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Geeta Anand Vs Tanya Arjun Anr On 1 June 2023
Geeta Anand Vs Tanya Arjun Anr On 1 June 2023
Geeta Anand Vs Tanya Arjun Anr On 1 June 2023
versus
JUDGMENT
CORAM:
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE NAVIN CHAWLA
I.A. 606/2023
1. The present application has been filed by the defendant no.1
under Order VII Rule 11 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (in
short ‘CPC’) seeking rejection of the plaint on the ground that the
exclusive jurisdiction to adjudicate upon the dispute raised in the
plaint lies with the Family Court in terms of Section 7(1) Explanation
(d) of the Family Courts Act, 1984 (hereinafter referred to as ‘Family
Courts Act’).
CASE OF THE PLAINTIFF
3. It is the case of the plaintiff that she, along with her Company
AG Industries Pvt. Ltd., acquired the Suit Property bearing no. 26,
Anand Lok, New Delhi-110049 vide Sale Deeds dated 23.03.2007,
02.11.2004 and 02.11.2004. The defendant no.2 is the son of the
plaintiff and was residing with her in the suit property.
4. The defendant no.1 and defendant no.2 entered into a wedlock
on 10.12.2005, and have been blessed with two children.
5. The plaintiff avers that the defendant no.1 was aggressive and
abusive towards her and, therefore, in May, 2019, the plaintiff asked
the defendants to move out of the Suit Property, but allowed them to
live at her residential apartment at A-109, 9th Floor, DLF King's Court,
Greater Kailash Part II, New Delhi-110048.
6. The plaintiff further avers that in the last week of June, 2022,
the defendants, through a family friend, reconciled their inter se
dispute and entered into a Memorandum of Understanding dated
28.06.2022 (hereinafter referred to as the ‘MOU’). The plaintiff is
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also a signatory to the MOU. In terms of Clause 6 (b) of the MOU, it
was agreed that the defendant no.1 shall move into the DLF property
and remove her belongings and stop access to the suit property unless
particularly invited by the plaintiff. Clause 6(c) of the MOU states that
the plaintiff, in turn, would repay the loan taken on the DLF property
and, thereafter, transfer the DLF property to the defendant no.1 and
the children of the defendants.
7. The plaintiff asserts that while she performed her part of the
obligations under the MOU, the defendant no.1 resiled out of the
same, alleging that the MOU had been signed under duress. The
plaintiff asserts that the defendant no.1 again started intimidating and
harassing the plaintiff while whimsically barging into the suit property
against the plaintiff’s wishes and threatening to squat there until her
illegal demands are met.
8. The plaintiff bases her cause of action to file the suit as under:
“45. That the cause of action for filing the
present suit arose on 28.06.2022 when Tanya
signed the MoU and agreed to vacate the Suit
Property within 7 days of the completion of the
renovation work. It again arose on 29.08.2022
when Tanya failed to comply with the MoU
and vacate the Suit Property. The cause of
action again arose on 30.09.2022 when Tanya
unilaterally reneged from the MoU. The cause
of action is still continuing and subsisting as
Tanya has been visiting the Suit Property
against Ms. Anand's wishes and threatened to
squat there until her illegal demands are met.
Ms. Anand fears that Tanya, while in the
house, may create more trouble and cause
harm to Ms. Anand.”
11. On the other hand, the learned counsel for the plaintiff, placing
reliance on the judgment of this Court in Manita Khurana v. Indra
Khurana 2010 SCC OnLine Del 225; and Meena Kapoor v. Ayushi
Rawal & Anr. 2020 SCC OnLine Del 2481, submits that this Court
has held that a claim of a third party to a marriage, even if she be the
mother of one of the spouses, cannot be adjudicated before the Family
Court. She submits that where the claim is based on the exclusive
ownership of the Suit Property, merely because certain facts leading to
the cause of action refer to the marital relationship of the defendants,
that would not make the suit filed by the mother-in-law as one seeking
injunction ‘in circumstances arising out of a matrimonial relationship’
to be adjudicated only by a Family Court.
15. In rejoinder, the learned counsel for the defendant no.1, placing
reliance on the judgment of the Supreme Court in Central Board of
Dawoodi Bohra Community & Anr. v. State of Maharashtra & Anr.
(2005) 2 SCC 673, submits that in view of the apparent conflict
between the judgments of this Court in Avneet Kaur (supra) on one
hand and Manita Khurana (supra) and Meena Kapoor (supra) on the
other, this Court should place the same before the Hon’ble Chief
Justice to be placed for hearing before a Larger Bench.
16. Placing reliance on the judgment of the Supreme Court in S.
Vanitha v. The Deputy Commissioner, Bengaluru Urban District
and Ors. (2021) 15 SCC 730, the learned counsel for the defendant
no. 1 submits that the suit property would be the shared household of
the defendant no.1 and, therefore, reliance on the MOU by the
plaintiff would not empower this Court with the appropriate
jurisdiction.
