gokul 05 August 2025

Partition: implead 3rd parties who are in possession?

parition implead 3 parties who are in possession? 1.My uncle has filed partition suit for 2 properties belonging to my grandfather and I am one of the defendants. 2.I know two properties are in possession of 3rd parties. In one property the old house has been demolished and flats built.In Court the property is shown as vacent site 3.Another house is vacant and locked. People living nearby say my uncle no longer lives there although in court he provides that address. Registered post to that address is returned with "addresse not found".Through RTI I found there is another municipal no for the property but all efforts to get info on that revenue account have been stonewalled. 4.I have not yet been able to trace the original sale deeds since the properties were bought in 1930s and the municipal nos have changed 3 times since then. 5.My advocate says 3rd parties can be handled in subsequent case and nothing needs to be done in this case. 6.Other advocates have said I need to act and seek court direction and implead the 3rd parties. Do the 3rd parties need to be impleaded? Or should I file separate case later? Can I force my uncle who is plaintiff to submit possession records for the properties? I have tried to obtain the records through RTI but it is pending in courts Can I force that the possession status of the properties be on record before proceeding with the partition suit? gokul

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4 Replies

R.K Nanda (Advocate) 05 August 2025

Take help of local lawyer for proper legal guidance as your case is complicated.

gokul 05 August 2025

if u read question i do have lawyer but there are different opinions on what needs to be done

I apologize for bad format but could not fix even in repost

T. Kalaiselvan, Advocate (Advocate) 05 August 2025

If there are 3rd parties to the property and have not been included then they have to be impleaded as necessary parties to the suit failing which the suit may be dismissed for not impleading necessary parties.

Kihusu Dethro 08 August 2025

In a partition suit, only those who have a share in the property are necessary parties. Others are not necessary. However, in any suit, the plaintiff is the DOMINUS LITUS and he decides who should be added as defendants. It is his privilege. Normally, parties cannot be added against the wishes of the plaintiff. At the same time, Courts have discretion to add parties even against the wishes of the plaintiff.

Regarding possession status, you yourself can inform the Court through your written statement, if you think it is necessary.

What do you mean by 3rd parties? Is the land under illegal occupation of other people? In that case, any of the real owners should file a separate suit for declaration that you are the real owners, recovery of possession and injunction and other appropriate reliefs. The court fee may be quite high depending on the value of the property. It may not be appropriate to implead them into partition suit. The plaintiff is the DOMINUS LITUS and he has to decide. However, this information should not be concealed from the Court and any of you can inform the Court. It is definitely necessary to take steps to recover possession from the third parties. A separate suit may be filed.

There is also the concept of multifariousness. Multifarious suits should be avoided. A single suit should not handle widely different issues against different defendants. Multiple suits for different reliefs may be preferable. In your matter, there are two different issues, namely (1) partition and (2) illegal occupation by 3rd parties. So, two different suits may be preferable to avoid multifariousness.

A detailed discussion with your local lawyers is necessary to take correct decision.