Code
of Civil Procedure, 1908 – Order IX Rule 13 – Whether, in a suit for
pre-emption, an ex parte decree which is later set aside, can be termed to be
the decree of the court of first instance.
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION
(MADAN B. LOKUR) AND (DEEPAK
GUPTA) JJ.
September 08, 2017
CIVIL APPEAL NO.2062 OF 2009
Vijay Singh … Appellant(s)
Versus
Shanti Devi and Anr.
…Respondent(s)
J U D G M E N T
Deepak
Gupta, J.
1. “Whether, in a suit for
pre-emption, an ex parte decree which is later set aside, can be termed to be
the decree of the court of first instance” is
the question which arises for decision in this appeal.
2. The undisputed facts are
that one Roop Chand sold the suit land in favour of Shanti Devi, respondent No.
1 herein. Vijay Singh, appellant who was a co-sharer with Roop Chand, filed a
suit for possession on the basis of right of pre-emption granted to a co-sharer
under the Punjab Pre-emption Act, 1913 (for short ‘the 1913 Act’) on 6th
November, 1989. The defendant Shanti Devi was proceeded against ex parte on 6th
April, 1990. Thereafter, an ex parte decree was passed against her on 10th
April, 1990. Pursuant to the decree, execution petition was filed and the
appellant Vijay Kumar took possession of the suit land on 7th June, 1990.
3. On the same day, i.e., 7th
June, 1990, Shanti Devi filed an application under Order IX Rule 13 of the Code
of Civil Procedure (for short ‘CPC’) for setting aside the decree dated 10th
April, 1990 claiming that she had not received the summons and had no knowledge
of the proceedings. It was alleged that only when possession was taken on 7th
June, 1990 did she become aware that the appellant Vijay Kumar had initiated
some legal proceedings against her. The trial court dismissed the application
filed by Shanti Devi for setting aside the ex parte decree on 4th October,
1993. Thereafter, Shanti Devi filed an appeal before the appellate court.
4. In the meantime, on 17th
May, 1995 the State of Haryana amended Section 15 of the 1913 Act. The net
effect of this amendment was that the amendment took away the right of
pre-emption of a co-sharer and the right of pre-emption was only retained with
a tenant.
5. The appellate court allowed
the application filed by Shanti Devi and set aside ex parte decree on 28th
August, 1998. The appellant herein challenged the order of the appellate court
by filing civil revision petition in the Punjab and Haryana High Court, which
was dismissed on 5th November, 1999. It would be pertinent to mention that the
learned Judge, while dismissing the revision petition, also observed that in
view of the amendment to the 1913 Act the appellant herein had no right to
pre-empt the sale of the suit land. The appellant then filed Petition for
Special Leave to Appeal (Civil) No. 3488 of 2000 before this Court, which was
disposed of on 10th March, 2000. This Court not only dismissed the petition but
also ordered that the trial court would decide the suit afresh without being
influenced by the observations on merit, made by the learned Judge of the High Court.
6. Thereafter, the suit was
tried afresh and the main ground raised by Shanti Devi was that in view of the
amendment made to the 1913 Act, the right of pre-emption was no longer
available to the appellant. On the other hand, the appellant contended that the
date of decree of the first court was 10th April, 1990 when the ex parte decree
was passed and, therefore, the rights of the parties are governed by the law as
it stood on that date.
7. After
remand, the learned trial court dismissed the suit of the appellant on 27th
November, 1999 on the ground that by virtue of amendment to the 1913 Act, the
right of pre-emption stood extinguished. The appellant, thereafter, filed first
appeal before the trial court, which was also dismissed. The regular second
appeal also met the same fate.
8. The issue to be decided is a
legal issue which stands in a narrow compass. Before dealing with the issue
itself, it would be pertinent to refer to the Constitution Bench judgment of this Court in the case of Shyam
Sunder & Ors. v.
Ram Kumar & Anr., (2001) 8 SCC 24 wherein this Court considered the effect of the amendment made to the 1913
Act. This Court held that if Section 15 of the 1913 Act was amended during the
pendency of the appeal before the Supreme Court, the decree of pre-emption
would not be affected by such amendment. After discussing the entire law, the
Constitution Bench culled out the following legal principles
. On
an analysis of the aforesaid decisions referred to in the first category of
decisions, the legal principles that emerge are these:
1.
The pre-emptor must have the right to pre-empt on the date of sale, on the date
of filing of the suit and on the date of passing of the decree by the court of
the first instance only.
2.
The pre-emptor who claims the right to pre-empt the sale on the date of the
sale must prove that such right continued to subsist till the passing of the
decree of the first court. If the claimant loses that right or a vendee improves
his right equal or above the right of the claimant before the adjudication of
suit, the suit for pre-emption must fail.
3. A
pre-emptor who has a right to pre-empt a sale on the date of institution of the
suit and on the date of passing of decree, the loss of such right subsequent to
the decree of the first court would not affect his right or maintainability of
the suit for pre-emption.
