Citation : 2025 Local Law (CG) 1310
The Supreme Court has reaffirmed that a counterclaim cannot be used by one defendant against another in the same suit. The Court explained that Order VIII Rule 6A of the Code of Civil Procedure allows a counterclaim only against the plaintiff and only when it arises from a cause of action linked to the plaintiff’s original claim.
The ruling came in Sanjay Tiwari v. Yugal Kishore Prasad Sao & Others (Civil Appeal arising out of SLP (C) No. 11050 of 2025). A Bench of Justices K. Vinod Chandran and N. V. Anjaria set aside the decisions of both the Trial Court and the High Court, which had allowed defendants 2 and 3 to file a counterclaim against defendant 1.
The dispute began when the plaintiff filed a suit for specific performance regarding 0.93 acres of land against the first defendant. Later, on their request, defendants 2 and 3 were added to the case. They then filed a counterclaim asking for the same land to be transferred to them. The Trial Court accepted their counterclaim, and the High Court refused to intervene, noting that doing so might reduce multiple rounds of litigation.
The Supreme Court disagreed. Relying on earlier decisions, including Rohit Singh v. State of Bihar and Rajul Mano Shah v. Kiranbhai Shakrabhai Patel, the Court held that a counterclaim cannot be stretched to cover disputes between co-defendants. It stressed that the counterclaim by defendants 2 and 3 had no connection with the plaintiff’s cause of action and was essentially a separate dispute.
The Court also noted that although defendants 2 and 3 were necessary parties for proper adjudication, their impleadment did not give them the right to file a counterclaim against another defendant. The Bench restored the plaintiff’s original suit and refused to allow defendants 2 and 3 to file a fresh suit, pointing out that their claim was already time-barred.
