SELLAMMAL Vs. MOOKAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS Civil Revision Petition is directed against the order of the trial Court made in I.A. No. 439 of 1999 in O.S. 143 of 1993 rejecting the petitioners application for consolidating O.S. 267 of 1995 on the file of the very same Court along with the present suit namely O.S. 143 of 1993 for joint trial and for passing a common judgment by treating the evidence recorded in the suit as evidence in the other suit namely O.S. 267 of 1995.

(2.) THE said application filed under Section 151 of CODE OF CIVIL PROCEDURE, 1908 was resisted by the respondents on the ground that the relief claimed in O.S. 143 of 1993 and O.S. 267 of 1995 were not similar and that the petitioners had filed the application only to drag on the proceedings. THE trial Court dismissed the application on the ground that in the suit filed in O.S. 267 of 1995, one Periyathal has also been added as a defendant apart from the present respondents, that the details of properties mentioned in O.S. 267 of 1995 are different from the one mentioned in O.S. 143 of 1993, and that therefore the suit property cannot be stated to be identical in both suits. THE learned Judge further held that while separate trial was a general rule, consolidation of the suit is a special one and since there are no sufficient grounds for consolidating the suits, the application was not maintainable.

(3.) IN the circumstances, I find that the order of the Trial Court is not sustainable in law. IN the result, the Civil Revision Petition is allowed directing the trial Court to try both O.S. No. 143 of 1993 and O.S. 267 of 1995 together by consolidating them by treating the evidence as common in both the suits and also pass a common judgment as prayed in I.A. No. 439 of 1999 in O.S. No. 143 of 1993. No costs.