Gurpreet Kaur And Another vs Kulwant Singh Alias Beant Singh And Others

Headnote AI-drafted · Reviewed and approved

The appellants (plaintiffs) filed a civil suit in 2015 seeking a decree of declaration and permanent injunction in respect of ancestral property belonging to the estate of Shri Tej Partap Singh, who had two wives — Smt. Darshan Kaur and Smt. Sudarshan Kaur — and died on 26.03.1971. The plaintiffs, being legal heirs of the deceased daughter Ravinder Kaur, claimed shares in the estate of Tej Partap Singh and his two wives, alleging that the contesting defendants had procured a false, forged and fabricated unregistered Will, purportedly registered after the death of Tej Partap Singh, to deprive the plaintiffs of their rightful share in the suit property.

The plaint was rejected by the Civil Judge (Senior Division), Kurukshetra vide order dated 02.08.2017 on an application under Order VII Rule 11 of the Code of Civil Procedure filed by the contesting defendants. The Civil Appeal preferred by the plaintiffs was dismissed by the Additional District Judge, Kurukshetra vide order dated 30.05.2024. The present Regular Second Appeal before the Punjab and Haryana High Court challenges both the orders passed by the courts below.

The High Court was called upon to examine the correctness of the rejection of the plaint at the threshold stage under Order VII Rule 11 CPC, having regard to the pleadings in the plaint, the nature of the reliefs sought, and the question of limitation and cause of action as arising from the disputed transfers of ancestral property across multiple villages in Kurukshetra and Karnal districts.

Catchwords: rejection of plaint · Order VII Rule 11 CPC · declaration · permanent injunction · ancestral property · inheritance · succession · Hindu law · bigamy · Will — forged and fabricated · limitation · cause of action · Regular Second Appeal · Punjab and Haryana High Court