted that the learned trial Court has committed a grave error in dismissing the application Exh.5 and in not granting interim injunction as prayed for. It is submitted that considering the fact that suit land was agreed to be sold in favour of defendant No.1 for sale consideration of Rs. 1,26,87,818/- in the year 2002 and the valuation of the suit land in the year was more than Rs. 2 crores and when the same is alleged to have been sold in favour of defendant No.3 for sale consideration of Rs. 11,50,000/- only, the learned trial Court ought to have prima facie held that the transaction in favour of defendant No.2 is sham and bogus and at least for inadequate consideration. It is submitted that learned trial Court ought to have appreciated that even immediately and as soon as plaintiff came to know about the alleged transaction in favour of defendant No.3 executed by the defendant No.2 as alleged power of attorney of the AO/1120/2008 8/18 JUDGMENT plaintiff in the month of December 2004 immediately thereafter the plaintiff has filed a criminal complaint and, therefore, the learned trial Court ought to have granted interim injunction as prayed for. It is further submitted that as per Banachithi executed by the plaintiff in favour Amratbhai Desai defendant No.1 the property was agreed to be sold in favour of defendant No.1 at the rate of 481 Rs. sq.yrd amounting to Rs. 1, 26,87,818/-,the learned trial Court ought to have granted the interim injunction as prayed for. It is further submitted that at this stage it cannot be said that declaration as sought for cannot be granted considering Section 34 of the Specific Relief Act. It is submitted that the aforesaid aspects are required to be considered at the time of trial and final adjudication and plaintiff can very well amend the plaint and pray for relief of possession. It is submitted that as such according to the plaintiff, he is in possession of the land in question and, therefore, at this stage, the plaintiff was justified in not asking for relief of possession. Therefore, it is submitted that bar under Section 34 of the Specific Relief Act will not be applicable at this stage. Therefore, it is requested to allow the present Appeal from Order by submitting AO/1120/2008 9/18 JUDGMENT that in the facts and circumstances of the case and the allegations with respect to the fraud and the sale deed in favour of defendant No.3 on the basis of the forged and fabricated power of attorney, it is requested to grant injunction by allowing application Exh.5. 6. Appeal from Order is opposed by Shri Navin Pahwa, learned advocate appearing on behalf of the respondent Nos. 2 and 3. It is submitted by him that the suit is filed only for declaration and the consequential relief of possession is not sought though can be claimed and prayed and, therefore, considering Section 34 of the Specific Relief Act, the relief of declaration as prayed in the suit cannot be granted and, therefore, there is no question of issuing any injunction in a suit for declaration without any relief of possession where the relief prayed in the suit is not capable of being granted. Shri Pahwa, learned advocate appearing on behalf of the respondent Nos. 2 and 3 has heavily relied upon the decision of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of M.K. Rappai And Others Vs. John And Others reported in 1969(2) SCC, 590 and another decision in the case of Vinay Krishna Vs. Keshav Chandra And Another reported in 1993 Supp (3) SCC, 129. AO/1120/2008 10/18 JUDGMENT 7. Shri Pahwa, learned advocate appearing on behalf of the respondent Nos. 2 and 3 has also further submitted that even otherwise on the ground of delay also the plaintiff is not entitled to injunction as prayed for. It is submitted that even as per the plaintiff, he came to know about the sale transaction in favour of defendant No.3 in the month of December 2004 still the suit came to be filed in the year 2006, which disentitles the plaintiff discretionary relief of injunction. 8. It is also further submitted by Shri Pahwa, learned advocate appearing on behalf of the respondent Nos. 2 and 3 that defendant No. 3 is the bonafide purchase of the suit land from the power of attorney of the plaintiff for value and when the defendant No. 3 has become the absolute owner no injunction can be granted against the purchaser / real owner. He has relied upon the decision of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Dalpat Kumar and another Vs. Prahlad Singh and others reported in AIR 1993 SC 276 and in the case of Hanumanthappa Vs. Muninarayanappa reported in (1996) 11 SCC, 696. It is also further submitted that AO/1120/2008 11/18 JUDGMENT the power of attorney given by the plaintiff in favour of defendant No. 2 dated 8.7.2004 was with full authority in favour of defendant No.2 power of attorney even to execute the sale deed and / or to sell the property and when the defendant No. 3 has purchased the suit land no injunction can be granted against the defendant No.3 and, therefore, the learned trial Court has rightly dismissed the application Exh.5 which is not required not be interfered by this Court. By making above submissions, it is requested to dismiss the present Appeal from Order. 