Sri Jawahar Gopal vs Sri Vishal Baliga D on 23 July, 2026

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    Karnataka High Court

    Sri Jawahar Gopal vs Sri Vishal Baliga D on 23 July, 2026

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                            HC-KAR                           NC: 2026:KHC:37920
                                                          WP No. 6857 of 2026
    
    
    
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                       IN THE HIGH COURT OF KARNATAKA AT BENGALURU
    
                             DATED THIS THE 23RD DAY OF JULY, 2026
    
                                               BEFORE
                        THE HON'BLE SMT. JUSTICE LALITHA KANNEGANTI
                            WRIT PETITION NO.6857 OF 2026 (GM-CPC)
                       BETWEEN:
    
                       1.   SRI. JAWAHAR GOPAL
                            SON OF LATE GOPAL RAMANARAYAN,
                            AGED ABOUT 67 YEARS,
                            RAMKRUPA, 6TH MAIN ROAD,
                            GANDHINAGAR,
                            BANGALORE - 560 009
    
                       2.   SMT. SHEELA GOPAL
                            WIFE OF GOPAL RAMANARAYAN,
                            AGED ABOUT 88 YEARS,
                            RAMKRUPA, 6TH MAIN ROAD,
                            GANDHINAGAR,
                            BANGALORE - 560 009
    
                            REPRESENTED BY GPA HOLDER,
    Digitally signed
    by SUVARNA T            MR. JAWAHAR GOPAL,
    Location: HIGH
    COURT OF                AGED ABOUT 68 YEARS,
    KARNATAKA
    
                            SENIOR CITIZEN BENEFITS NOT CLAIMED BY
                            BOTH PETITIONERS,
                            AT NO.21, 3RD FLOOR,
                            RAMAKRIPA, BENSON CROSS,
                            OPPOSITE MILLERS ROAD,
                            BENSON TOWN,
                            BENGALURU - 560 046
                                                                 ...PETITIONERS
    
                       (BY SRI. DHANANJAY JOSHI, SENIOR COUNSEL FOR
                           SRI. VACHAN H U., ADVOCATE)
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    AND:
    
          SRI. VISHAL BALIGA D
          SON OF DINESH BALIGA,
          AGED ABOUT 34 YEARS,
          RESIDING AT NO.56/3,
          MADHURI, BOREWELL ROAD,
          BANGALORE NORTH, WHITEFIELD,
          BANGALORE - 560 006
                                                         ...RESPONDENT
    
    (BY SRI. D.R.RAVISHANKAR, SENIOR COUNSEL FOR
        SMT. SWAMINI GANESH MOHANAMBAL, ADVOCATE)
    
           THIS W.P. IS FILED UNDER ARTICLES 226 AND 227 OF
    THE CONSTITUTION OF INDIA PRAYING TO SET ASIDE THE
    ORDER DATED 26.02.2026 IN SUIT OS NO.1708 OF 2024
    PASSED BY THE HON'BLE II ADDITIONAL SENIOR CIVIL JUDGE
    AND    JMFC,    BANGALORE     RURAL      DISTRICT     AT    ANEKAL
    ALLOWING I.A NO.VIII FILED BY THE RESPONDENT UNDER
    SECTION 151 OF THE CODE OF CIVIL PROCEDURE, 1908
    SEEKING DIRECTION TO THE WHITEFIELD POLICE TO ASSIST
    THE RESPONDENT IN IMPLEMENTING THE INJUNCTION ORDER
    PASSED BY THE TRIAL COURT (ANNEXURE-A) AND ETC
    
    
           THIS    WRIT   PETITION     HAVING     BEEN    HEARD   AND
    RESERVED        ON      17.07.2026,       COMING       ON     FOR
    PRONOUNCEMENT         OF   ORDER       THIS   DAY,    THE   COURT
    PRONOUNCED THE FOLLOWING:
    
    
    CORAM: HON'BLE SMT. JUSTICE LALITHA KANNEGANTI
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                                   CAV ORDER
    
            The present writ petition is filed being aggrieved by the
    
    order        dated    26.02.2026         passed    on    I.A.No.VIII      in
    
    O.S.No.1708/2024 by the II Additional Senior Civil Judge and
    
    JMFC, Anekal, the petitioners/defendants are before this Court.
    
