Shaileshbhai Jashvantbhai Patel vs Devaram Punaji Mevada & Ors.

Headnote AI-drafted · Reviewed and approved

The appellant filed a First Appeal under Section 96 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 challenging the judgment and decree of the City Civil and Sessions Judge, Ahmedabad dated 23.01.2024 in Civil Suit No. 1578 of 2012, whereby the suit filed by the respondent No. 1 for recovery of possession of Tenement No. 9, Chirag Society, Narayanpura, Ahmedabad was decreed and the appellant was directed to hand over peaceful and vacant possession of the first floor of the suit property to the respondent No. 1.

The suit property originally belonged to Jashvantbhai Chandubhai Patel who died intestate on 17.08.1995. After his death, the property was mutated in the name of the respondent No. 2 (the deceased's widow) in the society records. An Agreement to Sell dated 03.08.2010 and a registered Sale Deed dated 27.12.2010 were subsequently executed between respondent Nos. 1 and 2. The appellant, who was a witness to the Agreement to Sell, contended that no explicit or implied consent was obtained from him at the time of execution of the registered Sale Deed, and that pursuant to an oral partition among the legal heirs, the first floor had come to his share.

The appellant had earlier filed Civil Suit No. 439 of 2011 seeking cancellation of the Agreement to Sell and the registered Sale Deed, which was dismissed, and a separate First Appeal No. 731 of 2024 has been filed against that dismissal. The present appeal arises from the connected possession suit, and the matter was taken up for final hearing with the consent of both parties.

Catchwords: First Appeal · recovery of possession · registered sale deed · agreement to sell · intestate succession · oral partition · co-owners · legal heirs · cooperative housing society · mutation · Code of Civil Procedure Section 96