A plaintiff (writ petitioner) is not permitted to split up his cause of action. A transaction may give rise to more than one cause of action. Cause of action, in turn, means the bundle of facts, which, if traversed by the defendants/respondents, must be proved/established before relief be available to the party. It has got nothing to do with the defence taken and it is also not to be confused with the actual relief, which is sought. Equally, a right may be antecedent to the cause of action. The right may flow from a transaction. It may flow from a document. It may, indeed, arise under a statute or, for that matter, a Government Order in appropriate cases. In other words, an enforceable Government Order could give rise to rights. The cause of action in regard to a Government Order would be the bundle of facts, which may establish infringement of the Government Order or even apprehension of infringement of the same by any overt act or deliberate omission to implement the same. It may also arise in situations, where action is taken, which has the effect of extinguishing any rights under the Government Order. The law does not require the joinder of different causes of action in one proceeding, though, under Order II Rule 3, the principle is recognized, no doubt, subject to the mandate of Order II Rule 4, which relates to suits for recovery of possession of immovable property that there may be joinder of causes of action. This is all subject to the court ordering that separate suits be maintained, which is based on the principle of mis-joinder of cause of action. But, as far as the principle of Order II Rule 2 is concerned, it deals with omitting to sue on a claim, which is part of a single cause of action. Equally, Sub-Rule (3) of Rule 2 Order II deals with a situation, where there are a number of reliefs open to a party, all arising from the same cause of action and he omits to sue without the leave of the court in respect of any of those reliefs; he would be precluded from seeking the said relief. Common to both Order II Rule 2 and Order II Rule 3 is the further fundamental principle that this bar to seeking to include a claim, which is part of the original cause of action or the cause of action in the first proceeding or to claim a relief, which arose from the cause of action in the first proceeding, is that the second proceeding must also relate to the same cause of action, which was the subject matter of the earlier proceedings. In other words, without there being identity in the cause of action between the two proceedings, the bar under Order II Rule 2 would not be attracted.
IN THE HIGH COURT OF UTTARAKHAND AT NAINITAL
IN THE HIGH COURT OF UTTARAKHAND AT NAINITAL
Special Appeal No. 14 of 2015
Decided On: 12.05.2017
Rajesh Goyal and Ors.Vs. State of Uttarakhand and Ors.
Hon'ble Judges/Coram:
K.M. Joseph, C.J. and V.K. Bist, J.
Citation: AIR 2017 Uttar 119
