Suits involving the same parties and property should be heard by the same court to prevent conflicting decisions.

The first respondent filed O.S. No. 124 of 2019 before the Additional District Judge, Hosur, against the petitioner and official defendants, seeking declaration, permanent injunction and consequential reliefs.

He later filed O.S. No. 511 of 2021 against the petitioner before the Sub Court, Denkanikottai, seeking permanent injunction.

The petitioner applied to transfer the latter suit to Hosur for trial with O.S. No. 124 of 2019.

The Principal District Judge dismissed the transfer application, reasoning that the reliefs differed and O.S. No. 511 of 2021 was at an advanced stage.

The petitioner challenged that dismissal under Article 227 of the Constitution.

Whether O.S. No. 511 of 2021 should be transferred to the Additional District Judge, Hosur, when both suits involved the same parties and property.

Whether the transferred suit should necessarily be jointly tried with O.S. No. 124 of 2019, or whether the receiving court could determine the appropriate mode of trial.

The Court exercised its supervisory jurisdiction under Article 227 of the Constitution of India.

It applied the principle that where connected suits between substantially the same parties concern the same property, placing them before the same court may help avoid multiplicity of proceedings and the risk of divergent decisions.

The judgment cited no specific statutory transfer provision or precedent.

The Court considered that the dispute was principally between the petitioner and the first respondent and that both suits concerned the same property.

It concluded that leaving the suits before different courts risked multiplicity of proceedings and inconsistent findings.

Although the trial stages differed—O.S. No. 511 of 2021 was at further cross-examination of PW1, while evidence in O.S. No. 124 of 2019 had yet to commence—the Court found the common parties and property sufficient to warrant transfer.

It left the decision whether to conduct a joint or simultaneous trial to the Additional District Judge, Hosur.

It directed transfer of O.S. No. 511 of 2021 from the Sub Court, Denkanikottai, to the Additional District Judge, Hosur, leaving the mode of trial to that court.

The records were to be transferred within four weeks, and both suits were to be disposed of within one year from the date of the next hearing.

No costs were awarded.