# BADRI NARAIN CHOUDHARY & ORS v. NILRATAN SARKAR

- **Citation:** [1978] 3 S.C.R. 467
- **Court:** Supreme Court of India
- **Decided:** 1978-03-10
- **Bench:** R. S. Sarkaria, P. S. Kailasam
- **Source:** https://unisonlegal.in/judgment/supreme-court-of-india/badri-narain-choudhary-ors-v-nilratan-sarkar-7349
- **Pages:** 6

## Headnote

Partition Act, 1893 Ss. 2 and 3, scope of-Interpretation of J~e pleadingsEquity jurisdiction of the Courts-Powers of Court dehors provisions of Act.
Jn a suit for partition of the suit property, which was very small in dimension measuring .013 acres only filed by the plaintiffs-appellants, the trial Court
A
B
by its judgment dated 14-8-1961, decreed the suit and in doillg so took recourse
to the provisions of S. 3(2) of the Partition Act, 1893 as it could not be c_onveniently partitioned. _ The trial judge fixed the valuaition of the suit pre~1.ses
C
at Rs. 11,250/- and directed "that the suit premises being- incapable of partition
shall be put to sale between the plaintiffs and the defenda.nt, and the Same
shall be sold to that party who offers to pay the highest price above the valuation of Rs. 11,250/-". Since the highest bid iin the last auction held by the
Court in JL1ne 1965, \Vas Rs. 50,000/- and by the plaintiffs the dcfehdant \Vas
given an option to purchase the property at that price and depoSit the sa-le
money by July 1965. On his failure, the Court accepted the highest bid of the
plcliintiffs.
Accepting the defendant-respondent's appeal, the High Court, held,
D
"by making the averments in paragraphs 8 and lO(c) of this plaint, the plaintiffs
have clearly made out a case to be dealt with u/s. 2 of the Act", and therefore,
equity had to be worked out between the parties by allowing the defendant who
woo residing in the 1st floor and havi•.lg a shop in the ground floor to purchase
the share of 'the plaintiffs under the· provisions of S. 3(1) r/w S. 2 of the /~ .. ct.
Taking Rs. 11,250/- as the price of the whole property in suit which \Vas the
valuation fixed by the trial Court, the High Court worked out the value of the
plaintiffs' share as Rs. 9,000/-, and that of the defe'Ildant as Rs. 2,250/- and
further directed that the defendant be allowed to purchase the pla.liitiffs' shire
E
in the suit property.
Allowi'.lg the appeal by special leave and remitting the case to the
trial
Court, the court
HELD : 1. Under s. 3 r /w S. 2 of the Partition Act, the Court can exercise
the power u/s 3; y(i) there is. a request of any of the shareholders interested
individually or collectively to the extent of one moiety or upwards, for sale of
the property and its distribution and (ii) it reaches an opinion that by reason
p
of the naiure of the property or the number of shareholders or some special
circun1stances, a division of the property cannot reasonably or conveniently be
n1ade and that a sale of the property and distribution. of the proceeds would be
more beneficial for all the shareholders. From the \VOrd "1nay" it is clear that
even when both the canditions are satisfied, the Court has discretion to direct
·or not to direct a .sale of the property and distribution of the proceeds.
The
reque~t contemplated is a sine qua non for directing a sale because such a
request necessarily signified his willingness to have his share convertetl
into
money so that the co-shairers may, by means of the procedure provided in s. 3,
G
buy them out.. rfhe request for sale envisaged by s. 2 must be one for public
sale. If no such· request has been made to the Court s. 3 cannot be brought
'into operation.
In the instant case, it is clear from pleadings, that neither in substance nor
in form a'ily request within the purview of s. 2 had been made by any of the
parties (co-sharers). That condition precedent for invoking s. 3(1) was lxking.
The provisions o'f Ss. 2 and 3 of the Partition Act are therefore not applicable
H
to the peculiar circumstances of the case. [470 F-H, 471 A-B, F-G]
2. In cases, not covered by Sections 2 and 3 of the Partition Act, the po\ver
of the Court to _partition property by any equitable method is not affected by
A
B
c
D
E
F
G
H
468
SUPREME COURT REPORTS
(1978] 3 S.C.R.
the said Act.
In a situation where it is found 2.s a fact, that the suit property
is so small that it cannot be conveniently and reasonably partitioned by

## Text

•.
