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2017 (7) TMI 504 - HC - Companies LawRevocation of the leave granted to the Plaintiffs under Order 1 Rule 8 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 - Held that:- The answer must, in turn, depend on the very position of the others who are claimed to be represented insofar as their interest in the suit is concerned. If by its very nature, their interest in the suit is not the same as the plaintiff, the application for leave must fail. If it is the same, the application must succeed. As we have noted above, by its very nature the interest in this suit of others of the alleged class is not the same as the Plaintiffs. If that is so, it does not matter that some others of that class have actually come forward in support of the Plaintiffs. That only means that there are, as it turns out, some others who claim the same right to relief in respect of, or arising out of, the same act or transaction, or series of acts or transactions. If that is so and if common questions of law or fact would arise if separate suits were to be brought by them, there is a case for joinder of those others under Order 1 Rule 1. If not originally joined, they may seek joinder under Order 1 Rule 10. But it is still not a case for leave under Order 1 Rule 8. Apart from impleadment of parties under Order 1 Rule 10, the law also envisages several other ways of dealing with such situations. There could be clubbing of several suits for trial (if several individual suits are filed) or there could even be a test case (if other suits could later follow). The rationale behind this statement of law is not far to seek. If the suit is truly a representative suit, any decree passed therein would bind every other person who is represented in the suit. A number of such other persons whom the Plaintiffs claim to represent, but who actually oppose the suit, will be forced to join the suit with a view to contest it, for if they do not, the decree, which they perceive to be to their detriment, will bind them. That would be clearly unjust, if, in the first place, there was no warrant in allowing the Plaintiff to represent them. In the present case, the non-promoter shareholders, who do not want reinstatement of Mistry, would be bound to accept his reinstatement if the Plaintiffs were to succeed and on top of it, suffer such reinstatement as something which was prayed for on their behalf or for their benefit. To avoid such predicament, they would be forced to join the suit and defend it, when they really had no intention or obligation to do so. Nothing could be more unjust. The present suit does not satisfy the requirements of Order 1 Rule 8. The Chamber Summons is, in the premises, allowed by revoking the leave granted on 9 December 2016 in Judges Order No. 215 of 2016.
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