Page 1

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION

CIVIL APPEAL NO. 7717    2013   (@ SPECIAL LEAVE PETITION (C) NO. 12513 OF 2011)

DAROPTI & ORS.                      ..PETITIONER(S)  

VERSUS

HARPHOOL SINGH (D) THROUGH LRS. & ORS.           ..RESPONDENT(S)

O R D E R

1. Leave granted.

2. This  appeal is  directed against  the judgment  and order  

passed by the High Court in Regular First Appeal No. 405 of 2001,  

dated 22.02.2011.  By the impugned judgment and order, the High  

Court has allowed the appeal and set aside the order passed by the  

Trial Court.

3. The Petitioners/ Plaintiffs are before us in this appeal.  

They had filed a Suit for Partition before the Trial Court against  

the Respondents/ Defendants. The Trial Court had decreed the Suit in  

favour of the Petitioners/ Plaintiffs.  Aggrieved by the said decree  

passed by the Trial Court, the Respondents/ Defendants preferred an  

appeal  before  the  High  Court.   The  High  Court  without  giving  

opportunity of hearing to either of the parties has allowed the  

appeal in favour of the Respondents/ Defendants and thereby reversed  

the judgment and order passed by the Trial Court.   

4. In  our  view,  since  the  High  Court  without  giving  

opportunity of hearing to either of the parties has reversed the  

judgment and order passed by the Trial Court, an opportunity of

Page 2

hearing ought to have been granted to the learned counsel appearing  

for the Petitioners/ Plaintiffs to present their case.  Since that  

has not been done, in our opinion, the judgment and order passed by  

the High Court cannot be sustained and the same requires to be set  

aside.

5. In the result, we allow this appeal and set aside the  

judgment and order passed by the High Court and remand the matter  

back to the High Court for fresh disposal in accordance with law,  

after affording an opportunity of hearing to both the parties.

6. All the contentions of both the parties are kept open.

7. We clarify that we have not expressed any opinion on the  

merits or demerits of the case.

8. Since the matter is pending for a long time, we request  

the  High  Court  to  dispose  of  the  matter  as  expeditiously  as  

possible.

9. The Civil Appeal is disposed of accordingly.

Ordered accordingly

...................J. (H.L. DATTU)

...................J. (M.Y. EQBAL)

NEW DELHI; SEPTEMBER 02, 2013