17. Placing reliance on the judgment of the Supreme Court in K.A.
Abdul Jaleel v. T.A. Shahida (2003) 4 SCC 166; and of this Court in
Vidyanidhi Dalmia v. Nilanajana Dalmia 2008 SCC OnLine Del
371, he submits that the Family Courts Act being a Special Act
created for reconciliation of the disputes of certain kinds, should be
construed liberally and not in a restrictive sense, as is being contended
by the learned counsel for the plaintiff.
18. The learned counsel for the defendant submits that the judgment
of this Court in Manita Khurana (supra) is distinguishable as in the
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case the husband of the defendant therein was not a party to the suit
and the learned Judge distinguished the cited judgment on that score.
He submits that in the present suit, husband of the defendant no.1 has
been impleadead as the defendant no.2 and, therefore, the judgment in
Manita Khurana (supra) shall not be applicable.
ANALYSIS AND FINDING
19. I have considered the submissions made by the learned counsels
for the parties.
20. In my view, there appears to be an apparent conflict between
the interpretation placed on Explanation (d) to Section 7(1) of the
Family Courts Act in Avneet Kaur (supra) on one hand, and Manita
Khurana (supra) and Meena Kapoor (supra) on the other.
21. Section 7 of the Family Courts Act, 1984 reads as under:
xxxxx
(Emphasis supplied)
23. The judgment in Manita Khurana (supra) was relied upon and
followed by another learned Single Judge of this Court (Mukta Gupta,
J.) in Meena Kapoor (supra), wherein it was held as under:
“13. The facts of the present case are similar
to the facts in Manita Khurana Vs. Indra
Khurana (supra). In the present case, the
plaintiff claims to be the exclusive owner of the
suit property having purchased the same by
way of a registered sale deed dated 29th
August, 2014 and seeks the relief of injunction
against the two defendants. Merely because
the two defendants are married and the
defendant No.1 has taken the plea that some
money in the purchase of the suit property and
the construction thereof was spent from the
earnings of defendant No.2 which plea of
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defendant No.1 would be hit by the Benami
Transactions (Prohibition) Amendment Act,
2016, the relief in the present suit cannot be
said to be between the parties to the marriage
with respect to the property of the parties or
either of them.. Consequently, the preliminary
objection raised by the defendant No. 1 that
the present suit is not maintainable and should
be tried by Family Court is dismissed.”
(Emphasis supplied)
24. A reading of the above judgments would show that both the
judgments have held that where a suit seeking eviction/injunction is
filed by the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law based on her
exclusive title to the property, the same cannot be said to be a suit ‘in
circumstances arising out of marital relationship’ to be tried
exclusively by a Family Court.
25. On the other hand, in Avneet Kaur (supra) (authored by C.
Hari Shankar, J.), the learned Single Judge of this Court has
interpreted Explanation (d) to Section 7(1) of the Family Courts Act,
observing and holding as under:
“21. Unquestionably, the dispute in this case
revolves around Clause (d) of explanation to
Section 7 (1) of the Family Courts Act. A mere
glance at the provision indicates that it has
been worded in careful and cautious terms. It
states that a suit or proceeding for an order or
injunction in circumstances arising out of a
marital relationship would lie exclusively
before the Family Court.
22. What has to be seen is whether the
circumstances in which the order or injunction
is sought in the present case arise out of a
marital relationship. The test is not whether
the cause of action, forming the basis of the
prayer for injunction, arises out of a marital
relationship or whether the marital
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relationship is the reason for the grievance
ventilated by the plaintiff. All that has to been
seen are the circumstances in which the
injunction is sought. Once the Court identifies
the circumstances, if those circumstances arise
out of a marital relationship, Clause (d) of the
Explanation to Section 7 (1) of the Family
Courts Act would ipso facto be attracted.
23. Explanation (d) in Section 7 (1) of the
Family Courts Act does not, either expressly
or by necessary implication, require the
parties to the lis to be husband and wife.
Clearly, in so opining, the learned SCJ has
effectively re-written the statutory provision.
There is nothing in Clause (d) of the
explanation to Section 7 (1) of the Family
Courts Act in which indicates that the clause
would apply only where the litigation is
between husband and wife. For the clause to
apply, all that is required is that (i) there is a
marital relationship, (ii) the martial
relationship has resulted in a certain set of
circumstances and (iii) the order or injunction
which is sought in the suit is sought in those
circumstances.
24. Applying these tests to the case at hand,
if one examines the plaint, and the case set up
by the respondents in the plaint, it is clear that
the circumstances in which injunction has
been sought by them have arisen out of the
marital relationship between the petitioner
and Pardip. Had the petitioner not married
Pardip, she would never had been the
daughter-in-law of the respondents, she would
never had come to stay in the residence of the
respondents, the respondents would never had
given her any permissive licence to reside
therein, and the entire chiaroscuro of events,
which have been emphasised in the plaint by
the plaintiffs, to highlight the alleged ignominy
and persecution to which petitioner allegedly
subjected the respondents, would not be in
existence. The fact that the petitioner married
the respondents’ son was the foundation of the
relationship that emerged between the
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petitioner and the respondents, and it was in
the circumstances which arouse out of that
relationship that the entire dispute between the
respondents and the petitioner, as per the
allegations contained in the plaint, filed by the
respondents, arose.
