Nathu
Ram and Others Vs. Manphool & Ors [1996] INSC 597 (23 April 1996)
Punchhi,
M.M.Punchhi, M.M.Thomas K.T. (J)
CITATION:
1996 SCC (4) 462 JT 1996 (5) 380 1996 SCALE (4)56
ACT:
HEAD NOTE:
O R D
E R This appeal by special leave is against the Judgment and order of a learned
Single Judge of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana at Chandigarh dated 10-10-1977 in Civil Revision No.1097 of 1976 and CM 1996-CII/76.
One Roopa
had a few sons which included Sadda and Dallu. In the line of Sada, there
occasioned an adoption.
The
adopted person was Puran. That adoption was questionable at the instance of the
reversioners existing in the lines of the other sons. The gripping parties in
the instant litigation not only involves Puran (the adopted son) but the reversioners
in the line of Dallu, and those are Birbal, a great grandson of Dallu; Aaidah -
a grandson of Dallu and Nathu - another great grandson of Dallu. When puran's
adoptive mother gifted some ancestral land to a stranger then Nathu was in his
mother's womb but the other two namely Birbal and Aaidan were existent, Nathu
after birth and coming of age claimed that he had limitation to question the
gift by the adoptive mother of Puran as also the adoption of Puran and thus
filed a suit claiming properties of Sadda by reversion arraying Puran as the
principal defendant and Birbal and Aaidan as interested defendants; besides
arraying some others including some reversionary as defendants.
Apparently,
at a point of time, Nathu-plaintiff got in terms with puran and on settling the
matter with him made an application to the Trial Court on 25-10-1975 for withdrawal of the suit. On the very same day,
allegedly priorly, Birbal and Aaidan the defendants who shared interests of
reversion with Nathu, prayed for being transposed as plaintiffs to the suit, It
is in this situation that the Trial Court was confronted with the riddle as to
which application deserved disposal first, i.e, the application for withdrawal
of the suit or the application for transposition of those defendants as
plaintiffs. It by a set of reasoning, opted for the transposition first and the
withdrawal later and thus kept the suit survived but the High Court reversed it
in revision putting the withdrawal application first in priority, rendering the
application for transposition redundant, dismissing the suit as withdrawn, It
is this view of the High Court which is under challenge.
It is
undisputed that per se neither Aaidan nor Birbal, the interested defendants in
the suit, had any surviving right to sue because the period of limitation qua
them had run out. The extended period of limitation, which Nathu had on account
of his being in the womb of his mother on the date when limitation started, was
personal to him and nobody could under his shedow claim extension of
limitation, standing apparently on opposite sides. It would not have made the
slightest difference if the interests of these three were treated common
because concededly Nathu alone had the extended right to sue and Birbal and Aaidan,
Their capacity to sue had to be viewed separately. Since the factum of Nathu
being the plaintiff by itself could not extend the period of limitation for Birbal
and Aaidan, their transposition would not have conferred on them any better
capacity or right. In such a situation it would not have made the slightest
difference as to which application deserved priority in disposal as both could
have been taken up together, and the end-result in any event, would have been
to hold that Birbal and Aaidan could not on their own file or pursue the suit,
even if transposed as plaintiffs which had to be dismissed being beyond the
period of limitation.
In
this view of the matter, we do not think it appropriate to interfere in the
orders of the High Court.
The
appeal therefore fails and is hereby dismissed. No costs.
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