    
            2.       I.A. No.VIII was filed by the plaintiff under Section
    
    151 of the Code of Civil Procedure (hereinafter referred to as
    
    'CPC') praying for directions to the Station House Officer (SHO)
    
    of   Whitefield       Police   Station    to   assist   the   plaintiff   in
    
    implementing the injunction order passed by the trial Court on
    
    I.A.Nos.I and II, which were subsequently affirmed by the
    
    Hon'ble Supreme Court.
    
    
            3.       The trial Court, by the impugned order, allowed the
    
    application. While allowing the application, the trial Court
    
    observed that the plaintiff, along with the application, produced
    
    photographs disclosing that unauthorized persons had entered
    
    the plaint 'B' schedule property and manhandled the plaintiff
    
    and his family members. In the said photographs, it is seen
    
    that the police also joined those elements. In many pictures,
    
    police are seen moving inside the suit schedule property along
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    with them. The trial Court clearly held that the plaintiff is in
    
    possession of the 'B' schedule property and that the defendants
    
    tried to encroach upon it. The learned counsel for the
    
    defendants repeatedly submitted that the defendants are in
    
    possession of the suit 'B' schedule property. This submission is
    
    contrary to the clear findings of the Court. The learned counsel
    
    further argued that the instant application is hit by the
    
    principles of res judicata. However, the instant application is
    
    filed for the implementation of an existing judicial order. If
    
    Court orders are not implemented, the Court can direct the
    
    jurisdictional police to ensure implementation. The trial Court,
    
    while passing orders on I.A. Nos.I and II, made clear
    
    observations regarding the police report, the conduct of the
    
    police, and the illegal acts of the defendants and their goonda
    
    elements. The trial Court noted that the defendants, without
    
    respecting the rule of law or the orders of the Court, are
    
    repeatedly interfering, and their behaviour is not condonable.
    
    The points urged by the counsel for the defendants in his
    
    arguments have no force and holds no water. Orders of the
    
    Court cannot merely remain on paper; it is the duty of the
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    Court to enforce them. Consequently, the trial Court issued
    
    directions to the SHO of Whitefield Police Station to implement
    
    the orders passed on 02.06.2025, to remove any obstruction
    
    placed by the defendants in the plaint 'B' schedule property and
    
    held that the office is directed to issue further directions to the
    
    SHO. If SHO failed to implement the orders, strict and stringent
    
    actions will be recommended.
    
    
          4.       When the matter came up for preliminary hearing
    
    before a Co-ordinate bench of this Court on 27.02.2026,
    
    emergent notice was issued to the respondent, returnable by
    
    02.04.2026. The parties were directed to maintain status quo in
    
    relation to the petition schedule 'A' and 'B' properties, with
    
    liberty reserved to the respondent          to   seek vacation or
    
    modification of the order.
    
    
          5.       Learned Senior Counsel representing the learned
    
    counsel for the petitioners/defendants submits that the plaintiff
    
    had   previously     sought   police   protection   and   had   also
    
    approached this Court by filing a writ petition. It is argued that
    
    in light of the two earlier petitions seeking police protection, the
    
    present application is barred by res judicata, and the trial Court
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    had failed to consider the same. It is further argued that the
    
    defendant is in actual possession of the property, and police aid
    
    cannot be utilized as a means to dispossess him or deliver
    
    possession to the plaintiff. The learned Senior counsel contends
    
    that if the plaintiff alleges dispossession, the only remedy
    
    available is to institute a suit under Section 6 of the Specific
    
    Relief Act, 1963, rather than invoking police machinery. It is
    
    submitted that the plaintiff's grandmother purchased the suit
    
    Schedule   'B'   property,   measuring   2   acres   6   guntas   in
    
    Sy.No.56/3, Nelluruhalli, K.R.Pura Hobli, Bengaluru South Taluk
    
    and executed an Agreement of Sale dated 19.01.1995 to sell
    
    the property to defendant No.2 by executing a General Power
    
    of Attorney in his favour. The plaintiff's father and mother
    
    signed as witnesses in the General Power of Attorney. The
    
    plaintiff's uncle had filed O.S.No.10195/1995 contending that
    
    the said property was a joint family property and that his
    
    mother had no authority to sell it. The plaintiff's grandmother,
    
    as well as the plaintiff's father, filed their respective written
    
    statements stating that the said property was an absolute
    
    property and she was entitled to deal with it.
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           6.          It is submitted that on 25.06.2012, the trial court
    
