Karnataka HC Restores 1989 Family-Partition Proceedings To Avoid A Fresh Case, Requiring Petitioner To Pay ₹25,000 Costs

The petitioner challenged the order dated 29 June 2026 rejecting his application to restore FDP No. 55/1989, which had been instituted to allot shares under a preliminary decree in a partition suit.

He submitted that his counsel had been unable to appear when the FDP was dismissed because counsel had met with an accident, and that an application to recall the dismissal had been filed immediately.

The petitioner argued that without restoration the parties would be deprived of the benefit of the preliminary decree

The Trial Court had rejected restoration on the ground that a fresh FDP could be instituted.

The petitioner’s restoration application was made under Section 151 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908

The Court relied on the procedural considerations that requiring a fresh final decree proceeding would entail recommencing proceedings and could cause delay and multiplicity of proceedings; any prejudice to the respondents could be compensated by costs

The Court noted that the FDP, instituted in 1989 to give effect to the preliminary decree, concerned allotment of the parties’ shares in joint family properties

It considered that requiring a fresh FDP would restart the process, delay enjoyment of the decree’s benefits, and multiply proceedings.

The Court concluded that any prejudice to the respondents could be addressed through a costs condition, and therefore set aside the Trial Court’s refusal to restore the FDP

FDP No. 55/1989 was restored, subject to the petitioner paying costs of Rs. 25,000 to the respondents.