Pleadings control civil relief: appellate courts cannot award unclaimed mesne profits or damages on equitable considerations.

A civil appellate court cannot award mesne profits, damages, or compensation unless that relief was pleaded and put in issue in the suit. Order II Rule 2 requires the whole claim arising from the cause of action to be included, while Order II Rule 4 permits joinder of mesne profits or damages with a possession suit only if they are properly claimed and dealt with under the Code. On appeal under Section 96 CPC, the court remained confined to the pleadings and framed issues and could not create an additional equitable claim. The compensation award was therefore unsustainable and was set aside.

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Issues: Whether the High Court could, in an appeal arising from a civil suit for possession and injunction, direct payment of damages or compensation by way of mesne profits when no such relief had been claimed in the plaint and the issue had not arisen on the pleadings.

Analysis: A suit must ordinarily be decided on the pleadings and issues framed by the parties. Under Order II, Rule 2 of the Code of Civil Procedure, a plaintiff is required to include the whole of the claim arising from the cause of action, and if a relief is omitted, it cannot later be pursued indirectly. Order II, Rule 4 permits joinder of a claim for mesne profits or damages with a suit for possession, but that does not dispense with the need to plead and claim such relief in the suit itself. Where damages are sought, court fee must be paid and, if the amount is unascertained, the proper course is determination in accordance with the Code. The High Court, sitting in appeal under Section 96 of the Code, was bound to act within the confines of the suit and the issues before it, and could not create an additional claim on equitable considerations when the statute did not permit it. Equity cannot override express procedural provisions.

Conclusion: The direction granting compensation or damages was unsustainable; the appeal succeeded to that extent and the impugned equitable award was set aside.

Ratio Decidendi: A court exercising appellate jurisdiction in a civil suit cannot award a relief not pleaded or put in issue, and equitable considerations cannot be used to circumvent the mandatory requirements of the Code of Civil Procedure governing joinder and pleading of claims.

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