ANAND J DATWANI Vs. GEETI BHAGAT DATWANI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellant impugns the judgment and decree dated 06.12.2013 rejecting the plaint in C.S. (OS) No.758/2008 under Order 7 Rule 11 CPC. The brief facts are that the plaintiff claimed decrees for partition, declaration and consequential injunction in respect of the property which included land and building at 32, Shivaji Marg, Westend Greens, Rangpuri, New Delhi ("the Suit Property"). The partition sought was for one half share of the property between him and the first defendant his wife, and a declaration that the undertaking given by him on 29.04.2004 was null and void. A consequential permanent injunction to restrain the wife from dealing with the suit property was also sought.

(2.) The plaintiff and the first defendant were married on 13.10.1994; two children were subsequently born out of the wedlock. The suit alleged that the first defendant, after consulting the other party defendants, expressed a desire to develop the suit property and requested the plaintiff to provide the finances. It is not in dispute that the suit property was purchased by the first defendant wife with her resources through a registered sale deed dated 09.02.1989 and was partly constructed upon. The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) had granted sanction for construction on 30.07.1990, and completion certificate was issued on 28.07.1993. The suit proceeded to premise the claim upon a development agreement alleged to have been executed by the parties sometime in 1996, in terms of which it was alleged that the plaintiff spent considerable amount towards the development of the property and, therefore, acquired an equal share in it.

(3.) The occasion for approaching this Court was apparently the first defendant invoking the provisions of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 ("DV Act") through an application under Section 12 on 10.10.2007.