25. The words “arising out of” have been
held, by the Supreme Court, in several
decisions, to be words of wide amplitude. One
may refer, in this context, to the judgments of
the Supreme Court in Renusagar Power
Company Ltd. v. General Electric Co.,
Dhanrajmal Govindram v. Shamji Kalidas
and Doypack Systems Ltd. v. Union of India.
In State of Orissa v. State of Andhra Pradesh,
the Supreme Court held that the expression
“arising out of” is wider in scope than the
expression “arising under” and would include
maters not only “arising under” but also
matters “connected with” the instrument
under consideration in that case.
26. Applying the understanding of the
expression “arising out of” as contained in the
afore cited decisions of the Supreme Court, it
is clear that the circumstances in which the
allegedly offending acts of the petitioner,
against the respondents, from which the entire
dispute in the suit filed by the respondents
against the petitioner germinated, arose out of
the marital relationship between the petitioner
and the respondent.
27. I deem it necessary to emphasize, in this
context, that Clause (d) of the explanation to
Section 7 (1) of the Family Courts Act does not
envisage a causal relationship, i.e. a
relationship of cause and effect, between the
marital relationship and the circumstances in
which injunction was sought. All that is
required is that the circumstances in which
injunction was sought arose out of the marital
relationship. A holistic reading of the case set
up by the respondents against the plaintiff in
suit 12114/2016 clearly indicates that the
circumstances in which injunction was sought
by the respondents against the petitioner did
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arise out of the marital relationship between
the petitioner and Pardip, the son of the
respondents.
28. That being so, in my view, the case
squarely falls within Clause (d) of the
explanation to Section 7 (1) of the Family
Courts Act.”
(Emphasis supplied)
26. I must, at the outset, note that in Avneet Kaur (supra) the
attention of the learned Single Judge was not drawn to the earlier
judgments of this Court in Manita Khurana (supra) and Meena
Kapoor (supra). The learned Single Judge, therefore, observed that the
petition raised an issue which is to a large extent res integra.
27. A reading of the above judgments would show that there is an
apparent conflict of opinion between Manita Khurana (supra) and
Meena Kapoor (supra) on one hand and Avneet Kaur (supra) on the
other, on the interpretation, ambit and the scope of Explanation (d) of
Section 7(1) of the Family Courts Act. While in Manita Khurana
(supra) and Meena Kapoor (supra), the learned Single Judge(s) of this
Court have held that the claim of a third party to a marriage, even if
she be the mother of one of the spouses, cannot be adjudicated before
the Family Court, and that the Suit seeking eviction based on title to
the Suit property would be maintainable, in Avneet Kaur (supra), the
learned Single Judge has held that such a Suit would not be
maintainable as the foundation of the dispute is the marriage.
28. In Sabina Sahdev & Ors. v. Vidur Sahdev, (order dated
07.03.2018 passed in CRL M.C. No. 878/2018), a learned Single
Judge of this Court, faced with a similar situation of conflicting
opinions of two Benches of Co-equal strength on the issue of interim
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maintenance to a wife under Section 125 of the Code of Criminal
Procedure, 1973, relying on Central Board of Dawoodi Bohra
Community (supra), placed the issue before Hon’ble the Acting Chief
Justice to, in turn, place the same before a Larger Bench for settling
the issue. The same course had been adopted by the Supreme Court in
O.M. Bhargava (Dead) by LRs v. Satyavati Bhargava and Others,
(1994) 4 SCC 662, when confronted with contradictory views taken
by two Benches of co-equal strength.
29. In view of the above, I deem it appropriate to adopt the same
course in the present application. I am further persuaded to adopt this
course by the fact and the submission of the learned counsels for the
parties that there are many suits pending before this Court and before
the learned District Courts which would involve similar question of
jurisdiction and, therefore, it would be in the interest of justice that
this issue is authoritatively decided by a Larger Bench.
30. The following issues are framed for consideration of Hon’ble
the Chief Justice if these are to be referred for determination by a
larger Bench:-
ISSUES
(a) Whether a suit for possession/injunction filed by the in-
laws of the defendant or either of them, claiming themselves or
either of them to be the exclusive owner of the property of
which the possession is sought or with respect to which
injunction is prayed for from or against the defendant/daughter-
in-law, is to be tried exclusively by the Family Court
31. The Registry is directed to place the matter before Hon’ble the
Chief Justice for appropriate directions, at the earliest.
32. List the application for further orders on 25th August, 2023.
NAVIN CHAWLA, J.
JUNE 01, 2023
RN/Anuj/DJ