Recently, the single judge bench of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court held that finding of fact is something which is not to be conjectured by civil court or for that matter civil 1st appellate court. Evidence Act is meant for the adjudication of civil suits and also for criminal trials alike.
Brief facts:
The factual matrix of the case is that the civil suit was filed by the appellants seeking a decree for a permanent prohibitory injunction for restraining the defendants No. 1 to 7 (respondents No. 1 to 7 herein) from causing any interference in the possession of the appellants/plaintiffs with respect to the suit land. However, no document was put on record as evidence on the suit filed for the trial court to refer itself to a document properly introduced and exhibited as an evidence for the purpose of drawing an inference with respect to the revenue record basis for claim and denial of possession of the suit property between the appellants/plaintiffs on one hand and the respondents/defendants on the other hand. Still then the trial court decreed the suit in favour of the Plaintiff and against the Defendant. Thereafter, the first appeal was filed and the same came to be allowed by reversing the judgment of the trial court and dismissing the suit of the appellants/plaintiffs. Aggrieved by this, the present second appeal is preferred.
Issue before the court:
Whether without any evidence on record of the civil suit, could the trial court as well as the 1st appellate court come up with any finding of fact in relation to the claim of possession qua the suit property inter se the plaintiffs and the defendants?
Observations of the court:
The Hon’ble Court observed that from both the ends i.e., of the plaintiffs’ end as well as of the defendants’ end, no revenue side witnesses came to be examined to prove the revenue record position and still the trial court as well as the 1st appellate court came up with opposite findings of fact, one in favour of the plaintiffs in the suit and one in favour of the defendants in the civil 1st appeal.
It was furthermore observed that finding of fact is something which is not to be conjectured by civil court or for that matter civil 1st appellate court. Evidence Act is meant for the adjudication of civil suits and also for criminal trials alike.
The court noted that it seems that the trial court as well as the civil 1st appellate court acted as if sitting as panchayats and disposing of the matters at their respective ends as per their respective discretion which is antithesis to the law of adjudication of a civil suit which is supposed to take place in accordance with the Code of Civil Procedure and the Evidence Act.
Based on these considerations, the court set aside the judgment passed by the trial court and the 1st appellate court and remanded the case back to the trial court.
The decision of the court:
With the above direction, the court allowed the second appeal.
Case Title: Mohammad Tufail V. Muzaffar Hussain
Coram: Hon’ble Mr. Justice Rahul Bharti
Case No.: RSA No. 6/2021 CM Nos. 3711/2021, 3165/2021 & 3166/2021.
Advocate for the Appellant: Mrs. S. Kour, Sr. Advocate with Ms. Manpreet Kour, Advocate.
Advocates for the Respondent: Mr Raghav Sawhney, Advocate vice Mr. Sachin Gupta, Advocate.
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