One of several plaintiffs or defendants may obtain reversal of whole decree where it proceeds on ground common to all
Full Text
Where there are more plaintiffs or more defendants than one in a suit, and the decree appealed from proceeds on any ground common to all the plaintiffs or to all the defendants, any one of the plaintiffs or of the defendants may appeal from the whole decree, and thereupon the Appellate Court may reverse or vary the decree in favour of all the plaintiffs or defendants, as the case may be.
Plain English Summary
Permits one of several co-plaintiffs or co-defendants to appeal against the entire decree where it proceeds on a common ground, empowering the appellate court to reverse or vary the decree in favour of all co-parties, including non-appealing parties.
Key Legal Elements
- Common Ground Prerequisite: The trial court's decree must rest on a ground identical and common to all co-plaintiffs or co-defendants.
- Appeal Against the Entire Decree: The single appealing co-party challenges the entire decree, not merely his individual share.
- Benefit to Non-Appealing Co-Parties: Appellate court has power to reverse or vary the decree in favour of all co-parties.
- Abatement Exception: Does not overcome total abatement where a non-appealing indispensable party dies and legal representatives are not brought on record (Ratan Lal, 1976).
- Interplay with Rule 33: Rule 4 operates in tandem with the wide powers under Order XLI Rule 33.
Practical Note
Reversal for Non-Appellants & Interplay with Abatement: 1. Power to Benefit Non-Appealing Parties — Mahabir Prasad v. Jage Ram (1971) 1 SCC 265: Where a decree proceeds on a ground common to all, any one defendant can appeal from the whole decree and the appellate court can set aside the decree even as against non-appealing defendants. 2. Limits Imposed by Abatement — Ratan Lal v. Vardesh Chander (1976) 2 SCC 103: The Supreme Court clarified that Order XLI Rule 4 cannot be invoked to bypass the statutory law of abatement. If one of the respondents or non-appealing appellants dies during the pendency of the appeal and the right to sue does not survive separately, failure to implead legal representatives results in total abatement of the appeal if the decree is indivisible.
हिंदी पाठ
जहां किसी वाद में एक से अधिक वादी या एक से अधिक प्रतिवादी हैं, और वह डिक्री जिसके विरुद्ध अपील की गई है सभी वादियों या सभी प्रतिवादियों के किसी उभयनिष्ठ (Common) आधार पर आधारित है, वहां वादियों या प्रतिवादियों में से कोई भी एक संपूर्ण डिक्री के विरुद्ध अपील कर सकेगा, और तदुपरि अपीलीय न्यायालय, यथास्थिति, सभी वादियों या सभी प्रतिवादियों के पक्ष में डिक्री को उलट सकेगा या उसमें परिवर्तन कर सकेगा।