Punjab

StateCommission

RP/6/2015

Iqbal Singh - Complainant(s)

Versus

Gurjit Singh - Opp.Party(s)

K.P.Singh

05 Feb 2015

ORDER

STATE CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL COMMISSION,  PUNJAB  DAKSHIN MARG, SECTOR 37-A, CHANDIGARH.

 

Misc. Application No.213 of 2015

                    In/and

Revision Petition No.06 of 2015                                               

Date of institution  :    23.01.2015

Date of decision     :    05.02.2015

 

Iqbal Singh, President-cum-General Secretary, Sardar Bhai Jawala Singh Harbhajan Singh Halwai Charitable Trust, having its Registered Office at 311, Krishna Nagar, Lawrence Road, Amritsar.

…….Petitioner/Applicant

Versus

Gurjit Singh, represented himself as Secretary of Sardar Bhai Jawala Singh Harbhajan Singh Halwai Charitable Trust, R/o 343, Shastri Nagar, Amritsar and functioning at Bazar Sattowala, Nimak Mandi, Amritsar.

                                                          …Respondent/Complainant

 

Revision Petition against the order dated 21.10.2014 of the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum, Amritsar.

Quorum:- 

 

          Hon’ble Mr. Justice Gurdev Singh, President.

                        Shri Baldev Singh Sekhon, Member.

                        Mrs. Surinder Pal Kaur, Member.

 

Present:-

 

          For the petitioner    :  Shri Kanwar Pahul Singh, Advocate.

 

 

JUSTICE GURDEV SINGH,  PRESIDENT :

 

M.A. No.213 of 2015:-

 

                   Heard.

2.                The revision petition has been filed after the expiry of the period of limitation and is accompanied by this application for condoning that delay. There is only four days’ delay in filing the same and the reason for the delay is disclosed in the application, which is supported by affidavit of the petitioner. The cause, so disclosed, is sufficient and accordingly, the delay in filing the revision petition is condoned.

 

Main Case:-

 

3.                The petitioner has preferred the present revision against the order dated 21.10.2014 passed by the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum, Amritsar (in short, “District Forum”), vide which the application filed by him for impleading him, as a party in the complaint filed by Sardar Bhai Jawala Singh Harbhajan Singh Halwai Charitable Trust (in short, “the Trust”) against Punjab National Bank, was dismissed, on the ground that complainant cannot be forced to join adversaries against him, against whom no relief has been claimed.

4.                The facts, to be taken notice of for the decision of the present revision, are that the complaint has been filed by the Trust, through its Secretary Gurjit Singh, in which Balwant Singh and others were described as the trustees. The land of the Trust was given on lease to the opposite party-Bank. Satwant Singh, who was also one of the trustees, was removed from the primary membership, as he had become insolvent and had run away to Mumbai. That fact was conveyed to the opposite party; with whom the Trust was having an account. That account was freezed by the opposite party and the Secretary of the Trust was not allowed to operate the same. The complaint was filed, on the ground that the said act of the opposite party amounted to deficiency in service. The complaint was contested by the opposite party, by filing written reply, in which a number of grounds were taken. It mainly pleaded that it was to safeguard the interest of the Trust itself that the account was freezed. The petitioner, Iqbal Singh, moved the said application before the District Forum pleading therein that he is the President-cum-Secretary of the Trust and it was he, who had stopped the debit operation of the account in question. Said Secretary Gurjit Singh has connived with miscreants and has approached the District Forum to start the operation of the account, to which he is not entitled and, as such, he has become a necessary party. The District Forum dismissed the application after taking into consideration the following two judgments:-

 

i)        Taneja Developers and Infrastructure Ltd. & Ors. Vs.          Devinder Singh & Another (2014) 3 CPJ 215 (NC).

 

ii)       Subash Sharma Vs. Pramila Kumari Mishra (2009) (4) CPJ           262.

 

5. We have heard the learned counsel for the petitioner and have carefully gone through the records.
6. It has been submitted by the learned counsel for the petitioner that the petitioner is necessary party to the complaint filed by the Trust, through Gurjit Singh, Secretary and, as such, he was required to be impleaded as party. The judgment rendered in Devinder Singh’s case (supra), in fact, supports the case of the petitioner. He also referred to the judgment dated 29.05.2013 passed by the Hon’ble National Commission in Revision Petition No.72 of 2012 (M/s Tejas Associates Vs. Keshav Nidhi Co-operative Housing Society Ltd. & Others). He prayed that the revision be admitted to be heard on merits.
7. We do not find any merit in the revision, so as to admit the same to be heard on merits. In Devinder Singh’s case (supra), while dealing with the question as to the impleading of a party, the Hon’ble National Commission observed that the discretion of the court, under the provisions of Order 1 Rule 10 (2) of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, is to be exercised, keeping in view the facts and circumstances of each case.In that case, the application filed for impleading Prabhjot Singh, as an opposite party, was rejected by the District Forum, on the ground that the complainant is the dominus litis and the jurisdiction of the Consumer Fora is primarily and mainly to decide the disputes between the ‘consumer’ and the ‘seller’ or ‘service provider’ and that too, on a complaint, which can be filed only by the consumer. That order was challenged before the State Commission, which upheld the order of the District Forum. Both those orders were upheld by the Hon’ble National Commission; which were challenged by way of the revision petition.
8. The judgment, relied upon by the learned counsel for the petitioner [Keshav Nidhi Co-operative Housing Society Ltd.’s case (supra)], is of no help to him. The facts of that case were different. In that case, the complaint had been filed against M/s Moolji Lakhmidas, as opposite party. Later on, the complainant moved an application for amendment to the complaint, with the prayer to permit him to implead three other opposite parties. That application was opposed, but was ultimately allowed by the State Commission. That order was challenged by M/s Tejas Associates, petitioner, who was impleaded as opposite party No.3. The order of the State Commission was maintained by the Hon’ble National Commission and it was held that to avoid multiplicity of proceedings, the petitioner was apparently a necessary party and the State Commission had committed no error in impleading him as such. In that case, the petitioner/opposite party had stepped into the shoes of other opposite party during the pendency of the complaint and it was on that ground, that it was held to be the necessary party.
9. The present case stands at a different footing. The complaint has been filed by the Trust, which has got an independent existence. The dispute is between the Trust and the opposite party-Bank. The petitioner is challenging the authority of Gurjit Singh (alleged Secretary), to file the complaint on behalf of the Trust. That point is to be decided by the District Forum, while disposing of the complaint on merits. The consumer dispute, involved in the complaint, can well be decided in the absence of the petitioner, who is alleging himself to be the President-cum-Secretary. In fact, by becoming a party, he wants to settle his own score with the other trustees and he cannot be allowed to do so, by impleading him as a party. The District Forum did not commit any illegality or irregularity, while exercising its jurisdiction in dismissing the application of the petitioner, on the ground that he is not a necessary party in the complaint. There is no merit in the revision and the same is hereby dismissed in limine.

1.  

    

                                                           (JUSTICE GURDEV SINGH)

                                                                         PRESIDENT

                                                            

    

    

                                                           (BALDEV SINGH SEKHON)

                                                                            MEMBER

                                                            

    

    

                                                         (MRS. SURINDER PAL KAUR)

   February 05, 2015                                       MEMBER

   (Gurmeet S)