    decreed the suit O.S.No.10195/1995, holding that the property
    
    was a joint family property and each of the three children of
    
    Smt.Sharada Baliga, including the plaintiff's father, had a share
    
    in it. Aggrieved by the said order, defendant No.2, along with
    
    his brother, filed RFA No.1664/2012 to set aside the judgment
    
    in O.S.No.10195/1995. The RFA judgment and decree was
    
    passed        on     16.04.2024,     setting    aside   the   judgment   in
    
    O.S.No.10195/1995. It is stated that the said matter was
    
    carried up to the Hon'ble Supreme Court, and the Hon'ble
    
    Supreme Court dismissed SLP(C) No.17347/2024 filed by the
    
    plaintiff's father seeking to challenge the order passed in the
    
    RFA. It is the case that when defendant No.2 deployed men and
    
    material to clean up the said property, to provide a wider gate,
    
    and to erect a fence around the said property, the plaintiff and
    
    his family members sought to interfere with the defendants'
    
    possession and prevented the erection of the fence around the
    
    property. Then, complaints were lodged by both of them. The
    
    plaintiff's        father   has    filed     W.P.No.33134/2024     seeking
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    directions to the police to evict the defendants from the
    
    property.
    
    
          7.      It is submitted that, suppressing all these facts, the
    
    plaintiff filed the present suit O.S.No.1708/2024, claiming that
    
    his grandmother, Smt.Sharada Baliga, had left an unregistered
    
    Will dated 10.01.1994 bequeathing the property to him, and for
    
    seeking a declaration that he is the owner of the said property.
    
    Though the said property is situated in Bangalore, that is,
    
    outside the territorial jurisdiction of the District Court, Anekal,
    
    the plaintiff filed the suit at Anekal, contending that the
    
    property was intended to be purchased by his grandmother. On
    
    19.12.2024, the plaintiff filed an I.A. for the grant of an order
    
    of temporary injunction and on the same day, the trial Court
    
    granted an ex-parte order restraining the defendants from
    
    interfering    with   the   plaintiff's    peaceful   possession      and
    
    enjoyment     of   the   suit   schedule    'B'   property.   Then,    on
    
    10.01.2025, the plaintiff filed I.A.No.III seeking directions to
    
    the police to implement the order of temporary injunction dated
    
    19.12.2024. The trial Court granted an order directing the
    
    police to visit the spot and implement the interim order dated
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    19.12.2024. It is submitted that the police visited the said
    
    property and observed that the plaintiff was in possession of
    
    the property and was residing along with his wife and parents
    
    in a house located in the north-western corner of the said
    
    property, and that the rest of the said property is in the
    
    possession of the defendants. Accordingly, the police submitted
    
    the report to the trial Court.
    
    
          8.      It   is   submitted      that   the   plaintiff     filed
    
    W.P.No.10462/2025 seeking directions from the Court to
    
    provide police protection to implement the orders of the trial
    
    Court. The trial Court passed an order confirming the ex-parte
    
    order of temporary injunction granted in favour                 of the
    
    respondent herein. Then, the defendant carried this matter by
    
    filing MFA No.3947/2025. The Appellate Court refused to
    
    interfere with the trial Court's order and the appeal was
    
    dismissed by an order dated 11.07.2025. Then, the petitioner
    
    carried this to the Hon'ble Apex Court by filing SLP (C)
    
    No.20606/2025. But the Hon'ble Apex Court did not interfere
    
    with the order of the trial Court dated 01.08.2025; however, it
    
    directed the Court to expedite the hearing of the case.
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            9.       It is further submitted by the learned Senior
    
