Naraindas Lilaram Adnani Vs.
Narsingdas Naraindas Adnani & Ors [1994] INSC 689 (16 December 1994)
MANOHAR SUJATA V. (J) MANOHAR SUJATA V. (J)
AHMADI A.M. (CJ) MOHAN, S. (J)
CITATION: 1995 AIR 763 1995 SCC Supl. (1) 312
JT 1995 (1) 257 1994 SCALE (5)310
ACT:
HEADNOTE:
1.
The
deceased appellant Naraindas Lilaram Adnani was the original petitioner.
Respondents 1 and 2 are his sons by his first wife. The 5th respondent is also
the son of the appellant by his first wife. Respondent No. 3 is the wife of the
first respondent. The 6th respondent Devibai Naraindas Adnani is the second
wife of the appellant.
Respondents 7 and 9 are the sons of the
appellant by his second Wife.
2.
After
filing of the Special Leave Petition the appellant died on 15.4.1988. The 9th respondent
has filed IA No. 1/ 1989 for being substituted as the appellant in place of the
original appellant. In the said application which is under Order 22 Rule 3 of
the Code of Civil Procedure read with relevant rules of this Court, the 9th
respondent has stated that the deceased appellant has left a Will under which
respondent no. 9 is the sole executor of the Will. Under the said Will the
appellant has left his entire estate to respondent no. 6 i.e. his second wife.
Respondents no. 9 has, therefore, prayed that he should be impleaded in his
capacity as the executor of the Will of the deceased appellant and as his legal
representative. The Will, how- ever, has not been probated so far. In view of
Section 213 of the Indian Succession Act, respondent no. 9 cannot, therefore
be, impleaded in his capacity as the executor of the will of the deceased
appellant. It is, however, an accepted position that the legal representatives
of the original appellant are already on record. We therefore, do not see an,,,
difficulty in transposing respondent no. 9, one of the legal representative of
the deceased appellant, as the appellant. For the sake of convenience, however,
the original appellant will be hereinafter referred to as the appellant and the
transposed appellant will be referred to as respondent no. 9.
3.
At
all times material to these proceedings there were three partnership firms of
which the appellant and some of his family members were partners. One was the
firm of 'Naraindas Sons'. The second firm was 'N. Sukhdev and Company' and the
third firm was 'Lilaram Kewalram (India)'.
On account of differences and disputes
between the appellant and the various members of his family, the parties agreed
to refer their disputes to the sole arbitration of Shri D.N.
Abhichandani, Advocate, under a Deed of
Reference dated 17th of September, 1973. The Deed of Reference states that all
disputes and differences between the parties are referred to the arbitration of
Shri D.N. Abhichandani. Pursuant to the Deed of Reference the said Arbitrator
entered upon the reference, heard the parties and made and published his Award
dated 15th of March, 1979. The award has been filed in the Bombay High Court
being Award No. 46/1979.
4.
Four
petitions were filed in the Bombay High Court challenging this Award. The 6th
respondent, Devibai 260 Naraindas Adnani, filed Arbitration Petition No.
102/1979.
Respondent no. 7 filed Arbitration Petition
No. 103/1979.
The 9th respondent filed Arbitration Petition
No. 104/1979 and the appellant filed Arbitration Petition No. 105/1979, All
these petitions were heard and disposed of by a learned Single Judge by his
common judgment and order dated April 20/21, 1983, under which all the four
petitions were dismissed. Being aggrieved by this order the appellant preferred
an appeal before a Division Bench of the High Court being Appeal No. 563/83. No
appeal was filed in the other three petitions which were also dismissed by the
said judgment and order. The Division Bench has, by its judgment and order
dated 10th of November, 1987 dismissed the appeal.
Hence the appellant filed a special leave
petition before this Court which has been granted.
5.
The
grievance of the appellant relates to the failure of the Arbitrator to give
certain consequential reliefs in his Award. One of the properties which was the
subject- matter of dispute before the Arbitrator was a property known as Narain
Niwas situated at Vile Parle. Respondents 1 and 2 contended that this was a
partnership property of the firm of Lilaram Kewalram (India). They claimed a
1/3rd or 28% share in the said property as partners of the said firm.
