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1992 (3) TMI 356

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..... icipal Corporation Act to the appellant for demolition of two chattels on the terrace on the ground that these were unauthorised constructions. The appellant instituted the suit No. 6181 of 1988 before the City Civil Court, Bombay, challenging the validity of the notice and for injunction restraining the Municipal Corporation from demolishing the structures. Interim injunction was granted by the court. 3. On 9.9.1988, the second respondent applied for being impleaded as additional defendant in the suit on the ground that they have materials to show that the constructions are unauthorised, and they are necessary parties to the litigation. The Court by order dated 22.8.1989 directed the appellant to add the second respondent as defendant and amend the plaint suitably rejecting the contentions of the appellant that the second respondent was neither a necessary nor a proper party to be impleaded in the suit. The appellant filed writ petition No. 4229 of 1989 under Article 227 of the Constitution of India in the High Court of Bombay challenging the correctness of the order. The High Court by the impugned judgment dismissed the writ petition. This appeal by special leave is directed a .....

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..... a particular case. 7. The respondents do not seriously dispute the position that the second respondent is not a necessary party to the suit in the sense that without their presence an effective order cannot be passed. However, they support the view that respondent No. 2 is a proper party whose presence is necessary for a complete adjudication on the controversy. In the light of the clear language of the Rule, it is not open to the appellant to contend that a person cannot be added as defendant even in a case where his presence is necessary to enable the Court to decide the matter effectively. 8. The case really turns on the true construction of the Rule in particular the meaning of the words whose presence before the Court may be necessary in order to enable the Court effectually and completely to adjudicate upon and settle all the questions involved in the suit. The Court is empowered to join a person whose presence is necessary for the prescribed purpose and cannot under the Rule direct the addition of a person whose presence is not necessary for that purpose. If the intervener has a cause of action against the plaintiff relating to the subject-matter of . the existing a .....

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..... t and the third respondent and that if the appellant was declared to be lawfully wedded to the third respondent, the rights and interests of respondents 1 and 2 in the estate of the third respondent would be affected. The application was contested by both the appellant and the third respondent. The trial court allowed the application and the order was confirmed by the High Court in its revisional jurisdiction. The question in the appeal before this Court was whether the lower court did not exceed their powers in directing the addition of respondents 1 and 2 as parties defendants in the action. 12. Sinha, J. speaking for the majority said that a declaratory judgment in respect of a disputed status will be binding not only upon parties actually before the Court but also upon persons claiming through them respectively. The Court laid down the law that in a suit relating to property in order that a person may be added as a party, he should have a direct interest as distinguished from a commercial interest in the subject-matter of the litigation. Where the subject-matter of a litigation is a declaration as regards status or a legal character, the rule of presence of direct interest m .....

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..... nstruction of the rule between the direct interest or the legal interest and commercial interest. It is, therefore, necessary that the person must be directly or legally interested in the action in the answer, i.e. , he can say that the litigation may lead to a result which will affect him legally that is by curtailing his legal rights. It is difficult to say that the rule contemplates joining as a defendant a person whose only object is to prosecute his own cause of action. Similar provision was considered in Amon v. Raphael Tuck Sons Ltd. (1956) 1 All E.R. 273, wherein after quoting the observations of Wynn-Parry, J. in Dollfus Mieg et Compagnie S.A. v. Bank of England (1950) 2 All E.R. 611, that the true test lies not so much in an analysis of what are the constituents of the applicants' rights, but rather in what would be the result on the subject-matter of the action if those rights could be established, Devlin, J. has stated: The test is 'May the order for which the plaintiff is asking directly affect the intervener in the enjoyment of his legal rights.' 15. It has been strenuously contended before us that the second respondent has no interest in th .....

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..... t only the interest of the shareholders, creditors but also amongst other things the interest of the workers and that the workers must have an opportunity of being heard for projecting and safeguarding their interest before a winding up order is made by the Court. That principal has no application in a civil litigation where licensee questions the action of the legal authority and the lessee would not be affected in whatever way the decision is rendered. 17. The City Civil Judge in para 32 of the order said that the Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited are the lessees of the plot as also the premises, the plaintiff is merely their dealer; they have a right, title and interest in the suit premises and the applicants are proper and necessary parties as they have interest in the subject-matter of the litigation and their presence will be necessary and proper to effectively adjudicate upon and determine the cause of action in the suit. The High Court also in confirming the order said that the notice which is challenged is in respect of structure which belongs to the second respondent and the respondent's presence is necessary for effective adjudication. 18. The courts belo .....

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