    Counsel that by virtue of this order, the Court has asked the
    
    police to put the plaintiff in possession of the property, which is
    
    contrary to settled law. It is submitted that even a trespasser in
    
    a settled possession cannot be evicted by the true owner
    
    except through due process of law. As the law protects
    
    possession itself and prohibits forcible self-help remedies,
    
    reliance is placed on the judgment of the Hon'ble Apex Court in
    
    the case of Rame Gowda (Dead) by LRs Vs. M. Varadappa
    
    Naidu (Dead) by LRs and another1. He relied on paragraphs
    
    Nos.6 to 8, which read as follows:
    
    
                     "6. The law in India, as it has developed,
                 accords with the jurisprudential thought as
                 propounded       by    Salmond. In Midnapur
                 Zamindary Co. Ltd. Vs. Kumar Naresh
                 Narayan Roy and Ors. 1924 PC 144, Sir John
                 Edge summed up the Indian law by stating
                 that in India persons are not permitted to
                 take forcible possession; they must obtain
                 such possession as they are entitled to
                 through a Court.
    
                   7. The thought has prevailed incessantly,
                 till date, the last and latest one in the chain
                 of      decisions     being Ramesh       Chand
                 Ardawatiya Vs. Anil Panjwani (2003) 7 SCC
                 350. In-between, to quote a few out of
                 several, in Lallu Yeshwant Singh (dead) by
                 his legal representative Vs. Rao Jagdish
                 Singh and others (1968) 2 SCR 203, this
    
    1
        (2004) 1 SCC 769
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           Court has held that a landlord did commit
           trespass when he forcibly entered his own
           land in the possession of a tenant whose
           tenancy has expired. The Court turned down
           the submission that under the general law
           applicable to a lessor and a lessee there was
           no rule or principle which made it obligatory
           for the lessor to resort to Court and obtain
           an order for possession before he could eject
           the lessee. The court quoted with approval
           the law as stated by a Full Bench of
           Allahabad High Court in Yar Mohammad Vs.
           Lakshmi Das (AIR 1959 All. 1,4),
    
                    "Law respects possession even if there
                  is no title to support it. It will not permit
                  any person to take the law in his own
                  hands and to dispossess a person in
                  actual     possession     without      having
                  recourse to a court. No person can be
                  allowed to become a judge in his own
                  cause."
    
           In the oft- quoted case of Nair Service
           Society Ltd. Vs. K.C. Alexander and Ors.
           (1968) 3 SCR 163, this Court held that a
           person in possession of land in assumed
           character of owner and exercising peaceably
           the ordinary rights of ownership has a
           perfectly good title against all the world but
           the rightful owner. When the facts disclose
           no title in either party, possession alone
           decides. The court quoted Loft's maxim
           'Possessio contra omnes valet praeter eur
           cui ius sit possession is (He that hath
           possession hath right against all but him
           that hath the very right)' and said,
    
                     "A defendant in such a case must show
                  in himself or his predecessor a valid legal
                  title, or probably a possession prior to
                  the plaintiff's and thus be able to raise a
                  presumption prior in time".
    
           In M.C. Chockalingam and Ors. Vs. V.
           Manickavasagam and Ors. (1974) 1 SCC 48,
           this Court held that the law forbids forcible
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           dispossession, even with the best of title. In
           Krishna Ram Mahale (dead) by his Lrs. Vs.
           Mrs. Shobha Venkat Rao (1989) 4 SCC 131,
           it was held that where a person is in settled
           possession of property, even on the
           assumption that he had no right to remain
           on the property, he cannot be dispossessed
           by the owner of the property except by
           recourse to law. In Nagar Palika, Jind Vs.
           Jagat Singh, Advocate (1995) 3 SCC 426,
           this Court held that disputed questions of
           title are to be decided by due process of law,
           but the peaceful possession is to be
           protected from the trespasser without
           regard to the question of the origin of the
           possession. When the defendant fails in
           proving his title to the suit land the plaintiff
           can succeed in securing a decree for
           possession on the basis of his prior
           possession against the defendant who has
           dispossessed him. Such a suit will be
           founded on the averment of previous
           possession of the plaintiff and dispossession
           by the defendant.
    
