Temporary injunctions may still be granted despite Section 10 CPC stay and tenancy references, if interim relief rests on prima facie possession.

A stay under Section 10 of the Code of Civil Procedure applies to the trial of a subsequently instituted suit, not to every interlocutory step, so a Civil Court may still consider temporary injunction. A reference of a tenancy issue under the Bombay Tenancy and Agricultural Lands (Vidarbha Region) Act, 1958 similarly does not by itself bar interim relief, because an injunction can rest on prima facie possession without finally deciding tenancy or title. Where the applicants were shown to be occupying a cattle shed or residential hut, an injunction should not be modified so as to dispossess them from that occupation without due process.

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Issues: (i) whether pendency of the later suit attracted Section 10 of the Code of Civil Procedure so as to bar the Civil Court from granting temporary injunction; (ii) whether reference of the tenancy issue under the Bombay Tenancy and Agricultural Lands (Vidarbha Region) Act, 1958 deprived the Civil Court of power to grant interim relief; and (iii) whether the condition protecting the applicants' occupation of the cattle shed or residential hut could be deleted while confirming the injunction.

Issue (i): Whether pendency of the later suit attracted Section 10 of the Code of Civil Procedure so as to bar the Civil Court from granting temporary injunction.

Analysis: Section 10 is mandatory in relation to the trial of a subsequently instituted suit where the matter in issue is directly and substantially in issue in a previously instituted suit. The expression "trial" was read in its narrower sense, meaning the final hearing and decision of the suit, not every interlocutory stage. On that construction, and in light of the binding precedent relied upon, the bar under Section 10 did not prevent the Civil Court from entertaining an application for temporary injunction.

Conclusion: The Civil Court was competent to deal with the application for temporary injunction notwithstanding the plea under Section 10.

Issue (ii): Whether reference of the tenancy issue under the Bombay Tenancy and Agricultural Lands (Vidarbha Region) Act, 1958 deprived the Civil Court of power to grant interim relief.

Analysis: Under the Act, where a tenancy issue arises, the suit is to be stayed and that issue referred to the competent authority. But the stay operates as to the final decision of the suit and does not, by itself, exclude all interlocutory powers. In deciding temporary injunction, the Civil Court is concerned with actual possession, not with finally determining title or the capacity in which possession is held. The tenancy question was therefore not required to be decided for the limited purpose of interim protection, unless the interlocutory order itself depended on deciding that issue.

Conclusion: The Civil Court was not barred from granting temporary injunction merely because the tenancy issue had been referred under the Act.

Issue (iii): Whether the condition protecting the applicants' occupation of the cattle shed or residential hut could be deleted while confirming the injunction.

Analysis: The pleadings and admitted position showed that the applicants were in occupation of the cattle shed or hut on the land, even according to the plaintiff. The suit was one for injunction and not for eviction from the hut. Deleting the protective condition would effectively oust the applicants from that part of the property without due process, which was not warranted by the interlocutory relief granted.

Conclusion: The deletion of the protective condition was not justified, and the injunction had to be modified to exclude the cattle shed or residential hut in the applicants' occupation.

Final Conclusion: The revision succeeded only to the limited extent of protecting the applicants' occupation of the hut or cattle shed, while the temporary injunction otherwise remained in force.

Ratio Decidendi: A stay of suit under Section 10 of the Code of Civil Procedure or a reference of a tenancy issue under the Bombay Tenancy and Agricultural Lands (Vidarbha Region) Act, 1958 does not automatically bar interlocutory relief; temporary injunction may still be granted on the basis of prima facie possession, without deciding the referred tenancy issue, unless the interim order itself requires such determination.

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