Allahabad High Court
Smt. Shivani Singh vs Prashant Singh on 23 October, 2019
Author: Jaspreet Singh
Bench: Jaspreet Singh
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD, LUCKNOW BENCH ?Court No. - 19 Case :- APPLICATION U/S 24/ORDER 39 RULE 2-A CPC No. - 78 of 2019 Applicant :- Smt. Shivani Singh Opposite Party :- Prashant Singh Counsel for Applicant :- Ram Chandra Dwivedi Counsel for Opposite Party :- Tarun Kumar Pandey Hon'ble Jaspreet Singh,J.
Heard Shri Vinod Kumar, Advocate holding brief of Shri Ram Chandra Dwivedi, learned counsel for the applicant and Shri Tarun Kumar Pandey, learned counsel for the opposite party.
The instant application under Section 24 CPC has been moved by the applicant seeking transfer of Criminal Case No.363/2012, which was filed under Section 125 Cr.P.C., and Case No.1840/2008, which was a petition under Section 13 of the Hindu Marriage Act and a prayer has been made for the aforesaid two proceedings be transferred from the Court of Principal Judge, Family Court Lucknow to the Principal Judge, Family Court, Noida.
Learned counsel for the applicant has submitted that though the aforesaid proceedings are pending at Lucknow, however, the applicant has now got a job in the District Noida in Amity Law College, Noida and accordingly she is having difficulty to appear in the cases at Lucknow and keeping in mind the aforesaid, the present petition for transfer has been preferred. It has also been submitted by the learned counsel for the applicant that the prayer for transfer of the Criminal Case No.363/2012 (Smt. Shivani Singh vs. Prashant Singh) under Section 125 Cr.P.C., has been not pressed by the applicant.
Learned counsel for the applicant has also informed that a petition under Section 407 Cr.P.C., [being U/s.407 CR.P.C. No.67 of 2019] was moved before a Coordinate Bench of this Court and by this Court by means of the order dated 17.10.2019 was pleased to dismissed the above petition of the applicant seeking transfer for her petition under Section 125 Cr.P.C.
Learned counsel for the opposite party has submitted that the application for transfer is misuse of the process of law inasmuch as the divorce proceedings were initiated by the opposite party before the Principal Judge, Family Court, Lucknow, which was registered as R.S. No.1840/2008, the entire proceedings almost stood complete where the opposite party had participated. So much so that the opposite party had also filed a petition before this Court bearing Writ Petition No.757 (M/S) of 2012 under Article 227 of the Constitution of India seeking expeditious disposal of the suit which was pending since 2008. This Court by means of the order dated 10.02.2012 disposed of the aforesaid petition with a direction to the Family Court to decide the matter expeditiously say within six months from the date a certified copy of the order was placed before the Court concerned.
Learned counsel for the opposite party has also drawn attention of the Court to the order-sheets of the Regular Suit No.1840/2008, a copy of which has been annexed as Annexure No.CA-1 and from the perusal thereof, it is indicated that the entire trial had concluded and the plaintiff who was the opposite party before this Court had also submitted his written arguments. This shall be evident from the order-sheet dated 05.04.2019 which states that the counsel for the petitioner had submitted his written arguments and the matter was listed for 22.04.2019 for the arguments of the respondent. Thereafter on 05.09.2019 the parties had appeared through counsel, however, an adjournment was sought by the defendant (the applicant before this Court), the same was allowed on a cost of Rs.300/-. A copy of the written arguments filed by the plaintiff was given to the defendant of the case and the matter was again fixed for arguments.
A perusal of the order-sheet indicates that thereafter adjournments have been sought by the defendant (the applicant before this Court) and then on 01.07.2019, a copy of the order passed by this Court staying the proceedings in the instant transfer petition was placed before the Family Court as a result, the further proceedings could not be concluded.
The submission of the learned counsel for the opposite party is that the entire proceedings already stood concluded and it is only the submissions which have to be made especially in light of the fact that written arguments are also on record. Once the trial stood concluded it was not fair on the part of the applicant to have moved this transfer petition and accordingly the same being an abuse of the process of law deserve to be rejected coupled with the fact that this Court in the year 2012 had already directed the Family Court to conclude the proceedings expeditiously and the order-sheet indicates that the defendant has been lingering the matter.
The Court has considered the submission of the learned counsel for the parties and also perused the record.
Learned counsel for the applicant has relied upon decisions of the Hon'ble Apex Court, reported in AIR 2002 SC 396 - Sumita Singh vs. Kumar Sanjay and another; (2002) 10 SCC 480 - Leena Mukherjee vs. Rabi Shankar Mukherjee. A decision of a Coordinate Bench of this Court reported in 2009 (27) LCD 1162 - Smt. Kuhu Banerjee vs. Sanjeev Rai Chaudhary and another.
On the strength of the aforesaid decisions, it has been urged that while considering an application under Section 24 CPC at the behest of a lady, the convenience is to be looked. It has also been urged that since the applicant is residing in Noida and doing private job at Noida, thus the matter be transferred.
Per contra, learned counsel for the opposite party has also drawn attention of the Court to the order dated 17.10.2019 passed under Section 407 Cr.P.C., wherein the petition of the applicant seeking transfer of the case under Section 125 Cr.P.C., from Lucknow to District Noida has been rejected.
Considering the submissions as aforesaid and from the record, it indicates that so far as the Regular Suit No.1480/2008 is concerned, the trial of the matter has already concluded inasmuch as the evidence has been led and, therefore, there is no requirement of the applicant as such to personally appear. The matter is only fixed for the arguments wherein the applicant, who is already represented her by counsel and is require to submit written arguments and only for 1 or 2 dates are required wherein this entire exercise has to be completed.
At this stage, it is not expedient nor is in the ends of justice to transfer the petition from Lucknow to Noida especially when there is already an order for expedition and trial is completed and only final arguments have to be advanced. Transferring of the case at this stage will further delay the suit which is of the year 2008. Considering the aforesaid, this Court is not inclined to interfere and the grounds as raised do not merit consideration and the transfer petition does not attract any merit and is accordingly rejected.
As a result, the transfer petition is dismissed. The parties are directed to appear before the Family Court through their counsel and the Principal Judge, Family Court, Lucknow shall expeditiously make an endeavour to decide the Regular Suit No.1480/2008 without granting unnecessary adjournment to the parties.
With the aforesaid, the petition stands dismissed. There shall be no order as to costs.
Order Date :- 23.10.2019 Rakesh/-