)
\
-
•
'
467
BADRI NARAIN CHOUDHARY & ORS.
v.
N!LRATAN SARKAR
March 10, 1978
[R. S. SARKARIA AND P. S. KAILASAM, JJ.J
Partition Act, 1893 Ss. 2 and 3, scope of-Interpretation of J~e pleadingsEquity jurisdiction of the Courts-Powers of Court dehors provisions of Act.
Jn a suit for partition of the suit property, which was very small in dimension measuring .013 acres only filed by the plaintiffs-appellants, the trial Court
A
B
by its judgment dated 14-8-1961, decreed the suit and in doillg so took recourse
to the provisions of S. 3(2) of the Partition Act, 1893 as it could not be c_onveniently partitioned. _ The trial judge fixed the valuaition of the suit pre~1.ses
C
at Rs. 11,250/- and directed "that the suit premises being- incapable of partition
shall be put to sale between the plaintiffs and the defenda.nt, and the Same
shall be sold to that party who offers to pay the highest price above the valuation of Rs. 11,250/-". Since the highest bid iin the last auction held by the
Court in JL1ne 1965, \Vas Rs. 50,000/- and by the plaintiffs the dcfehdant \Vas
given an option to purchase the property at that price and depoSit the sa-le
money by July 1965. On his failure, the Court accepted the highest bid of the
plcliintiffs.
Accepting the defendant-respondent's appeal, the High Court, held,
D
"by making the averments in paragraphs 8 and lO(c) of this plaint, the plaintiffs
have clearly made out a case to be dealt with u/s. 2 of the Act", and therefore,
equity had to be worked out between the parties by allowing the defendant who
woo residing in the 1st floor and havi•.lg a shop in the ground floor to purchase
the share of 'the plaintiffs under the· provisions of S. 3(1) r/w S. 2 of the /~ .. ct.
Taking Rs. 11,250/- as the price of the whole property in suit which \Vas the
valuation fixed by the trial Court, the High Court worked out the value of the
plaintiffs' share as Rs. 9,000/-, and that of the defe'Ildant as Rs. 2,250/- and
further directed that the defendant be allowed to purchase the pla.liitiffs' shire
E
in the suit property.
Allowi'.lg the appeal by special leave and remitting the case to the
trial
Court, the court
HELD : 1. Under s. 3 r /w S. 2 of the Partition Act, the Court can exercise
the power u/s 3; y(i) there is. a request of any of the shareholders interested
individually or collectively to the extent of one moiety or upwards, for sale of
the property and its distribution and (ii) it reaches an opinion that by reason
p
of the naiure of the property or the number of shareholders or some special
circun1stances, a division of the property cannot reasonably or conveniently be
n1ade and that a sale of the property and distribution. of the proceeds would be
more beneficial for all the shareholders. From the \VOrd "1nay" it is clear that
even when both the canditions are satisfied, the Court has discretion to direct
·or not to direct a .sale of the property and distribution of the proceeds.
The
reque~t contemplated is a sine qua non for directing a sale because such a
request necessarily signified his willingness to have his share convertetl
into
money so that the co-shairers may, by means of the procedure provided in s. 3,
G
buy them out.. rfhe request for sale envisaged by s. 2 must be one for public
sale. If no such· request has been made to the Court s. 3 cannot be brought
'into operation.
In the instant case, it is clear from pleadings, that neither in substance nor
in form a'ily request within the purview of s. 2 had been made by any of the
parties (co-sharers). That condition precedent for invoking s. 3(1) was lxking.
The provisions o'f Ss. 2 and 3 of the Partition Act are therefore not applicable
H
to the peculiar circumstances of the case. [470 F-H, 471 A-B, F-G]
2. In cases, not covered by Sections 2 and 3 of the Partition Act, the po\ver
of the Court to _partition property by any equitable method is not affected by
A
B
c
D
E
F
G
H
468
SUPREME COURT REPORTS
(1978] 3 S.C.R.
the said Act.
In a situation where it is found 2.s a fact, that the suit property
is so small that it cannot be conveniently and reasonably partitioned by n1ete~
and bounds without destroying its intrinsic worth, the Court can <levies such
other feasible method for affecting partitio'Il as may appec.r to it to be just and
equitable, in the circumstances of the case.