Their contention was negatived by the
Arbitrator who held that Narain Niwas at Vile Parle was the exclusive personal
property of the appellant Naraindas. Having held so, the Arbitrator considered
what should be the consequential relief which could be granted to the
appellant. The Arbitrator noted that a part of this property was in the
possession of respondents 1 and 2 while the remaining property was in the possession
of the appellant. The Arbitrator has stated in his Award at paragraph 61 as
follows:
"With my aforesaid decision that the
said "Narain Niwas" is the exclusive personal property of the
Naraindas my jurisdiction stops there as the relationship between Naraindas,
Narsingdas and Parshotamdas as regards the said possession of Narsingdas and
Parshotamdas will be governed by the provisions of the Bombay Rent Act which
possession however, shall not be disturbed except by due process of law. "
The appellant contends that the Arbitrator, having held that Narain Niwas was
his exclusive personal property, should have granted the consequential relief
of possession. It is submitted by the appellant that there is no question of
the provisions of Bombay Rent Hotel & Lodging House Rates Control Act
(hereinafter referred to as the 'Bombay Rent Act') being attracted in this
case. It is nobody's case that either the 1st or the 2nd respondent (Narsingdas
and Parshotamdas) are tenants in respect of the portions of the said property
in their possession. Nor was it anybody's case that either the 1st or 2nd
respondent were protected licensees in respect of it. It was also not contended
before the Arbitration that any rent or any compensation was being paid by the
1st and/or the 2nd respondent in respect of their occupation of portions of the
said property. The only case of respondents 1 and 2 was that this property was
a partnership property; and because respondents 1 and 2 were partners in the
partnership firm of Lilaram Kewalram (India), they had a 1/3rd or 28% share in
the said property.
This having been negatived by the Arbitrator,
the Arbitrator ought to have granted the consequential relief possession.
6.
There
is much force in this contention. The above passage in the Award clearly
indicates the reasons why the Arbitrator has not granted possession to the
appellant. The learned Arbitrator seems to have been under a mistaken
impression that the right to possession of the portions of the property
occupied by respondents 1 and 2 would be governed by the provisions of the
Bombay Rent Act. He has, therefore, observed that their possession shall not be
disturbed except by due process of law. Since it is clear that the provisions
of the said Act are not attracted at all, the Arbitrator ought to have granted
the consequential relief of possession to make his Award complete and
effective.
7.
During
the pendency of the appeal before the Division Bench of the High Court, the
appellant, in view of the above quoted observations of the Arbitrator, filed
two suits for possession of the portions of the said Vile Parle property in the
possession of respondents 1 and 2, being Suit nos.
1338/83 and 1339/83. In the Memorandum of
Appeal in Appeal No. 563/83 filed by the appellant it has been stated that
these suits are being filed without prejudice to the rights and contentions of
the appellant in the appeal. Even other- wise, in the context in which the
suits have been filed, it is clear that these suits have been filed by the
appellant ex abundanti cautela.
8.
The
Division Bench of the High Court, however, declined to grant the consequential
relief of possession as these suits for possession had been already filed. In
the present case, the Arbitration Award was made as far back as on 15th of
March, 1979. It would not now be fair to direct the appellant to seek his
remedy of possession through the two suits which he has filed and which may
take considerable time to be finally disposed of, when the consequential relief
of possession could have been granted to him under the Award itself
9.
Under
Section 15(b) of the Arbitration Act, 1940, the Court may, by order, modify or
correct an Award inter alia where the Award is imperfect in form, or contains
any obvious error which can be amended without affecting such decision.
Obviously the court cannot substitute its own order for the Award of the
Arbitrator. But any obvious error in the Award can be corrected by the court
provided it does not affect the decision given by the Arbitrator. In the
present case the decision of the Arbitrator is clear, namely, that the Narain
Niwas property is exclusively the personal property of the appellant Naraindas.
It is also clear that respondents 1 and 2 cannot claim any part of it by virtue
of their being partners in the firm of Lilaram Kewalram (India). The only
reason why the Arbitrator has not granted any consequential relief seems to be
his impression that the possession of respondents 1 and 2 was governed by the
provisions of the Bombay Rent Act. This being clearly a mistake, it is possible
to correct the same without affecting the decision of the Arbitrator. After
all, the Award must be couched in a form which would lead to finality. It should
not be in a form which compels the parties to embark upon further litigation.