4. A
pre-emptor who after proving his right on the date of sale, on the date of
filing the suit and on the date of passing of the decree by the first court,
has obtained a decree for pre-emption by the court of first instance, such
right cannot be taken away by subsequent legislation during pendency of the
appeal filed against the decree unless such legislation has retrospective
operation.”
9. In view of the
decision of the Constitution Bench, it is not necessary to refer to various
other judgments cited before us. A perusal of the principles laid down by the
Constitution Bench clearly indicates that the pre-emptor should possess the
right to pre-empt on three dates:
(i)
the date of sale;
(ii)
the date of filing of the suit; and
(iii)
the date of passing of the decree by the court of first instance only.
As
far as the first two conditions are concerned, there is no dispute that the
appellant possessed the right of pre-emption on the date of sale as also on the
date of filing of the suit since he was a co-sharer in the land in question. It
is also not disputed that on 10th April, 1990 when the ex parte decree was
passed in favour of the appellant he had a valid legal right of pre-emption in
his favour.
10. The
question to be decided is what is the effect of setting aside of the ex parte
decree and the passing of fresh decree by the court of first instance on 27th
November, 1999 on which date, admittedly, the appellant did not have a valid
right to pre-empt the sale in view of the amendment to the 1913 Act
11. Order IX Rule 6 of
CPC, reads as follows:
“ORDER
IX- APPEARANCE OF PARTIES AND CONSEQUENCE OF NON-APPEARANCE
xxx
xxx xxx
6.
Procedure when only plaintiff appears.- (1) Where the plaintiff
appears and the defendant does not appear when the suit is called on for
hearing, then
(a) When summons duly served—lf
it is proved that the summons was duly served, the court may make an order that the suit be heard ex parte;
(b) When summons not duly served—If
it is not proved that the summons was duly served, the court shall direct a
second summons to be issued and served on the defendant;
(c) When summons served but not in due time—If
it is proved that the summons was served on the defendant, but not in
sufficient time to enable him to appear and answer on the day fixed in the
summons, the court shall postpone the hearing of the suit to a future day to be
fixed by the court, and shall direct notice of such day to be given to the
defendant.
(2)
Where it is owing to the plaintiff’s default that the summons was not duly
served or was not served in sufficient time, the court shall order the plaintiff
to pay the costs occasioned by the postponement.”
12. We are only concerned
with clause (a), which provides that if summons are duly served and the
defendant does not put in appearance, the court may make an order that the suit
would be heard ex parte. In this case, this was the procedure followed and an
ex parte decree was passed. There is no manner of doubt that an ex parte decree
is also a valid decree. It has the same force as a decree which is passed on
contest. As long as the ex parte decree is not recalled or set aside, it is
legal and binding upon the parties.
13. Order IX Rule 13, CPC
reads as follows:
“ORDER
IX- APPEARANCE OF PARTIES AND CONSEQUENCE OF NON-APPEARANCE
xxx
xxx xxx
13.
Setting aside decree ex parte against defendants— In any case in which a
decree is passed ex parte against a defendant, he may apply to the Court by
which the decree was passed for an order to set it aside; and if he satisfies
the Court that the summons was not duly served, or that he was prevented by any
sufficient cause from appearing when
the suit was called on for hearing, the Court shall make an order setting aside
the decree as against him upon such terms as to costs, payment into Court or
otherwise as it thinks fit, and shall appoint a day for proceeding with the
suit; Provided that where the decree is of such a nature that it cannot be set
aside as against such defendant only it may be set aside as against all or any
of the other defendants also: Provided further that no Court shall set aside a
decree passed ex parte merely on the ground that there has been an irregularity
in the service of summons, if it is
satisfied that the defendant had notice of the date of hearing and had
sufficient time to appear and answer the plaintiff’s claim.
Explanation.—Where
there has been an appeal against a decree passed ex parte under this rule, and
the appeal has been disposed of on any ground other than the ground that the
appellant has withdrawn the appeal, no application shall lie under this rule
for setting aside the ex parte decree.”
14. The aforesaid
provision lays down the procedure for setting aside a decree passed ex parte.
The court can set aside an ex parte decree only on two grounds – firstly, that
the summons was not duly served; and secondly, that the defendant was prevented
by sufficient cause from appearing when the suit was called out. Once an ex
parte decree is set aside, it basically means that the parties are relegated to
the same position on which they stood before the passing of the ex-parte
decree.
15. In the present case,
the stand of the respondent No. 1 is that she was never served in the suit and
she came to know about the proceedings only on the date when the decree was
executed and the possession of the land was taken from her. On the same day
itself she filed an application for setting aside the ex parte decree. This
application was dismissed by the trial court. The lower appellate court allowed the appeal filed by the
respondent No. 1 herein and set aside the ex parte decree on the ground that
she had not been served properly in the suit and, therefore, she had a
reasonable cause for not appearing on the date on which the suit was called up.
