BACHAN SINGH Vs. SWARAN SINGH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Injunctive relief, permanent or temporary is very commonly sought and granted, hardly a day passes without the Civil Courts dealing with questions concerning this relief. If the principles governing the grant or refusal of this common statutory relief are not well understood, injustice ensues. This prompted one of us (T.H.B. Chalapathi, J.) to refer this revision to a Division Bench after noticing an apparent conflict in the decisions rendered by single Judges of this Court.

(2.) The controversy for our consideration is whether a co-owner of the property is entitled to seek an injunction against other co-owner who has been in exclusive possession of the entire or part of the property restraining him from making any construction in that part of the property.

(3.) In the case of common property the joint tenants or tenants-in-common, all of them are entitled to the said property and are entitled to enjoy the same. If one of them alone holds or occupies the entire property or part of it, his possession cannot be said unlawful. His physical possession is that of an owner of his own interest and also that of an agent as to the other co-owners. Therefore, the possession of one of the co-sharers is the possession of all of them. At the same time, it cannot be said that the person who has been in possession of the property is holding the property not only for himself but also in favour of other co-sharers. A co-sharer who is in possession of the property is also entitled to the enjoyment of the same. The possession of one of them is possession of all in the eye of law unless the person who has been in exclusive possession asserts his title in himself to the exclusion of the other co-sharers which may amount to ouster. We need not dwell upon this aspect of the matter in this revision petition. Suffice to say, it is for the co-sharer who claims or asserts ouster to prove the same. The point with which we are concerned is : Should a co-sharer abuse the joint property, or otherwise infringe the rights of his co-sharer, what is the remedy available to the other co-sharer? The remedies open to the other co-sharers are :-(i) Partition;(ii) declaration of right, damages and account of profits;(iii) decree for joint possession; and(iv) injunction.