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Timestamp: 2019-04-22 08:53:00+00:00

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It will be wrong to assume that it is the act of the court being wrongful or a mistake or error committed by the court which attracts the applicability of the doctrine of restitution. The real test is whether on account of an act of the party persuading the court to pass an order, or an unsustainable holding by the Court, there has resulted one party gaining an advantage which it would not have otherwise earned, or the other party suffering an impoverishment which it would not have suffered but for the order of the court and the act of such party. One wide area of applicability of this doctrine is interim injunction. When at the end of the proceedings the court pronounces its judicial verdict which does not match with and countenance its own interim verdict, the Courts find nothing irrational in the parties demanding restitution. The Supreme Court in Commissioner of Income Tax v. Vinod Kumar Didwania  held that it is an abuse of the process of law where interim injunction is obtained and thereafter benefit is derived of the same by removing the goods of the assessee, from the godowns and then withdrawing the writ petition. The Supreme Court held that in such a case regardless of the validity of prohibitive order issued by the Income Tax Authority, the petitioner was liable to restitute the value of goods which were removed from the godowns. Similarly in DTC v. M/S International Avenues  , it was held that any person who withdraws proceedings without seeking adjudication of the same, or even when proceedings are dismissed, such plaintiff/applicant/petitioner is bound to restitute the benefit which it has received under interim orders of the court. A simpliciter withdrawal of proceedings without restitution of benefit cannot be granted by the court.
The ambit of the term ‘restitution’ is very wide and Section 144 of the CPC is not exhaustive of the doctrine. The Court’s jurisdiction with regard to restitution can be exercised even when a case does not strictly fall within the ambit of Section 144. This has clearly been laid down in number of Supreme Court’s cases like Kavita Trehan v. Balsara Hygiene Products Ltd.  , Gangadhar v. Raghubar Dayal  , State Govt. of A.P. v. Manickchand Jeevraj & Co  . In Kavita Trehan’s case  the court para 16 says that “the Law of Restitution encompasses all claims founded upon the principle of unjust enrichment” be it in equity or under any law. One more widening provision is Section 151 of the CPC, under which the courts have inherent power to order restitution even when the section 144 cannot be applied.  There are several cases on this point. One case is Ram Rattan v. Banarsi Lal  in which Patna High Court set aside a sale on an application under order 21, rule 90, but ordered the judgement-debtor, mesne profits under s 151 from the decree-holder purchaser, for the period he was in possession. Another case is Prasad v. British Insulated Calendars Cables Ltd.  , in which the standard rent fixed under the West Bengal Premises Rent Control Act 1950, was reduced in appeal, by the Rent Controller. The Court in the present case held that a claim for restitution of the excess rent paid under the order of the controller was not maintainable under section 144. However, the court agreed that it could be sustained on general principles of restitution outside the scope of S.144. One more case on the similar lines is Rakesh Singhal v. Fifth Addl. District & Session Judge, Bulandshahr  . In the instant case the plaintiff, in a suit for injunction against the defendants for restraining them from interfering with the construction of a wall in a passage, wrongly obtained an ex parte interim injunction by misleading the court in as much as the sale deed, on the basis of which the plaintiff claimed ownership of the suit property was not placed before the court and the defendants were not heard before passing the order of interim injunction. The plaintiff, however, completed the construction of the wall after obtaining the decree, and then applied for the withdrawal of the suit, praying for dismissal of the injunction application, as ‘not pressed’. The Court held that the order can be passed for demolition of the wall under section 151 even if section 144 cannot be applied in this case. Jamaluddin v. Mirza Quader Baig, is another case in which the Court held that it can restore possession in exercise of its inherent powers under Section 151 of CPC and there was no necessity of filing a petition under Section 144 of CPC.
