Laxminarayan Sharma vs Bharat Singh and Others

Satya Poot Mehrotra and Shyam Shankar Tiwari, JJ.—Sri Swapnil Kumar has filed his Vakalatnama on behalf of the Plaintiff-Respondent Nos. 2, 6 and 7 today. Vakalatnama on behalf of the Plaintiff-Respondent Nos. 1, 3, 4 and 5 has already been filed by Sri Swapnil Kumar. Thus, all the Plaintiff-Respondents namely, Plaintiff-Respondent Nos. 1 to 7 are represented by Sri Swapnil Kumar. The remaining Respondents in the appeal are the Proforma Respondents. The present appeal has been filed against the order dated 28.5.2010 passed by the learned District Judge, Agra on an Application No. 15-C filed on behalf of the Plaintiff-Respondents for grant of an ad interim injunction in Original Suit No. 1 of 2010 filed by the Plaintiff-Respondents against the Defendant-Appellant and the Proforma Respondent Nos. 8 to 12.

The aforesaid Suit has been filed by the Plaintiff-Respondents, inter alia, praying for removal of the Proforma Respondent Nos. 8 and 9 (Defendant 1st set in the suit) and the Proforma Respondent No. 1 (Defendant II Set in the Suit) from the management and other activities of the Idol Lord Narsingh Ji Maharaj installed at the temple situated at Mohalla Rathiya, Village Achhnera, District Agra. Copy of the plaint of the said Suit has been filed as part of Annexure-8 to the affidavit accompanying the Stay Application filed in the present appeal.

An Injunction Application (No. 1.5-Ga) was also filed on behalf of the Plaintiff-Respondents in the said Suit. It was inter alia, prayed in the said Injunction Application that the Defendants in the Suit be restrained by means of an ad-interim injunction from digging foundation or raising constructions over the plots mentioned in the Injunction Application and further from transferring or alienating the same to other person through themselves, their agents etc. Copy of the said Injunction Application has been filed as part of Annexure-8 to the affidavit accompanying the Stay Application filed in the present appeal.

By the order dated 28.5.2010, the learned District Judge, Agra allowed the said Injunction Application No. 15-C with costs.

The present appeal has been filed by the Defendant-Appellant against the said order dated 28.5.2010 passed by the learned District Judge, Agra.

In the order dated 28.5.2010, the learned District Judge, Agra has observed that "Notices were issued to the opposite parties, who have failed to file objections". The learned District Judge has further observed that "Sri B.P. Ojha, Advocate, for the Opposite Party No. 3 has filed his Vakalatnama, but chosen not to appear."

Sri Govind Krishna, learned Counsel for the Defendant-Appellant submits that the above observations made by the learned District Judge in the impugned order dated 2852010 are not correct, as no notice was served upon the defendant-Appellant.

Sri Swapnil Kumar, learned Counsel for the Plaintiff-Respondents submits that the observations made by the learned District Judge are correct.

In our opinion, it is not necessary to go into the aforesaid controversy, as the fact remains that the impugned order dated 28.5.2010 has been passed by the learned District Judge, Agra without there being on the record any objections on behalf of the Defendant-Appellant or other Defendants in the said Suit against the Injunction Application.

Sri Govind Krishna, learned Counsel for the Defendant-Appellant and Sri Swapnil Kumar, learned Counsel for the Plaintiff-Respondents state that instead of deciding the appeal on merits, the Defendant-Appellant as also the other Defendants in the Suit may be permitted to file objections against the Injunction Application filed on behalf of the Plaintiff-Respondents, and such objections may be decided by the Court below within a particular time -frame.

In view of the statement made by Sri Govind Krishna, learned Counsel for the Defendant-Appellant and Sri Swapnil Kumar, learned Counsel for the Plaintiffs-Respondents, we are disposing of the present appeal, without going into the merits thereof, by giving the following directions:

(i) The Defendant-Appellant as also the other Defendants in the Suit will file their objections to the Injunction Application on or before 23.8.2010;

(ii) The Plaintiff-Respondents will file their rejoinder-affidavit to the aforesaid objections by 13.9.2010;

(iii) The Court below will thereafter proceed to decide the objections Filed by the Defendant-Appellant and other Defendants in the Suit expeditiously, and in any case, by 4-10-2010;

(iv) Till 8.10.2010 or till the disposal of the objections by the Court below, whichever is earlier, the injunction granted by the order dated 28.5.2010 will continue to remain operative.

We order accordingly.

Certified copy of this order shall be made available to the learned Counsel for the parties on payment of usual charges within three days.