A plaint cannot be rejected without giving parties an opportunity to argue its maintainability.

The plaintiff filed a partition suit concerning two parcels of land and an application for interim injunction.

The Trial Court heard arguments on the injunction application, but the record did not show that the parties were heard on the suit’s maintainability.

It later rejected both the plaint and the injunction application under Order VII Rule 11 CPC.

The plaintiff appealed, contending that the plaint had been rejected without an opportunity to address that issue.

Whether the Trial Court could reject the plaint under Order VII Rule 11 CPC without affording the parties an opportunity to address the suit’s maintainability

Whether the impugned judgment and decree should be set aside and the matter remanded for fresh consideration

Order VII Rule 11 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, empowers a court to reject a plaint when the rule’s grounds are made out; the court may exercise that power on its own motion or on an application by a defendant.

The court must afford the parties a reasonable opportunity before deciding to reject the plaint; doing so without an opportunity to address maintainability violates the principles of natural justice.

The Rojkam showed that arguments had been heard on the application below Exh. 5, but not on the maintainability of the suit.

The defendants’ assertion that maintainability had also been argued was unsupported by the record.

Because the Trial Court nevertheless rejected the plaint under Order VII Rule 11, the plaintiff had not received an opportunity to address the basis for that decision.

The rejection was therefore procedurally unsustainable, without the High Court determining the merits of the suit or the parties’ substantive rights.

The Trial Court was directed to afford all parties sufficient opportunity and decide the matter expeditiously, uninfluenced by the High Court’s observations.

The parties’ rights and contentions were kept open; the defendants may apply under Order VII Rule 11, and the Trial Court may also consider exercising that power suo motu, provided reasonable opportunity is afforded to both sides.