Plaintiff cannot be forced to add parties against whom he does not want to fight.

The Supreme Court has reiterated that, in a suit, the plaintiff is the dominus litis and cannot be forced to add parties against whom he does not want to fight unless there is a compulsion of the rule of law.

The above-reasoning was pronounced by the Supreme Court in the matter of Gurmit Singh Bhatia vs. Kiran Kant Robison & Others (Civil AppealNo.5522-5523/2019) decided on 17.07.2019.

Challenges

The issue involved in the present case before the Apex Court was whether the plaintiffs can be compelled to implead a person in the suit for specific performance, against his wish and more particularly with respect to a person against whom no relief has been claimed by him?

Held

The Divisional bench of the Supreme Court held that plaintiff is the dominus litis and cannot be forced to add parties against whom he does not want to fight unless there is a compulsion of the rule of law. The Court rely on the precedent of Kasturi v. Iyyamperumal, where the Apex Court had held that the question of jurisdiction of the court to invoke Order 1 Rule 10 CPC to add a party who is not made a party in the suit by the plaintiff shall not arise unless a party proposed to be added has direct and legal interest in the controversy involved in the suit.  It was further held that, two tests are to be satisfied for determining the question who a necessary party is. The tests are:

(1) there must be a right to some relief against such party in respect of the controversies involved in the proceedings;

(2) no effective decree can be passed in the absence of such party.