R.K. ROJAversusU.S. RAYUDU AND ANOTHER

                           [2016) 3 S.C.R. 221



                               R.K. ROJA                                       A
                                    v.
                   U.S. RAYUDU AND ANOTHER
                    (Civil Appeal No. 5540of2016)
                             JULY04,2016                                       8
[KURIAN JOSEPH AND ROHINTON FALi NARIMAN, JJ.]
      Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 - 01: 7 r 11 - Rejection of
plaint - On facts, election petition by respondent challenging the
election of the appellant - Application u!Or. 7 r 11 by appellant for
rejection of the petition by way of counter affidavit - Non-
                                                                               c
consideration of the same since there was no formal application
and court proceeded with the trial - Subsequently, formal application
for rejection of the petition by appellant - Non-disposal of the same
and posted along with the main petition as also denial of opportunity
to the appellant to file written statement - On appeal, held:                  D
Application u/01: 7, r. 11 can be filed at any stage - Court has to
dispose of the same before proceeding with the trial court - There
is no point in proceeding with the trial of the case - Petition is only
to be rejected at the threshold - Appellant entitled to file the
application for rejection before filing his written statement and in
                                                                               E
case, the application is rejected, appellant is entitled to file his written
statement thereafter - Procedure adopted by the court not warranted
under law - Thus, the impugned order is set aside - Since the
application does not come within the purview of any of the situations
u/01: 7 r 11 (a) to (j), application is rejected - Appellant given an
opportunity to file written statement in the Election Petition within          F
the stipulated period.
       Saleem Bhai and others v. State of Maharashtra and
       others (2003) 1 SCC 557:2002 (5) Suppl. SCR 491;
       Sopan Sukhdeo Sable and others v. Assistant Charity
       Commissioner & others (2004) 3 SCC 137 - relied on.                     G
                         Case Law Reference
         c2004) 3 sec 131                   relied on        Paras
         2002 (5) Suppl. SCR 491            relied on        Para6
                                                                               H
                                   221
222              SUPREME COURT REPORTS                           [2016] 3 S.C.R.


A             CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Civil Appeal No. 5540 of
      2016.
           From the Judgment and Order dated 27.04.2016 of the High Court
      of Judicature at Hyderabad for the State ofTelangana and the State of
      Andhra Pradesh in E. A. No. 222 of2016 in E. P. No. 4 of2014.       ·
B          V. Giri, Sr. Adv., Amit Kumar, A. Ramesh, Syed Ahamed, Allam
      Ramesh, Ms. Sh ii pi Gupta, Shaurya Sahay, Avijit Mani Tripathi, Prithvi
      Pal, Ms. Rekha Bakshi, Advs. for the Appellant.
            B.Adinarayana Rao, Sr.Adv., Suyodhan B., Ms. Tatini Basu,Advs.
      for the Respondents.
c
              The Judgment of the Court was delivered by
              KURIAN, J. I. Leave granted.
           2. The appellant has two grievances - (i) The Court has not disposed
      of an application filed by her under Order VII Rule 11 of The Code of
D     Civil Procedure, 1908 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Code') for rejection
      of the Election Petition and the same has been posted along with the
      main petition and (ii) She is denied an opportunity to file written statement.
            3. The first respondent herein filed an Election Petition challenging
      the election of the appellant to the 289 Nagiri Assembly Constituency.
 E    Appellant was declared elected on 16.05.2014. The election petition is
      dated 30.06.2014. On receipt of notice in the Election Petition, the appellant
      filed Annexure-P/4-application for rejection of the Petition, under Order
      VII Rule 11 of the CPC by way of a counter affidavit. It appears that
      the cou11 declined to consider the same on the ground that there was no
      formal application and hence proceeded with the trial. At that stage,
 F
      appellant filed Annexure-P/5-formal application for rejection of the
      Election Petition on the ground that the Election Petition did not disclose
      any cause of action. That application as per the impugned order dated
      27.04.2016 was posted along with the main petition,11~1d thus, the appeal.
           4. The High Court has taken the view that the same "was not filed
 G    at the earliest opportunity" and that appellant was not diligent in
      prosecuting the application. Therefore, the court took the view that ...
      "this application filed by the first respondent shall be decided at
      the_ time ()(.final hearing ... ".
              5. We are afraid that the stand taken by the High Court in the
 H
             R.K. ROJA v. U.S. RAYUDU AND ANOTHER                                 223
                            [KURIAN, J.]