If the mistake of the Arbitrator is allowed to stand as it is, it would clearly
lead to further litigation between the parties although their rights, inter se,
are clearly decided by the Arbitrator. The mistake, therefore, can be corrected
under Section 15(b) of the Arbitration Act 1940.
262
10.
It
was contended by learned Advocate for respondent no.
1 that the Award should be remitted to the
Arbitrator under Section 16 of the Arbitration Act. In the first place, the
learned Arbitrator has also expired. Secondly, the Award has not left any matter
undetermined. It has clearly decided the rights of the appellant and
respondents 1 and 2 in the Narain Niwas property. Hence the provisions of
Section 16 are not required to be invoked in the present case. The appellant
being entitled exclusively to the said property, is entitled to possession
thereof since respondents 1 and 2 do not have nay right, title or interest in
the said property or any part thereof and have no right to possession thereof.
The respondents 1 and 2 shall accordingly hand over possession of the portions
of the said property in their occupation to the present appellant i.e.,
respondent No. 9 who shall hold the same for and on behalf of the estate of the
deceased appellant. respondents 1 and 2 have asked for time to hand over possession.
Considering the period that has elapsed since the Award during which period
respondents 1 and 2 have enjoyed possession of the portions of the said
property, we are not inclined to grant a long time but we direct that each of
them shall hand over possession of the portions of Narain Niwas in his
possession within 6 months from today.
11.
The
next property which is the subject-matter of dispute in this appeal is a
tenanted property, being room no. 13 of the second floor of Vasantwadi,
Kalbadevi road, Bombay. The appellant had contended that the tenancy rights in
the said room belonged to him exclusively. Respondents 1 and 2, however,
claimed the tenancy rights in the said room as a partnership asset of Lilaram
Kewalram (India).
12.
At
the time when Appeal no. 563/ 83 was heard by the Division Bench of the High
Court, learned counsel appearing for respondents 1 and 2 had stated that in
order to put an end to the dispute relating to this property, respondents 1 and
2 were agreeable either (a) to buy out the share of the appellant or (b) to get
the property valued by a Valuer and to pay off the appellant's share or (c)
that the property may be auctioned inter se and be taken over by the highest
bidder. Learned Advocate for the appellant, however, stated that he was unable
to express any view in the matter.
13.
It
is necessary to note that the first respondent has 40% share in this property,
the second respondent has 17% share in this property while the appellant has
43% share in the said property. Respondent No. 1 in possession of the said
room. The respondents 1 and 2 have stated before us that the present appellant
i.e. respondent no. 9 may state the value of the said property and respondents
1 and/or 2 should be given the first option either to accept the said property
on the valuation as made by the present appellant and pay off the share of the
present appellant on the basis of the said valuation, or in the alternative,
they or either of them would be free to accept their respective shares in the
said property in monetary terms on the basis of the said valuation. On such
amounts being paid they would hand over the possession of the said property to
the present appellant. In our view, this seems to be a very fair offer.
We, therefore, direct the par-ties to act
accordingly. The present appellant, i.e., respondent No. 9 shall state his
valuation of the said property in monetary terms in writing and convey the same
to respondent nos. 1 and 2 263 the same in writing to the present appellant or
his advocate within 8 weeks thereafter. The consequential payments shall be
made within 2 weeks thereafter and the possession be either retained by
respondents 1 and/or 2 or handed over to respondent no. 9 as heir and legal
representative of the original appellant, as the case may be. In the latter
case respondent no. 9 shall retain possession of the said property for and on
behalf of the estate of the deceased appellant.
14.
The
last property which is required to be 'considered is the property at
Ganeshpuri. The present appellant has no objection to handing over possession
of the portion of this property originally in the occupation of the appellant
to respondents 1 and 2, although the Arbitrator has held that the appellant,
the first respondent and the second respondent are owners of the said property
having an equal share therein. He shall, therefore, do so within 4, weeks.
15.
The
appeal is, therefore, allowed to the above extent.
There will be no order as to costs.
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