In ·the instant case the suit pre·
party, being incapable of division in specie, there is no alternative but to resort
to the precess called Owelty, according to which the rights and interests ot the
parties in t.."'ie property will be separated, only by a!lowing one of them to retain
the whole of the suit property on payment of such compensation to the other
as may be a just equivalent of his share. [471 G-H. 472 A-BJ
Rarna Prasada Rao v. Subramanian, A.LR. 1958 A.P. 647 approved.
[The Court observi;.1g, that a more equit2.blc method would be to take the
value of the property as Rs. 50,000/- which was the highest bid in 1963 and
to allow a reasonable increase for the rise in price, since 1963 upto this date,
directed
the 1·rial Court
to dispose of
the case
in conformity with
its Observations after hear:•ng the parties and after taking such further evidence
26 may be required preferably within three months from the date of its order.}
CIVIL APPELLATh JURISDICTION : Civil Appeal No. 2388 of 1968.
(Appeal
by Special Leave from
the Judgment and
Decree
dt. 20-3-1967 of the Patna High Court in First Appeal No. 488 of
1961)
.
Lal Narain Sinha, F. C. Nariman, S. C. Aggarwala &. Aruneshwar
Gupta For the Appellants
A. B. N. Sinha, S. N. Prasad for the Respondent
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by
SARKARIA, J.-This appeal by special leave, is directed against a
judgment, dated March 20, 1967, of the High Court of Judicature at
Patna. lt arises from these circumstances :
The defendant respondent purchased'3/16 share for Rs. 2,250/-
in the suit premises by a sale deed, dated March 25, 1957. Before
this sale, the respondent was already in occupation of the premises as
a tenant paying a monthly rent of Rs. 53/-, inclusive of water-tax, to
the then proprietor.
The plaintiffs-appellants, who, at the material time, were members
of a joint Hindu family governed by Mitakshara Law, purchased the
remaining 13/16 share in the suit premises for Rs. 9,000/- by a sale
deed, dated April 27, 1957. They already owned and possessed a
parcail of land adjacent to the snit premises and they intended to open
a market there after amalgamating the same with their share in the suit
premises. They asked tl)e respondent to partition and separate their
share.
The respondent did not agree.
Therefore, on August 8, 1959,
on the preceding facts, the appellants, instituted the suit (No. 64 of
1959) for partition of the suit property, in the Court of the Subordinate Judge, First Court, Patna.
In the plaint, it was inter alia alleged that since the suit property
was of very small dimensions, measuring .013 acre only, and its partition by metes and bounds was not feasible. The plaint also contained
-
•
'
•
)
•
:i
"
!
CHAUDHARY v. SARKAR (Sarkaria, J.)
469
a proposal from the plaintiffs to purchase the defendant's share in the
suit premises at a price which may be held reasonable and prop_er by
the Court.
The defendant resisted the suit.
He pleaded that
he
was
a
permanent tenant in the suit premises and not a tenm:t from month
to month; that the plaintiffs had purchased only the nght to receive
their proportionate share of the monthly rent,
to
the
extent
of
Rs. 39/-, but they were not entitled to claim partition.
An
alternative proposal was made that the defendant was willing to buy the
share 2nd rights of the plaintiffs on a valnation that may be fixed
by the Court.
The Subordinate Judge by his judgment dated August 14, 1961,
decreed the suit and in doing so, held that the de!emlant was not a
permanent tenant but a tenant from month to month only, t11at the
dimensions and the area of the suit premises being very
small,
it
could not be conveniently partitioned and therefore, it was necessary
to have recourse to Section 3(2) of the Partition Act, 1893. He fixed
· the valuation of the suit premises at Rs.11,250/- and directed "tbat
the suit premises being incapable of partition shall be put to sale
between the plaintiffs and the defendant, and the
same
shall be
sold to that party who offers to pay the highest price
above
the
valuation tnade by me".
According, the suit property was repeatedly auctioned
between
the parties.
The first was heid in September 1963, the highest bid
was offered by the plaintiffs. The last auction was held in June 1 %5,
the highest bid being Rs. 50,0001offered by the plaintiffs. The
defendant was
given the option to purchase the property at tliat
price and deposit the sale money by July 19, 1965.
The defendant failed to do so.
The Court thereupon ordered that "the next
highest bid of the plaintiffs to the extent of Rs. 50,000/- is accepted".
Against the decree of the Trial Court, the defendant
preferred
an appeal :o the High Court.
