Can an I.A. be submitted by the appellant (who is the Petitioner in the Original suit) in the appeal suit seeking the respondents to submit Legal Heir Certificate ?
The brief facts of the case are as under :
A civil suit was filed by a petitioner seeking partition on a property on which the petitioner has no right but with the help false / fake / forged documents. The suit was filed on the petitioner’s mother and other siblings, ignoring the genuine legal heirs to the property who are in possession and occupation of the property for decades and who are paying all the taxes to the property.
When the genuine legal heirs came to know about the fraudulent suit filed in the court without their knowledge, they impleaded themselves in the suit and the court allowed them to be included as respondents. Only the genuine legal heirs contested the suit filed by the single petitioner.
In the trial, the petitioner failed to establish her relationship either to the property or to the original owner of the property and the court after careful consideration of the documents submitted by the genuine legal heirs and examining the witnesses, came to the conclusion that the partition suit was filed fictitiously, dismissed the suit and imposed a cost of Rs. 3500/= to the petitioner under the section 35-A of CPC.
It is unfortunate that the court has not diverted the case to Magistrate court under the section 340 of Cr.P.C. for filing the fictitious suit, wasting the precious court time and admitting false affidavit.
Well, as every one has got right to appeal, the petitioner too approached the District Court, the next appellate court, with an appeal petition but dragging the appeal for the past three years with flimsy I.As.
One such I.A. is that the appellant’s counsel has asked for the legal heir certificate from the respondents which is frivolous. It is the bounden duty of the petitioner to prove the fact that he/she is legal successor to the property. Having failed to establish the fact at the trial stage and asking the respondents to produce the Legal Heir Certificate and that too during appeal stage is not sustainable under the law is what I feel.
I humbly request the learned lawyers to justify my views and quote suitable citations.
Thanks & Regards
