SRIRAMULA RAMACHANDRAM Vs. SRIRAMULA BHOODAMMA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioners question the order of the learned District Munsif at Karimanagar in I. A. No. 112 of 1989 in I. A. No.410of 1988 in O.S. No. 684 of 1982 dated 8-8-1990 dismissing the said application made under O.1, R.10 of the Civil Procedure Code for impleading them as respondents 8 to 14 in 'the above case'. It is important to note that the said I.A.No.112 of 1989 was preferred by the petitioners themselves because the order of the learned District Munsif discloses some confusion regarding the said fact.

(2.) The brief facts of the case as could be culled out from the order of the learned District Munsif are as follows:-- Respondents 1 and 2 herein laid O.S. No. 684 of 1982 for partition. The 1st defendant in the said suit one Durgaiah died. Petitioners herein are his legal representatives. The 2nd plaintiff in the suit filed I.A. No. 191 of 1984 under R. 4 of 0.22 of the Civil Procedure Code on 24-10-1983 for bringing on record the petitioners herein as the legal representatives of the deceased 1st defendant and the said application was allowed by the learned District Munsif on 3-12-1984. According to the petitioners herein no notice was served on them before the said I. A. was ordered or even thereafter. Whatever that be, as per the order of the learned District Munsif, after the said I.A. No. 191 of 1984 was allowed on 3-12-1984, the suit was adjourned from time to time for carrying out the amendment and for filing amended copy and ultimately as no steps were taken for amendment, the suit against the 1st defendant was dismissed as abated on 1-7-1985. Subsequently the other defendants were set ex parte and a preliminary decree was passed against the defendants on 29-4-1987. Though it is not clear from the order of the learned District Munsif or the record before me what the exact prayer in I.A. No. 410 of 1988 is, the learned counsel on both sides are agreed that it is an application made by the plaintiffs in the suit i.e., respondents 1 and 2 herein, for appointment of a Commissioner for measuring and partitioning the land in accordance with the preliminary decree. It is stated by them that a Commissioner was appointed in the said I.A. No. 410 of 1988. It is at that stage that the present LA. No. 112 of 1989 was preferred by the petitioners herein for adding them "as respondents 8 to 14 in the above case for the just and proper adjudication of the matter and to avoid the multiplicity of proceedings, by allowing this petition, in the ends of justice". In a brief order, after scantily narrating the facts, laconically the learned District Munsif dismissed the said I.A. in the following manner:

(3.) In support of LA. No. 112 of 1989 the 1st petitioner herein gave his affidavit dated 27-1-1989. In that he states that the petitioners came to know about the filing of the partition suit only recently and that immediately after knowing about the same he applied for certified copy of the decree and the docket order in I.A. No. 191 of 1984, and that in the said I.A. they were made as parties to the suit but were not served with any notices to claim their rights in Survey No. 188 of Karimnagar proper by participating in the proceedings -- obviously land in the said Survey Number is one of the properties which forms the subject matter of the said suit for partition. He further states that after the suit against his father (the 1st defendant) abated and was dismissed, the Court appointed a Commissioner to divide the land in the said Survey No. 188 with metes and bounds and certain other suit schedule properties. He also states that the said land is in the joint possession of the petitioners and the respondents in the said I.A. He then submits that to avoid multiplicity of proceedings, they should be impleaded as they are necessary parties to participate in the matter while fixing the boundaries and dividing the said land and to allot their due share and that otherwise they will be put to irreparable loss which cannot be compensated. The 1st respondent filed his counter stating that after the death of the 1st defendant the petitioners herein deliberately absented themselves and with a view to protract the litigation filed the present application after the Commissioner visited the spot. He also contends that the application is belated.