In Sujit Pal v. Prabir Kumar Sun, the Court invoked its inherent power to grant temporary mandatory injunction by directing the police to restore possession when the plaintiff in a suit for permanent injunction and declaration of tenancy was forcibly dispossessed in violation of the interim injunction. Also, in a case where X sued Y to establish his right to a fund in court, and Y was allowed to draw the money on giving an undertaking to the court to repay it if X succeeded in the suit, and Y succeeded in establishing his title; it was held that though the undertaking given by Y did not provide for the payment of interest, the court had inherent power to order Y to repay the money with interest.  Again in Priya Brata Maity v. State of West Bengal  , where a landlord, with a blatant disregard to material fact and provisions of WB Municipal Act, succeeded in getting an order to demolish premises with the help of police and the chairman of the local corporation, the Court held that the it can direct restitution of tenant by directing landlord and municipality to reconstruct the building, if necessary, and put the tenant in original possession.
Extending the scope and applicability of the section 144, the Allahabad High Court in Jogendra Nath Singh v. Hira Shahu  held that a case for restitution would fall within the purview of section 144, even when the decree is set aside in a separate suit, or where the court itself sets aside its own ex parte decree.  The view has now been firmly affirmed by the 1976 Amendment Act which declared it in the clear terms that the restitution can be availed in cases where a decree is set aside or modified in another subsequent suit filed in another court for that purpose. On the similar lines, in cases like Ankamma v. Basavapunniah  , Choudhry Hari Ram v. Pooran Singh  and Harihar Sao v. Bhagwan Das  , various High Courts held that section 144 will apply even when the decree or order is reversed. Furthermore Section 144 CPC speaks not only of a decree being varied, reversed, set aside or modified but also includes an order on a par with a decree. The scope of the provision is wide enough so as to include therein almost all the kinds of variation, reversal, setting aside or modification of a decree or order.
Despite having such a wide ambit, the doctrine has also got some limitations. For example, laying down an important principle, the Court in Montharampallipadipura Attakoya v. Neelathupura Kunhiseethikoya Thangal  held that the recourse to the principle of restitution will be of no avail as against a party to the suit who get the property otherwise than under the decree or the order of the court. Therefore, the cases where the petitioner gets the possession of the property under executive order, its restitution cannot be ordered. Secondly, when it is impossible to restore the aggrieved party to the earlier position or undo the effect of a wrong order, the court can choose to not disturb its earlier order.
The doctrine of restitution as envisaged under the CPC is an enabling provision in consonance with the principles of equity and justice. Section 144 together with section 151 covers almost all such cases and ensure that a person should not be allowed to enjoy a benefit derived pursuant to an order/judgment of a court if such order/judgment is ultimately finally not sustained. In such cases, it is generally the aggrieved party who ask the court to grant order of restitution. But, the he Court can also suo motto give an order of restitution whenever it thinks fit in the interest of justice. For example, in Jamaluddin v. Mirza Quader Baig, the Court held that it can restore possession in exercise of its inherent powers under Section 151 of CPC and there was no necessity of filing a petition under Section 144 of CPC. There is no dearth of cases where the court agreed to apply general principles of restitution even outside the scope of S.144. Extending the scope and applicability of the section 144, the Allahabad High Court in Jogendra Nath Singh v. Hira Shahu  held that a case for restitution would fall within the purview of section 144, even when the decree is set aside in a separate suit, or where the court itself sets aside its own ex parte decree.  The scope of the provision is wide enough so as to include therein almost all the kinds of variation, reversal, setting aside or modification of a decree or order. Section 144 tries to restore the aggrieved party in the original position as far as possible. But, wherever it is impossible to restore the aggrieved party to the earlier position or undo the effect of a wrong order, the court can simply choose to not disturb its earlier order.
"Restitution under Civil Procedure Code." LawTeacher.net. 11 2013. All Answers Ltd. 04 2019 <https://www.lawteacher.net/free-law-essays/contract-law/restitution-under-civil-procedure-code-contract-law-essay.php?vref=1>.
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LawTeacher. November 2013. Restitution under Civil Procedure Code. [online]. Available from: https://www.lawteacher.net/free-law-essays/contract-law/restitution-under-civil-procedure-code-contract-law-essay.php?vref=1 [Accessed 22 April 2019].
LawTeacher. Restitution under Civil Procedure Code [Internet]. November 2013. [Accessed 22 April 2019]; Available from: https://www.lawteacher.net/free-law-essays/contract-law/restitution-under-civil-procedure-code-contract-law-essay.php?vref=1.

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