MINESCAPE MINERALS PVT. LTD. Vs. SUDHIR MURARI SAWARDEKAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Facts: The petitioner purchased a piece of property from the respondents. Later, he came to know that the respondents had no title to the property. So, he repurchased the property from those whom he believed to be the actual owners.

(2.) As the petitioner paid the sale consideration, first, to persons without title to the property, he wanted to recover the money. So he filed Special Civil Suit No.3/2011 before Civil Judge, Senior Judge, at Quepem. He has sought a declaration that the Sale Deed the respondents executed is void, and they should return the sale consideration. In that suit, the respondents filed a counterclaim seeking a declaration and other consequential reliefs. To put this counterclaim in perspective, we need to narrate how the title to the property in question flowed.

(3.) One Murari Vithal Sawardekar was the head of the family, which included his wife and daughter. When his wife died, the succession opened, and the property fell to his daughter's share. But the daughter, too, predeceased him. Then, the property reverted to Murari Sawardekar, the father and head of the family. The respondents are the other children of Murari Sawardekar.