Civil Procedure Code, 1908
Section 9—Ouster of jurisdiction of Civil Court—Under Section 9 of CPC, the Civil Court has the jurisdiction to try all suits of a civil nature, except those in respect of which the jurisdiction is barred either expressly or impliedly by a specific provision of law.
[Para 14]
Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Act, 1976
Section 1—Preamble, scope and objective—It is an Act to “unify, consolidate and amend the laws relating to housing, repairing and reconstructing dangerous buildings and carrying out improvement works in slum area”—Scheme of the Statute provides that the Board constituted under the statute would have power to repair and reconstruct dilapidated buildings, conduct structural repairs and evict persons from authority premises, among others—Objective of the bodies and authorities constituted under the Act is to ensure repairing reconstructing buildings to provide housing.
[Para 16]
Section 66—Power to evict persons from authority premises and to recover dues—Competent authority has the jurisdiction to order eviction in terms of the provisions of Section 66 of the Act.
[Para 16]
Sections 71 & 177—Bar of jurisdiction of Civil Court—Concurrent findings of trial courts reversed by High Court—Appeal—Suit for permanent and mandatory injunctions contested on plea that Civil Court does not have the jurisdiction to entertain the suit under the provisions of Section 71 and 177 of the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Act—Reliefs sought by appellant in the plaint are : (i) the removal of the unauthorized construction; (ii) a permanent prohibitory injunction restraining the defendants from constructing over the open site and causing ‘nuisance’; and (iii) restoration of the water connection as it was prior to the construction—Appellant instituted the suit for injunction because her easements were infringed by the illegal construction which the first respondent had erected on the open space—Reliefs claimed by the appellant are beyond the scope of the Act—A suit of this nature will be maintainable before the Civil Court and would not be barred by Section 71 or Section 177 of the Act—High Court was in error in upholding the plea that there was a bar of jurisdiction and reversing the findings of the trial judge and first appellate court—Impugned judgment set aside and second appeal is restored to the file of the High Court for consideration on merits—Appeal allowed.
[Para 13]
Decision : Appeal allowed