M/S. Pretoria Properties Llp vs Nagendra Kumar Rathi And Ors
2021 Latest Caselaw 110 Cal/2

OD - 1

                                 APO/14/2021
                                     With
                                 CS/120/2020

                               IA No.GA/1/2021

                      IN THE HIGH COURT AT CALCUTTA
                          Civil Appellate Jurisdiction


                      M/S. PRETORIA PROPERTIES LLP
                                 Versus
                     NAGENDRA KUMAR RATHI AND ORS.


  BEFORE:
  The Hon'ble JUSTICE I. P. MUKERJI
            AND
  The Hon'ble JUSTICE SUBHASIS DASGUPTA

  Date : 4th February, 2021.

  (Via Video Conference)


                                                                      Appearance:
                                                     Mr. Ahin Chowdhury, Sr. Adv.
                                                              Mr. D. Mandal, Adv.
                                                             Mr. A. Banerjee, Adv.
                                                               Mr. B. Kumar, Adv.
                                                               Mr. S. Ghosh, Adv.
                                                                 Mr. D. Sen, Adv.

                                                         Mr. Jayanta Mitra, Sr Adv.
                                                         Mr. Aniruddha Mitra, Adv.
                                                             Ms. Atasi Sarkar, Adv.




           The Court : This is an appeal from an ad interim order dated 9th

  December, 2020 made by a learned single judge of this court in an

  interlocutory application (IA No.GA/2/2020) connected with the above suit.

           By the said order, the first to third respondents/plaintiffs were,

prima facie, held to be in actual possession of premises no.6A, Pretoria Street,

Kolkata. The appellant and the fourth and fifth respondents were restrained

by an order of injunction from interfering with the possession of the said

respondents/plaintiffs.

The third defendant, Pretoria Properties LLP, appeals from that order.

From the impugned order, we find that directions were made for

filing affidavits. We are told that the appellant has not till date filed any

affidavit-in-opposition.

After hearing learned counsel for the parties, we are of the view that

there is nothing wrong in principle with the impugned judgment and order

except that the prima facie finding that the first to third respondents were in

actual physical possession of the entire 6A, Pretoria Street, Kolkata, could not

have been arrived at even on a prima facie assessment of the case.

In those circumstances, we appoint Mr. Udayan Chakraborty,

Advocate, Bar Library Club and Mr. Joydeep Ray, Advocate, Bar Association

(Room No.2) as Joint Special Officers at an initial remuneration of 1500 Gms

each to be shard equally by Mr. Chowdhury's and Mr. Mitra's clients to visit

the said premises and ascertain which part of the premises is in possession of

which party and to file a report before the learned single judge by 11th

February, 2021. On the basis of the petition, the affidavits to be exchanged,

and the report and any exception thereto, the learned single judge is requested

to ascertain the prima facie case of the parties with regard to possession and

to pass appropriate orders. All the parties to the suit will maintain the status

quo as of now and the status quo on the basis of the report with regard to

possession for a period of three weeks from date or until further order to be

passed by the learned single judge in the interim application, whichever is

earlier. Copies of the report are to be circulated by the Joint Special Officers to

the parties, expeditiously.

The appellant and the fourth and fifth respondents shall file their

affidavit-in-opposition before the trial court by 9th February, 2021. Affidavit-

in-reply, if any, may be filed by 12th February, 2021.

List the interim application before the learned single judge on 15th

February, 2021, subject to the convenience of the bench.

The appeal (APO/14/2021) and the connected application (IA

No.GA/1/2021) are heard dispensing with all formalities and disposed of by

this order.

Since we are disposing of the appeal, this limited interim order is

subject to extension, if any, by the learned single judge.

(I. P. MUKERJI, J.)

(SUBHASIS DASGUPTA, J.)

bp.