The Division Bench who heard t11is
appeal held that by making the averments in paragraphs 8 and lO(c)
of the pfaint, "the plaintiffs have clearly made out a
case to be
dealt with under Section 2 of the Act," and therefore, equity had to
be worked out between the parties by allowing the defendant to purchase the share of the plaintiffs under the provisions of
Section
3(1), read with Section 2 of the Act.
Taking Rs. 11,250 as
the
price of the whole property in suit which was the valuation lixed by
the Trial Court-the High Court worked out the value of the plaintiffs' share as Rs. 9,000/-, and that of the.
defendant's
share
as
Rs. 2,2501- and further directed that the defendant be allowed to
purchase the plaintiffs' share in the suit property, for Rs. 9,000/-.
Ac<;ordingly, it accepted the defendant's. appeal and dismis-sed
the
c~oss-objections of the plaintiffs.
Hence, this
appeal by the plaintlffs.
Mr. Lal Narain Sinha, learned counsel for the appellants, contends that the High Court was in error in holding that the plaintiffsappellants had made any request such as in contemplated, by Section
A
B
c
D
E
F
G
H
A
c
D
E
F
G
H
470
SUPREME COURT REPORTS
[1978] 3 S.C.R.
2 of the Partition Act, 1893, and therefore, it was necesary to have
recourse to Section 3 of the Act.
It is snbmitted that Sections 2
and 3 of the Act did not apply to the casei which had, in consequence,
to be dealt with de-hors the Act in accordance with equitable principles. The High Court-proceeds the argument - has allowed to defendant-respondant to purchase the share of the plaintiffs in the
suit
property for Rs. 9,000/- only; while the current market value of his
share would be more than 10 or 12 times of that figure, which was
highly unjust and unfair to the appellants.
As against this, it is urged on behalf of the respondent, that once
it is held that the Act does not apply, the Court has no power to sell
the property. It is pointed out that the High Court had given the
respondent the first option to purchase the plaintiffs share in
the
property at the value of Rs. 9,000/- because the equity was entirely
on the side of the respondent, that the plaintiffs were residing away
from the property, they owned 5 or 6 houses in Patna, while the respondent and his widowed sister were residing in the first floor 01' the
suit property and the respondent was running a shop in the ground
floor. It is further submitted that the value of the plaintiffs' 13/16
share fixed by the !High Court was the price at which they had purchased itin 1957, and the suit for partition was filed in 1959, that in
these circumstances the High Court was righf in not taking into
account any increase in its value subsequent to its purchase in 1957.
It is maintained that it would work hardship on the respondent who
was a poor man, to fix thtj value of the plaintiffs' 'hare by auction 1ietween the parties.
Before dealing with these rival contentions, it is necessary to ascertain whether the High Court was right in holding that the plaint
contained a request such as is referred to in Section 2 of the Act, ana
therefore, the Court had but to accept ''the prayer made by the defendant to buy the share and rights of the plaintiffs exactly in terms
of Section 3 of the Act".
Sections 2 and 3 of the Act are inter-linked. A perusal of Sections 2 and 3 will show that the Court .can exercise the power under
Section 3, if -
(i) there ls a request of any of such shareholders interested individually or collectively to the extent of
one moiety or upwards, for sale of the
property
and its distribution, and
(ii) it reaches an opinion that by reason of the nature
of the property or the number of shareholders or
rnme special circumstances, a division of the property cannot reasonably or conveniently "'e made,
and that a sale of the property and distribution of
the proceeds would be more beneficial for all the
shareholders.
Even when both these conditions are satisfied, the
Court
has
a
discretion to direct or not to direct sale of the property and distri-
•
•
)
CHAUDHARY v. SARKAR (Sarkaria, !.)
471
bution of the proceeds. This is clear from the word "may" used in
this Section.
It will be seen from the above analysis that the request contemplated in No. (1) is a sine qua non for directing a sale because
such a request necessarily signifies his willingness to have his share
converted into money, so that the co-sharers may, by means of t_\'.e_
procedure provided in Section 3, buy them out. The request for sate
envisaged by Section 2 must b~ one for public sale. If no such
request has been made to the Court, Section 3 cannot be brought into
operation.
Now let us see whether the plaint contained any prayer whichas the High Court has held-substantially amounted to a request for
such sale under Section 2. The material part of the plaint reads as
follows :
"8. That the premises in suit is very small in dimension measuring .013 acre only, and if it is considered by
the 'court that the separation of the defendant's share in
the said premises is not feasible, the pliiintiffs beg to offer
a price held to be reasonable and proper to the defendant
for his share in the said premises."