               8. It is thus clear that so far as the
           Indian law is concerned the person in
           peaceful possession is entitled to retain his
           possession and in order to protect such
           possession he may even use reasonable
           force to keep out a trespasser. A rightful
           owner     who      has    been    wrongfully
           dispossessed of land may retake possession
           if he can do so peacefully and without the
           use of unreasonable force. If the trespasser
           is in settled possession of the property
           belonging to the rightful owner, the rightful
           owner shall have to take recourse to law; he
           cannot take the law in his own hands and
           evict the trespasser or interfere with his
           possession. The law will come to the aid of a
           person in peaceful and settled possession by
           injuncting even a rightful owner from using
           force or taking law in his own hands, and
           also by restoring him in possession even
           from the rightful owner (of course subject to
           the law of limitation), if the latter has
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               dispossessed the prior possessor by use of
               force. In the absence of proof of better title,
               possession     or   prior   peaceful    settled
               possession is itself evidence of title. Law
               presumes the possession to go with the title
               unless rebutted. The owner of any property
               may prevent even by using reasonable force
               a trespasser from an attempted trespass,
               when it is in the process of being committed,
               or is of a flimsy character, or recurring,
               intermittent, stray or casual in nature, or has
               just been committed, while the rightful
               owner did not have enough time to have
               recourse to law. In the last of the cases, the
               possession of the trespasser, just entered
               into would not be called as one acquiesced
               to by the true owner."
    
    
             10.     He submits that in view of the earlier applications
    
    for police protection, the principle of res judicata applies, and in
    
    that regard, he relied on the judgment in the case of Citizen
    
    Aster     Co-operative     Housing    Society   Ltd   and    others   Vs.
    
    Fredrick. J. D'Souza & others2. He relied on paragraphs 10 to
    
    18, which read as follows:
    
    
                   "10. It is well settled principles of law that
               the principles of res judicata can be invoked
               not only in separate subsequent proceedings
               but it is also attracted at subsequent stage of
               the same proceedings, and once an order
               made in the course of a proceeding becomes
               final, it would be binding at the subsequent
               stage of the same proceeding. This is very
               clear from the ruling of the Apex Court in Y.B.
               Patil and Ors. v. Y.L. Patil, reported in A.I.R.
               1977 S.C. 392. The Apex Court has also ruled
    
    2
        (2005) 2 Bom CR 647
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           in Prahlad Singh v. Col Sukhdev Singh,
           reported in A.I.R. 1987 S.C. 1145 that it is
           well settled that the decision given by a Court
           at an earlier stage of a case is binding at a
           later stage though interlocutory judgments
           are open for adjudication by an appellate
           authority in an appeal against the final
           judgment.
    
               11. In the case in hand, undisputedly, the
           plaintiffs for their benefit and for other
           members of the proposed society which
           included the appellants herein had filed the
           application for temporary injunction which
           was dismissed by the lower Court by order
           dated 31st August, 2000 and no appeal was
           filed against the said order and therefore the
           same has attained finality for all purposes
           during the pendency of the suit. Undisputedly,
           while dismissing the said application for
           temporary injunction the trial Court had held
           that "at this stage it is very difficult to hold
           that defendant Nos. 1 to 3 are not at all
           authorised to sell the part of the suit land to
           the defendant No. 4". Apparently, therefore,
           the trial Court had dismissed the application
           holding that there was no material to disclose
           that the defendant Nos. 1 to 3 had no right to
           sell the part of the suit land to the defendant
           No. 4. The said finding for all purposes in the
           absence of an appeal against the said order
           had attained finality. However, it is sought to
           be contended on behalf of the appellants that
           while arriving at the said finding the trial
           Court had also observed that the said finding
           was "at this stage" thereby to mean that the
           said finding was arrived at on the basis of
           whatever materials which were available a
           prior to the passing of the said order and the
           appellants     have   now     produced     some
           documents which disclose that the defendant
           Nos. 1 to 3 are not entitled to sell part of the
           suit land to the defendant No. 4.
    
