Case: NARENDRA KUMAR MITTAL &amp; ORS Vs. M/S NUPUR HOUSING DEVELOPMENT  PVT. LTD. AND ANR

3. The plaintiff is a private limited company, registered under the Companies Act, 1956. It had purchased from the first defendant certain properties (for short the disputed property) in Village Yakootpur, Pargana and Tehsil Dadri, District Gautam Budh Nagar under five sale deeds, all dated 17.10.1998. The plaintiff submitted an application in the office of the Tehsildar for having its name entered in the record in respect of the disputed property. During the pendency of these proceedings, it came to the knowledge of the officials of the plaintiff that the first defendant had illegally sold the disputed property through four registered sale deeds all dated 15.06.2006 in favour of defendant Nos. 2 to 5. Therefore, the plaintiff filed original suit No.55 of 2008 in the court of the Civil Judge (Sr. Division) Gautam Budh Nagar, for cancellation of the said sale deed and also for injunction against the first defendant and the second defendant restraining them from interfering with its possession and use of theThe second defendant questioned the maintainability of the suit, having regard to Section 331 of the U.P. Zamidari Abolition and Land Reforms Act, 1950 (for short ‘the Act?). The Civil Court vide order dated 22.05.2014 held that the suit was maintainable. The second defendant challenged the said order before the Allahabad High Court. After considering the matter, the High Court dismissed the revision petition by its order dated 17.11.2014. The second defendant has called in question the legality and correctness of the said order in this appeal.

Court's reasoning:
7. In the instant case, the plaintiff has pleaded that it had purchased the disputed property under five sale deeds all dated 17.10.1998 from the first defendant. The suit was filed for cancellation of the sale deed dated 15.06.2006 on the ground of fraud and misrepresentation. The plaintiff had not sought any relief with respect to its own right and title as a tenure holder or declaration of its title or status. As stated above, the only relief sought in the suit filed was for cancellation of the alleged sale deed dated 15.06.2006. We are of the view that Section 331 of the Act does not deprive a party of his right to approach competent court of law for getting a document cancelled, especially when, prima facie, the title of the recorded tenure holder is not under cloud. Revenue Court does not have jurisdiction of granting relief of cancellation of a deed on the ground of fraud and misrepresentation.In the instant case, since the plaintiff claims title under sale deeds of 1998 executed by the first defendant, it need not be forced to seek a declaration of its title. Therefore, the plaintiff had filed a suit for cancellation of the subsequent sale deed executed by the first defendant in favour of the second defendant. Hence, there is no bar under Section 331 of the Act for the plaintiff to approach the civil court and the suit filed by it was maintainable.In Kamla Prasad & Ors. v. Kishna Kant Pathak & Ors. (2007) 4 SCC 213 , relied on by the learned counsel for the appellant¬second defendant, the plaintiff was the co-owner and not a recorded tenure holder. In the plaint, the plaintiff himself had stated that he was not the sole owner of the property and defendants 10 to 12 who were proforma defendants had also right, title and interest therein. He had also stated that though his name had appeared in the revenue record, defendants 10 to 12 also had a right in the property. In this factual background, this Court held that such a question can be decided by the Revenue Court in a suit instituted under Section 229-B of the Act. It was also held that the legality or otherwise of the insertion of names of purchasers in records of rights and deletion of the name of the plaintiff from such record can only be tested by Revenue Court, since names of the purchasers had already been entered into the record. This judgment has no application to the facts of the present case.