Again, in Para lO(c) it is prayed: "That in the alternative when
division of premises in suit is considered not feasible, rnlc of the
defendant's share or of the premises be directed and the same be
sold to the plaintiffs for reasonable and proper price."
By no stretch of language, the above extracts from the plaint,
could be construed to contain a request under Section 2 that the suit
property be publicly sold and its sale proceeds distributed pro rata
between the parties.
·
Nor could, by any reckoning, the alternative proposal contained
in the defendant's written statement, to 1he effect, that he was prepared to buy out the plaintiffs' share at a valuation that may be fixed
by the Court amount to a request under Section 2.
In short, neither in substance nor in form any request within the
purview of Section 2 had been made by any of the· parties
(cosharers).
That condition precedent for invoking Section 3 (1) was
lacking.
Thus considered, it is clear that the provisions of Sections 2 and 3
of the Partition Act are not applicable to the peculiar circumsta1\ces
of the case.
At the same time, there is a concurrent finding of fact
~ecorded by the courts below that the suit property is so small, that
1t cannot be conveniently and reasonably partitioned by metes and
· bounds, without destroying its intrinsic worth.
This finding is unassailable. In o~r opinion in such a situation, the Conrt can devise
such ~!her feasible. mode. for effe.cfmg partition .as may appear to it
to he 1ust and eqmtable m ~he circumstances of the case.
The suit property, being incapable of division in specie, there is
no alternattve but to resort to the process called Owelty, according
A
B
c
D
E
F
G
H
A
B
c
D
E
F
G
H
472
SUPREME COURT REPORTS
[1978] 3 S.C.R.
to which the rights and interests of the parties in the property will be
separated, only by allowing one of them to retain the whole of the
suit property on payment of just compensation to the other.
As
rightly pointed out by K. Subba Rao, C. J. (speaking for a Division
Bench of Andhra High Court in A.LR. 1958 Andhra Pradesh 647),
in cases not covered by Sections 2 and 3 of the Partition Act, the·
power of the Court to partition property by any equitable method
is not affected by the said Act.
Now in the present case, the defendant is the smaller co-sharer
and he is using the property as a shop-cum-residence.
Equity requires that he should be given a rreferential right to retain the whole
of the suit property on payment o compensation being the just equivalent of the value of the plaintiffs' share to them.
The valuation of
Rs. 9,000/- fixed by the High Court, was certainly not a fair compensation for the plaintiffs' 13/16 share. This was the price at which
the plaintiffs had purchased their share on April 27, 1957.
But in
1958, more than one year before this suit, which was instituted on
August, 1959, a pfan or scheme for converting this locality into a·
market had been approved by the authorities.
This must have led
to an immediate spurt in the value of the land in the locality. In
this connection it is pertinent to note that when in 1963 this property was, in execution of the decree of the trial court, put to auction, the highest bid fetched by it was Rs. 50,000/-. It was therefore, highly unfair to the plaintiffs to fix the value of their share at
Rs. 9,000/-, even on March 20, 1967 when the High Court's judgement was pronounced.
Although the value of the property coiild
be fixed by auction between the two parties, we feel that this method'
would be unsatisfactory in this case as the plaintiffs who own the
major share and have unlimited resources, would outbid the defendant. In the circumstances, we think that the more equitable method
would be to take the value of tbe property as Rs. 50,0001- in 1963
and allow a reasonable increase for the rise il'.I price since 1963 to this
date, taking into account the rise in price in the locality and give tbe
defendant the first option to retain the whole property on payment of
13116 share of that valuation (including the increase) to the plainfiffs
within a peri~d of three months or such further period that may be .
granted 'ily the Court of first instance, failing which the plaintiffs will
be entitled to be allotted and put in possession of the whole of the suit
property. on payment to the defendant of 3I16 share of the value ·
of the property determined by the Subordinate Judge, Patna, in the
manner aforesaid.
For the floregoing reasons, we allow this appeal and send
the
case back to the Subordinate Judge, Patna, with the direction that he
should take such further evidence with regard to the increase in the
value of similar properties in the locality since i 963. as· the nar!le:'
mav wish to produce, and then and after hearing the parties, dispose
of the case in conformity with the observations made in this Judg·
mc1nt. There shall be no order as to costs in this Court.
S.R.
Appeal allowed.
I
•
•
'
•