Civil Suit No. 387 of 2021 · The High Court
Case Details
IN THE HIGH COURT OF ORISSA AT CUTTACK TRP(C) No. 72 of 2022 An application under Section 24 read with Section 23 ( 3) of the C.P.C for transfer of Civil Suit No. 387 of 2021 from the Court of learned Civil Judge (Senior Division), Angul, to the court of Civil Judge under the jurisdiction of District Court, Jabalpur (Madhya Pradesh) . Smt. Amita Pattanayak ….. Petitioner -versus- 1. Principal, C.D.A. (Pension), Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh 2. The Records Signals 3. State Bank of India 4. Assistant General Manager, State Bank of India, Jabalpur 5. Chief Manager, State Bank of India, Gobindpura, Bhopal 6. Chief Manager, State Bank of India, Angul 7. Chief Manager, State Bank of India (CPPC), Bhubaneswar 8. Amita Pattanayak …. Opp. Parties Advocates who appeared in this case through Hybrid Mode : For Petitioner Advocate : Mr. P.C. Chhinchani, For Opp. Parties : Mr. Akhaya Kumar Mishra Advocate (For Opp. Parties No.3,6 & 7) :Mr. Sourav Suman Bhuyan Advocate on behalf of Mr Bibekananda Bhuyan (For Opp. Party No.8) CORAM: JUSTICE SAVITRI RATHO ……………………………………………………………………….. Date of Judgment : 21.07.2022 ..………………………………………………………………………. TRP(C) No. 72 of 2022 Page 1 of 17 Savitri Ratho, J. The question which is necessary to be decided in this application is whether a High Court has the power and / or jurisdiction to transfer a suit pending in a Court subordinate to it to another Court subordinate to another High Court.? 2. This application has been filed by the petitioner-wife under Section 24 read with Section 23 (3) of the Code of Civil Procedure (in short “C.P.C.”) for transfer of Civil Suit No. 387 of 2021 from the Court of learned Civil Judge (Senior Division), Angul, to the Court of Civil Judge under the jurisdiction of District Court, Jabalpur (M.P). 3. Notice had been issued to the opposite parties vide order dated 03.03.2022 by a co-ordinate Bench of this Court and further proceeding in the Civil Suit had been stayed. Pursuant to receipt of the
Legal Reasoning
notice, Opposite Parties No. 3, 6 & 7 have appeared through Mr. Akhaya Kumar Mishra, learned counsel and his associates and the Opposite Party No.8 has entered appearance through Mr. Bibekananda Bhuyan, learned counsel and his associates. Neither AD nor undelivered notice sent to Opposite parties No. 1,2,4 and 5 has been received but the postal tracking reports confirm delivery of notice on Opposite Parties No. 1 , 4 and 5. On 21.06.2022, Mr P.K.Parhi, learned ASG had appeared on behalf of Opp. Parties No. 1 and 2. No counsel has appeared on behalf of Opposite Parties No. 4 and 5 who Page 2 of 17 TRP(C) No. 72 of 2022 are officers of the State Bank of India ( in short “SBI”) but Mr A.K Mishra is representing the SBI and its Chief Manager, Angul and Chief Manager CPPC , Bhubaneswar, Opposite Parties No.3, 6 and 7 respectively. 4. The case is taken up today for final disposal on the consent of the counsels. 5. Mr. P.C. Chhinchani, learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the Petitioner’s husband late Subedar Rajendra Prasad Pattanayak retired from Army in the year 2010 at Jabalpur in (Madhya Pradesh) and had settled down at Jabalpur with the petitioner along with their son, Arvind Pattanayak. He died on 15.04.2021 due to Covid-19 at Military Hospital, Jabalpur and soon after the death of husband of the Petitioner, Opposite Party No.8 claiming to be the wife of her husband, filed Civil Suit No. 387 of 2021 in the Court of the learned Civil Judge (Senior Division), Angul seeking several reliefs. Perusal of the plaint in the said suit which has been annexed as Annexure-2 to this transfer application would reveal that the cause of action and the entire alleged transactions have taken place at Jabalpur (M.P.), but the Opposite Party No.8 has mischievously filed the suit at Angul with a motive to harass the Petitioner, for which the Petitioner had approached the High Court of Madhya Pradesh by filing MCC No. Page 3 of 17 TRP(C) No. 72 of 2022 1958 of 2021 seeking transfer of the Civil Suit to Jabalpur and vide order dated 05.01.2022, the High Court of M.P. has dismissed the said application granting liberty to the Petitioner to approach the appropriate Court with an observation that since the Petitioner wants to get the suit transferred which has been filed in Odisha, the application as per Section 23 Sub Section 3 of CPC ought to have been filed at High Court of Orissa and the certified copy of the order dated 05.01.2022 has been annexed as Annexure-3 to this transfer application. Having no other alternative, this application has been filed by the Petitioner for transfer of the Civil Suit to the appropriate Court under the jurisdiction of District Court, Jabalpur as per Section 23(3) of CPC. 6. Mr. Bhuyan, learned counsel for Opposite Party no.8 relying on the decision of the Supreme Court in the case of Durgesh Sharma