Surila Devi v. Jagriti Devi And ORS

IN THE HIGH COURT AT CALCUTTA

[ CIRCUIT BENCH AT PORT BLAIR ] ...

CO/32/2023 Smt. Surila Devi ... Plaintiff/petitioner Vs.

Smt. Jagrithi Devi and Ors. ... Defendents/opposite parties Ms. A.S. Zinu ... for the Petitioner Mr. K.M.B Jayapal .... for the Respondents July 24, 2023 [M.A.Mobin] Item No.26 The present application has been filed under Article 227 of the Constitution of India, inter alia, praying for a direction to expeditiously hear out and dispose of the Title Suit No. 46 of 2014 pending before the learned Civil Judge, Senior Division at Port Blair.

It appears from the order sheet that the suit has been filed on 19th June 2014. The same has been placed in the ex-parte Board as the defendants have chosen not to file any written statement. The suit is one for declaration of right, title and interest and for partition.

The petitioner says that by reasons of the dilatory tactics adopted by the defendants, the cross-examination of the plaintiff's witness could not be completed. It is submitted that although, nine long years have passed since, the date of institution of the suit, and despite the suit running in the ex-parte board, the plaintiff has been unable to complete the witness action.

Having regard to the aforesaid and taking note of the long pendency of the suit I am of the view that the present application can be disposed of by directing the Learned Civil Judge, Senior Division at Port Blair, to hear out and dispose of the Title Suit No. 46 of 2014 pending before him as expeditiously as possible, preferably within a period of six months from the date of communication of this order. The application accordingly, stands disposed of. Urgent photostat certified copy of this order, if applied for be made available to the parties upon compliance of all formalities.

(Raja Basu Chowdhury, J.)