               12. As already observed above, the
           appellants cannot justify the claim solely on
           the basis of the alleged documents as no such
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           plea was raised in the application itself and
           the plea in that regard has been sought to be
           raised only in the rejoinder. Secondly, even
           assuming that the said documents can be said
           to be relevant for the matter in issue, they
           were in existence much prior to the filing of
           the suit itself. One of the documents is an
           advertisement dated 24th October, 1992.
           Some are the letters dated 28th October,
           1988 and 4th April, 1989, and the brochure
           dated 7th January, 1989 and power of
           Attorney dated 13th September, 1989,
           besides, some other documents which were
           already referred to in the earlier order. Once
           it is clear that all these documents relate to
           the date prior to the filing of the earlier
           application and there being no disclosure by
           the appellants as to the point of the when the
           appellants came to know about the said
           documents as well as the source of
           knowledge about the said documents, not
           only in the application for temporary
           injunction but even in the rejoinder itself,
           there can be no justification to grant any
           relief in the second application for temporary
           injunction based on such documents.
    
               13. Besides, the rule of constructive res
           judicata will also be attracted in such cases
           and more particularly the one comprised
           under the Explanation IV to Section 11 of the
           Code of Civil Procedure which states that "any
           matter which might and ought to have been
           made ground of defence or attack in such
           former suit shall be deemed to have been a
           matter directly and substantially in issue in
           such suit." In other words, any matter which
           might or ought to have been made a ground
           of attack in the former application shall be
           deemed to have been a matter directly and
           substantially in issue in such application and
           failure in that regard on the part of the
           plaintiffs in the earlier application would
           disentitle   others    for   whose    benefits
           representative suit is filed to reagitate the
           same issue in the form of second application
           for temporary injunction.
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                14.    The   Apex    Court     in Forward
           Construction Co. and Ors. v. Prabhat Mandal
           (Regd.), Andheri and Ors., reported in A.I.R.
           1986 S.C. 391 has held that "an adjudication
           is conclusive and final not only as to the
           actual matter determined but as to every
           other matter which the parties might and
           ought to have litigated and have had it
           decided as incidental to or essentially
           connected with the subject-matter of the
           litigation and every matter coming within the
           legitimate purview of the ordinal action in
           both in respect of the matters of claim or
           defence. The principle underlying Explanation
           IV is that where the parties have had an
           opportunity of controverting a matter that
           should be taken to be the same thing as if the
           matter had been actually controverted and
           decided. It is true that where a matter has
           been constructively in use it cannot be said to
           have been actually heard and decided".
    
               15. The Apex Court in Gulam Abbas and
           Ors. v. State of U.P. and Ors., reported in
           A.I.R. 1981 S.C. 2198 had clearly on the
           principle of res judicata ruled that "It is in the
           interest of the public at large that finality
           should attach to the binding decisions
           pronounced      by    courts    of    competent
           jurisdiction, and it is also in the public
           interest that individuals should not be vexed
           twice over with the same kind of litigation".
    
               16. In Gulabchand Chhotalal Parikh v.
           State of Bombay, A.I.R. 1965 S.C. 1153 and
           in Union of India v. Nanak Singh, A.I.R. 1968
           S.C. 1370, it was held that "it is thus clear
           that Technical aspects of Section 11 of C.P.C.
           as for instance, pecuniary or subject-wise
           competence of the earlier forum to adjudicate
           the subject-matter or grant reliefs sought in
           the subsequent litigation would be immaterial
           when the general doctrine of res judicata is to
           be invoked".
    
              17. In Gulab Abbas's case (supra), it was
           held by the Apex Court that"...... the
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               provisions of Section 11 of C.P.C. are not
               exhaustive with respect to an earlier decision
               operating as res judicata between the same
               parties on the same matter in controversy in a
               subsequent regular suit and that on the
               general principle of res judicata, any previous
               decision on a matter in controversy, decided
               after full contest or after affording fair
               opportunity to the parties to prove their case
               by a Court competent to decide it, will operate
               as res judicata in a subsequent regular suit."
    