9. Heard the learned advocates appearing on behalf of the respective parties. 10.At the outset, it is required to be noted that there are allegations of fraud and the execution of the sale deed in favour of defendant No.3 by so called power of attorney of the plaintiff i.e. defendant No.2 on the basis of the forged and fabricated power of attorney. It is alleged that the plaintiff has never executed any power of attorney in favour of defendant No.2 and the so called power of attorney dated 8.7.2004 is not executed by the plaintiff and he does not know defendant No.2.It is also AO/1120/2008 12/18 JUDGMENT required to be noted at this stage that as soon as the plaintiff came to know about the transaction in favour of defendant no.3 in the month of December 2004, immediately he has filed the criminal complaint making the allegation of fraud and the execution of the sale deed in favour of defendant No.3 by the defendant No.2 on the basis of the forged and fabricated power of attorney. Therefore, these are all serious triable issues which are required to be considered at the time of trial. 11.It is also required to be noted that there was a transaction between plaintiff and the defendant No.1 in the year 2002 and the defendant No.1 agreed to purchase th suit land for a sale consideration of Rs. 1,26,87,818/- in the year 2002. The Banachithi between the plaintiff and the defendant No.1 is on record. It is to be noted that the sale deed in favour of defendant No.3 is executed by the defendant No.2 as alleged power of attorney of the plaintiff for a sale consideration of Rs. 11,50,000/- only. It is the case on behalf of the plaintiff that in the year 2004 the valuation of the suit property is more than Rs. 2 crores, which was approximately Rs. 1,25,00,000/- in the year 2002. Even, there was exchange of notice between the plaintiff and the AO/1120/2008 13/18 JUDGMENT defendant No.1 Amratbhai Desai, in which there is a reference to the Banachithi and the valuation of the suit property at Rs. 1,26,87,818/- (in the year 2002). Thus, considering the above, it prima facie appears that even the sale transaction between the defendants No. 3 and 2, lacks bonafide and seems to be sham and bogus. The property worth more than Rs. 2 crores in the year 2004 could not have been sold for a sale consideration of Rs. 11,50,000/- only All these aspects are also required to be considered at the time trial, more particularly, whether the transaction between the defendants No. 3 and 2 is bonafide or not and / or on payment of fair value or not. 12.Now so far as the contentions on behalf of the defendants No. 2 and 3 relying upon the Section 34 of the Specific Relief Act and the reliance place upon the decision of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of M.K. Rappai And Others (supra) and in the case of Vinay Krishna (supra) that no declaration can be granted in absence of any further relief sought with respect to possession etc. is concerned, it is required to be noted that the aforesaid aspects are required to be considered at the time of final adjudication of the suit. AO/1120/2008 14/18 JUDGMENT Even otherwise, it is to be noted that it was the specific case on behalf of the plaintiff that they are in possession of the suit land and, therefore, it might be if the plaintiff at this stage prays for the relief of possession, in that case, their case that they are in possession will fall. Still the plaintiff can very well amend the plaint during the trial and pray for such relief also even by way of alternative prayer that if the defendant No.3 is found to be in possession of the suit land then the possession be returned. Section 34 of the Specific Relief Act is required to be considered at the time of final adjudication and learned trial Court may refuse to grant such declaration finally in absence of any further relief at that stage. 