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2019 (3) TMI 2036 - SUPREME COURTSeeking permission to withdraw the suit - no cause of action - appellant argued that the transaction concerning defendant Nos. 3 to 6 having taken place much after the institution of the suit, these defendants have no cause of action against defendant Nos. 1 and 2 and hence, they cannot be transposed as plaintiffs - HELD THAT:- On the facts and in the circumstances of this case, upon the existing plaintiffs seeking permission to withdraw under Order XXIII Rule 1 CPC, the defendant Nos. 3 to 6 have rightly been allowed to be transposed as plaintiffs under Order XXIII Rule 1-A read with Order I Rule 10 CPC and to continue with the suit, as originally filed against the defendant Nos. 1 and 2. The present one is clearly a case answering to all the basics for applicability of Rule 1-A of Order XXIII read with Rule 10 of Order I CPC. As noticed, the principal cause in the suit is challenge to the sale deed executed by defendant No. 1 in favour of defendant No. 2, with the original plaintiff asserting his ownership over the property in question. After the demise of original plaintiff, his sons and daughters came to be joined as plaintiff Nos. 2 to 8 with plaintiff No. 5 being the power of attorney holder of all the plaintiffs. After the suit was decreed ex parte, the plaintiff No. 5 transferred the property in question to the aforesaid three purchasers, who were joined as plaintiff Nos. 9 to 11 when the ex parte decree was set aside and suit was restored for bi parte hearing. In the given status of parties and the subject matter of the suit, when the plaintiffs entered into an arrangement with defendant Nos. 1 and 2 and sought permission to withdraw under Order XXIII Rule 1 CPC, the right of defendant Nos. 3 to 6 to continue with the litigation on their claim against defendant Nos. 1 and 2 immediately sprang up and they were, obviously, entitled to seek transposition as plaintiffs under Order XXIII Rule 1-A CPC. It is also noteworthy that even if some question is sought to be raised as regards the rights of the subsequent purchasers (defendant Nos. 4 to 6), the right of the defendant No. 3 (earlier the plaintiff No. 5) to prosecute the suit as a plaintiff remains rather indisputable in view of his status as one of the legal representatives of the original plaintiff. The right of the said defendant No. 3 (earlier the plaintiff No. 5) to challenge the sale deed between defendant No. 1 and defendant No. 2 did not get annulled only by his earlier transposition as the defendant; and he cannot be considered bound by the arrangement between the existing plaintiffs and the defendant Nos. 1 and 2. In the given set of circumstances, the Trial Court had been justified in allowing the prayer for transposition and the High Court has rightly declined to interfere. Appeal dismissed.
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