BASUDEV Vs. SANJAY KUMAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Leave granted.

(2.) The question to be answered in this appeal is as to whether there should be two appeals filed from the two decrees drawn up when a suit with a counterclaim is disposed of by a single judgment. The ancillary question would also be whether in every such situation two decrees should be drawn up.

(3.) In the present case, a suit was filed and a counterclaim was raised. The Trial Court allowed the suit claim and dismissed the counterclaim. A single appeal was filed by the defendants; in which the suit was dismissed and the counterclaim was allowed. The High Court in second appeal found that the single appeal was incompetent and relied on the decision of a Division Bench in Ramesh Chand v. Om Raj and Others; 2022 (2) SLC 1145. It was held that in the nature of the disposal, decreeing the suit and rejecting the counter claim, there ought to be two separate appeals filed. In the teeth of the principle of waiver and estoppel the single appeal will have to be rejected was the finding. We are not concerned with the merits of the claims; suffice it to notice that when the plaintiffs claimed half share and sought for an injunction against interference, the defendants raised a counterclaim of ownership over the entire property.