impugned order cannot be appreciated. An application under Order VII              A
Rule 11 of the CPC can be filed at any stage, as held by this Court in
Sopan Sukhdeo Sable and others v. Assistant Charity
Commissioner and others 1 ••• "The trial court can exercise the
power at any stage of the suit - before registering the plaint or
after issuing summons to the defendant at any time before the
                                                                                   B
conclusion ofthe trial. ... ". The only restriction is that the consideration
of the application for rejection should not be on the basis of the allegations
made by the defendant in his written statement or on the basis of the
allegations in the application for rejection of the plaint. The court has to
consider only the plaint as a whole, and in case, the entire plaint comes
under the situations covered by Order VII Rule 11 (a) to (t) of the CPC,           c
the same has to be rejected.
       6. Once an application is filed under Order VII Rule 11 of the
CPC, the court has to dispose of the same before proceeding with the
trial. There is no point or sense in proceeding with the trial of the case, in
case the plaint (Election Petition in the present case) is only to be rejected     D
at the threshold. Therefore, the defendant is entitled to file the application
for rejection before filing his written statement. In case, the application
is rejected, the defendant is entitled to file his written statement thereafter
(See Saleem Bhai and others v. State of Maharashtra and others2 ).
But once an application for rejection is filed, the court has to dispose of
the same before proceeding with the trial court. To quote relevant portion         E
from paragraph-20 of Sopan Sukhdeo Sable case (supra):
         "20 .... Rule 11 of Order 7 lays down an independent remedy
         made available to the defendant to challenge the maintainability
         of the suit itself, irrespective of his right to contest the same on
         merits. The law ostensibly does not contemplate at any stage when         F
         the objections can be raised, and also does not say in express
         terms about the filing of a written statement. Instead, -the word
         "shal I" is used, clearly implying thereby that it casts a duty on the
         court to perform its obligations in rejecting the plaint when the
         same is hit by any of the infirmities provided in the four clauses of     G
         Rule 11, even without intervention of the defendant. ... "
    7. In Saleem Bhai case (supra), this Court has also held that ...
"A direction to fife the written statement without deciding the .
1
    r2004) 3 sec 137
2 (2003) 1 sec   ss1                                                               H
224                SUPREME COURT REPORTS                        [2016] 3 S.C.R.


A     application under Order VII Rule 11 cannot but be a procedural
      irregularity touching the exercise of jurisdiction of the trial court. "
      However, we may hasten to add that the Iiberty to file an application for
      rejection under Order VII Rule 11 of the CPC cannot be made as a ruse
      for retrieving the lost opportunity to file the written statement.
B           8. Apparently, in the present case, it is seen that Annexure-P/4-
      Affidavit dated 15.03.2015, with a prayer ... "to dismiss the present
      Election Petition under Order VII Rule 11 of the CPC ... ", was filed
      within thirty days of the receipt of the summons in the Election Petition.
      However, the court was not inclined to consider the same in the absence
      of a formal application, and thus, Annexure-P/5-Application No. E.A.
c     No. 222 of2016 was filed on 22.02.2016 leading to the impugned order,
      posting the application for consideration at the time of final hearing.
           9. The procedure adopted by the court is not warranted under law.
      Without disposing of an application under Order Vil Rule 11 of the CPC,
      the court cannot proceed with the trial. In that view of the matter, the
D     impugned order is only to be set aside. Ordered accordingly.
            I 0. However, the concern expressed by the High Court with regard
      to the alleged attempt on the part of the appellant for delaying the trial of
      the Election Petition cannot be brushed aside. Therefore, we have heard
      the learned Senior Counsel appearing for the appellant on the application
E     under Order VII Rule 11 of the CPC. We are satisfied that the said
      Application does not come within the purview of any of the situations
      under Order VII Rule 11 (a) to (f) of the CPC. Therefore, the application
      is rejected. In the peculiar facts of this case which we have narrated
      above, the appellant is given an opportunity to file written statement in
 F    the Election Petition within two weeks from today.
           11. Since the Election Petition has been pending before the High
      Court since 2014, we request the High Court to dispose of the same
      before the end of this year.
            12. The appeal is disposed of accordingly.
G
      Nidhi Jain                                                Appeal disposed of.