13.No so far as the contention on behalf of the respondent Nos. 2 and 3 with respect to delay is concerned, it is to be noted that as soon as the plaintiff came to know about the transaction in favour defendant No. 3 on the basis of the purported alleged power of attorney in favour of defendant No.2 immediately the plaintiff has filed the criminal complaint, therefore, it cannot be said that the plaintiff has not taken any steps, which disentitles the plaintiff the injunction. AO/1120/2008 15/18 JUDGMENT 14.Now so far as the contention of the respondent Nos. 2 and 3 relying upon the decision of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the cases of Hanumanthappa (supra) and Dalpat Kumar and Another (supra) that as the defendant No.3 is the purchaser and real owner no injunction can be granted is concerned, on considering both the aforesaid decisions they will not be applicable to the present case. In the case before the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Hanumanthappa (supra) the appellant filed suit for partition and separate possession of the suit property and during its pendency the respondent purchased the property from vendors and subsequently pursuant to a compromise decree a portion of the property was given to the appellant and appellant was put in possession thereof and in that case, the Hon'ble Supreme Court has held that as the appellant being in lawful possession of the property as an owner and respondent being not a party to compromise decree no injunction can be issued against the appellant-lawful owner. In the case before the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Dalpat Kumar and another (Supra) the Vendee entered into the agreement to purchase house getting sale deed executed through Court and in AO/1120/2008 16/18 JUDGMENT subsequent suit by vendor for setting aside the sale alleging that vendee being his counsel played fraud on him and in meanwhile symbolic possession of the property obtained by vendee and thereafter vendor seeking interim injunction from dispossession while rejecting the application under Order 39 Rule 1 & 2, the Hon'ble Supreme Court has held that in the aforesaid facts and circumstances and as the vendor can be adequately compensated on success in suit denied the injunction. In the present case, as stated above, the transaction in favour defendant No. 3 prima facie lacks bonafide. The property worth more Rs. 1,25,000,00/- in the year 2002 ( approximately Rs. 2 crores in the year 2004) is alleged to have been purchased by the defendant No.3 for sale consideration of Rs. 11,50,000/- only. There are allegation of fraud and the sale deed in favour of defendant No.3 is by power of attorney and the allegations are that the said power of attorney is sham and bogus and not executed by the plaintiff and real owner. Under the circumstances and in the facts and circumstances of the case the aforesaid decisions of the Hon'ble Supreme Court will not be of any assistance to the defendants. AO/1120/2008 17/18 JUDGMENT 15.In view of the above serious triable issues and the allegation of fraud and the execution of sale deed in favour of defendant No.3 by the defendant No.2 as power of attorney which is alleged to be sham and bogus and considering the allegation that the property worth more than Rs. 2 crores has been sold in favour of defendant No.3 for a sale consideration of Rs. 11,50,000/- only to avoid any further multiplicity of proceedings and third party rights, the learned trial Court ought to have allowed the application Exh.5 by confirming the ex-parte ad-interim injunction granted on 25.7.2006. Under the circumstances, impugned order passed by the learned trial Court passed below Exh. 5 deserves to be quashed and set aside and the ex-parte ad-interim injunction granted by the learned trial Court on 25.7.2006 deserves to be confirmed and or made absolute till the final disposal of the suit. 16.For the reasons stated above, Appeal from Order succeeds. The impugned order passed by the learned 9th Additional Senior Civil Judge & JMFC, Gandhinagar dated 1.12.2007 passed below Exh.5 in Special Civil Suit AO/1120/2008 18/18 JUDGMENT No. 95 of 2006 is hereby quashed and set aside and the application Exh. 5 is hereby allowed and the ad-interim injunction granted by the learned trial Court passed below Exh.5 dated 25.7.2006 directing the plaintiff as well as defendants to maintain status quo with respect to the said property and further restraining the plaintiff as well as defendants from further entering into any transaction is confirmed and/or made absolute till the final disposal of the suit. In the facts and circumstances of the case, learned trial Court is directed to expedite the hearing of the suit. Appeal from Order is allowed accordingly. In the facts and circumstances of the case, there shall be no order as to costs. CIVIL APPLICATION NO. 393 OF 2008 In view of the disposal of the Appeal from Order, no further order in Civil Application is required to be passed and same is accordingly disposed of. (M.R.SHAH,J.) kaushik