REV KARRA JEREMAIAH Vs. KURRAKULA LAZARUS

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Respondents 1 to 3 herein filed O.S. No.36 of 2000 in the Court of the Principal Junior Civil Judge, Parchur against respondents 4 to 7, for a declaration that the 63rd convention of East Guntur Synod held on 14-4-2000, is illegal, unenforceable and for an injunction restraining respondents 4 to 7 here in from convening the official meetings and conventions outside the Church premises. The petitioner herein is said to have elected as the President of the fourth respondent Synod (first defendant). On that basis, he got himself impleaded as the fifth defendant in the suit.

(2.) The petitioner filed I.A.No.779 of 2004 under Order 14 Rule 5 C.P.C. with a prayer to frame an additional issue, touching on the territorial jurisdiction of the trial Court. The application was rejected through the docket order, dated 20-1-2005, on the ground that such a plea was not raised in the written statement. The same is challenged in this civil revision petition.

(3.) Sri K. Manik Prabhu, the learned Counsel for the petitioner, submits that the trial Court basically did not have the territorial jurisdiction to entertain the suit. He contends that even in the absence of a plea in the written statement, such an issue can be framed and the trial Court committed an error in rejecting the application.