1960 (8) TMI 94

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....g practice prevailing both on the Original Side of the High Court as well as on its Appellate Side as also in all the subordinate courts. The question is, whether where more than one person join as co-plaintiffs in a suit, each of the plaintiffs has got an individual right of engaging his own advocate or counsel and conducting the case independently of the other plaintiffs. Mr. Bhabha, the learned counsel for respondents Nos. 1 and 2 was unable to cite any instance in this High Court on its Original Side, where he has been practising for a long number of years, in which in case of a suit filed by more than one person as co-plaintiffs different counsel were briefed for each of the plaintiffs. It cannot be gainsaid that the traditions and con....

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.... out of the same transaction. The law permits these different plaintiffs to join in one action by filing one common plaint only with a view to save multiplicity of suits and consequent wastage of time of the Court. If this is the object of allowing several persons to join as plaintiffs in one action, the object would be frustrated if each of these persons is allowed to be represented by a separate counsel and each one of the counsel is also permitted to be in charge of the case for his own client. I fail to see how, if such things are permitted, the wastage of the time of the Court, which is otherwise intended to be saved by allowing several persons to join together as co-plaintiffs in one action, could at all be saved. On the contrary, far....

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.... to intervene and prevent its further exploitation. The learned judge, however, dismissed that application. It is really very strange that the learned judge should have countenanced the employment of different advocates for the plaintiffs in the suit on the most curious ground that there might be a difference in the views of the two plaintiffs as to the manner in which the case should be conducted on their behalf. Besides, J cannot understand the observation of the learned judge that he had no power to prevent the advocates of each of the plaintiffs from cross-examining the defendants and their witnesses and that all that he could do was to prevent any overlapping of the questions that might be put to them during their cross-examination. Ev....

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.... to be in charge of the case on behalf of tell of them. 5. Mr. Bhabha, however, invited my attention to Order 1, Rule 12 of the Code of Civil Procedure and contended that by virtue of that rule each of the plaintiffs and each of the defendants had an independent right of appearing, acting and pleading for himself by necessary implication. The Rule in fact provides that where there are more plaintiffs than one or more defendants than one, the plaintiffs Or the defendants, as the case may be, may appoint one of them to act, appear and plead on their behalf. Sub-rule (2) provides that the authority so given should be in writing. On the construction of this Rule, it may appear as if each one of the plaintiffs or the defendants, as the ease m....