16. In the present case, the
result would be that the respondent No.1, Shanti Devi would be relegated to the
position at which she was when she was proceeded against ex parte which would
be the date on which the written statement was to be filed. There is no manner
of doubt that the effect of setting aside an ex parte decree is to restore the
parties to the position at which they were prior to the passing of the decree
and relegate them to the position on which they were when the defendant was
proceeded against ex parte. The parties are restored to the position existing
prior to the date the order proceeding against the defendant ex parte was
passed. No authoritative pronouncement of this Court has been placed before us
in this regard. However, we may refer to the judgments passed by various High
Courts in the case of Kumararu
Narayanaru v. Padmanabha
Kurup Gopala Kurup, AIR 1953 (TC) 426; Beerankoya Haji v. P.P. Mohammedkutty, AIR
1986 Ker 10; Shah Bharat
Kumar v. M/s.
Motilal and Bharulal, AIR 1980 Guj 50; Aziz Ahmed Patel v. I.A. Patel, AIR 1974 (A.P.)
1; Mst. Lakshmi
Devi v. Roongta
& Co., AIR 1962 (All.) 381; Venkatasubbiah v. Lakshminarasimhan, 49
Mad.L.J.273 which have taken this view.
17. It would be pertinent
to mention that the mere fact that the ex parte decree has been executed does
not disentitle the defendant from applying under Order IX Rule 13, CPC to get
the same set aside. Reference may be made to Sm. Sankaribala Dutta v. Sm. Asita Barani Dasi and others, AIR 1977
Calcutta 289 and Mst.
Fatima Khatoon v. Swarup Singh, AIR 1984 Calcutta 257. Once the decree is
set aside, restitution or restoration can be ordered.
18. On behalf of the
appellant it has been urged that in Shyam
Sunder’s case
(supra), this Court made no exception for ex-parte decrees
while setting out the principles which have been quoted hereinabove and the ex
parte decree should be treated to be the decree of the court of first instance.
That was not an issue raised before the Constitution Bench. This Court was only concerned with the issue
whether the amendment to the 1913 Act taking away the right of pre-emption
vested in the co-sharer introduced after the decree was passed by the court of
first instance and the effect thereof. The issue which is raised in this case
was neither directly nor impliedly the subject matter of decision in Shyam Sundar’s case (supra).
19. An ex parte decree is
passed when the court believes that the defendant has been served but is not
appearing in court despite service of summons. In the
present case, the appellate court while setting aside the ex parte decree, has
come to the conclusion that the defendant Shanti Devi (respondent no. 1 herein)
was not served and, therefore, the court had wrongly proceeded against her ex
parte. That finding has been upheld till this Court. In our view, the effect of
this would be that the ex parte decree, on its being set aside, would cease to
exist and become non-est. After the ex parte decree is set aside, it is no
decree in the eyes of law. The decree passed by the trial court on merits
should be treated as the decree of the first court. We may make it clear that
we are not dealing with those cases where a case has been decided on merits and
the decree is set aside by the appellate court on any other ground and the
matter remanded to the trial court for decision afresh. We leave that question
open.
20. Here, we are dealing
with a case where the defendant was proceeded against ex parte and that order has
been set aside on the ground that she has not been served and, therefore, she
has been relegated to the position existing on the date she was proceeded
against ex-parte, i.e., 6th April, 1990. After the amendment was introduced on
17th May, 1995, there was no right existing in the plaintiff to file a suit for
pre-emption. Since the decree on contest was passed on 27th November, 1999 the
plaintiff had no existing right of pre-emption on that date and the suit was
rightly dismissed. This decree is the only subsisting decree of the first court.
21. Shri Amarendra Sharan,
learned senior counsel appearing for the appellant urged that since possession
of the property was taken as far back
as 7th June, 1990, no restitution can be ordered at this belated stage and,
therefore, there is no point in upholding the decree. On the other hand, Shri
Shantwanu Singh, learned counsel appearing for the respondent No. 1 has urged
that this Court should exercise its power under Article 142 of the Constitution of India and direct that the
property be restored to the respondent No. 1, who has been litigating for many
years.
22. We cannot accept
either of the two submissions. The limitation for restitution under the
Limitation Act is 12 years. The ex parte decree was set aside on 28th August,
1998 and thereafter, the appellant has been litigating at various levels. If
the appellant had obtained stay order(s) during this period, obviously the
period for which the stay was granted, would have to be excluded while
calculating the period of limitation. This is not the job of this Court. It is
for the executing court to decide whether the restitution petition, if any
filed, is within the limitation or not. It is only the court which passed the
original decree, which can order restitution. Restitution cannot be granted by
the Supreme Court, as held in the case of State Bank of Saurashtra v. Chitranjan Rangnath, (1980)
4 SCC 516.
23. In view of the above,
we find no merit in the appeal, which is accordingly dismissed. Status quo
granted vide order dated 27.11.2006, which was directed to be continued by
order dated 30.03.2009, stands vacated.
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