                   18. Applying the law on the point of res
               judicata, and considering the fact that the
               application for temporary injunction filed by
               the appellants is on the same grounds which
               were disclosed in earlier application, and
               further that the application of the appellants,
               apart from making a bare claim of change in
               circumstances, does not disclose any change
               as such after disposal of the earlier
               application, the second application was liable
               to be dismissed and was rightly dismissed by
               the trial Court."
    
    
    
             11.     Then, for the proposition that police protection
    
    cannot be used as means to dispossess the parties in
    
    possession or to alter the nature of the suit property, he relied
    
    on a judgment in the case of MR. Srinivas Adhikeshavulu
    
    Dalvoi Vs. Anushka Constructions Pvt. Ltd3. He relied on
    
    paragraphs 7 and 8, which read as follows:
    
    
                      "7. The only grievance of the petitioner is
                   that in the guise of implementing the
                   injunction order passed by the Trial Court,
                   the police are trying to dispossess the
    
    3
        W.P.No.4740/2025
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                  petitioner-defendant from the suit schedule
                  properties.
    
                     8. In that view of the matter, this court
                  is of the opinion that the only direction that
                  can be issued at this stage is to direct the
                  Inspector of Police, Kadugodi Police, not to
                  dispossess the parties, who are in
                  possession of the suit schedule properties
                  and not to alter the nature of the suit
                  schedule     properties.   Accordingly,    the
                  following order is passed:
    
                                     ORDER
    

    a) Writ petition is disposed of.

    b) Inspector of Police, Kadugodi Police
    Station, shall ensure that the order dated
    01.02.2025 passed by the Trial Court on
    I.A.No.3, be complied with. However, in the
    guise of implementing the said order, he
    shall not dispossess the parties, who are in
    possession of the suit schedule properties
    and shall not alter the nature of the suit
    schedule properties.”

    SPONSORED

    12. It is submitted that police protection is confined to

    ensuring compliance with the trial Court’s order and cannot be

    used to aid either party in altering the suit property. He relied

    on the judgment passed in the case of M/s Godrej Properties

    Ltd. Vs. K. G. Anjaneya4. He relied on paragraphs 5, 6, and 7,

    which read as follows:

    “5. Insofar as the prayer sought in
    respect of I.A.No.IV is concerned, the
    application is filed under Section 151 of

    4
    W.P.No.6401/2026 dated 04.03.2026

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                CPC    seeking   police protection.   The
                apprehension of the defendant is that
    

    instead of merely implementing the order,
    the police are supporting the plaintiff in
    altering the nature of the suit schedule
    property.

    6. Learned Senior Counsel appearing for
    the plaintiff- respondent submits that the
    police protection has been sought only to
    ensure that the order of the Trial Court
    passed on I.A.No.I is not violated by any
    party and that the plaintiff will not make
    any alteration to the nature of the property
    with the aid of the police.

    7. In view of the above, no further
    orders are required to be passed on
    I.A.No.IV. However, it is clarified that the
    police shall extend protection only for the
    purpose of ensuring implementation of the
    Trial Court’s order passed on I.A.No.I and
    shall not support either of the parties in
    making any alteration to the suit schedule
    property. In the event of any violation of
    the Trial Court’s order, the police shall
    report the same to the concerned Court.”

    13. Relying on these judgments, it is submitted that the

    order passed by the Court is contrary to law and the same has

    to be set aside.

    14. Sri. D.R Ravishankar, learned Senior counsel

    representing the learned counsel for the respondent, submits

    that when the defendant has suffered an order of injunction

    affirmed till the Hon’ble Supreme Court, the defendant cannot

    come before this Court claiming possession of the property. He

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    has drawn the Court’s attention to the order passed by the trial

    Court. While passing the injunction, the Court observed the

    manner in which the police behaved. He has drawn the Court’s

    attention to paragraph No.16 of the order, in which the trial

    Court observed that the video visuals clearly show that the

    defendants, with the help of goondas, trespassed into the plaint

    schedule ‘B’ property. The defendants also admitted that they

    entered into an agreement with Karnataka Soaps and

    Detergents Ltd., to cut and remove the trees in the plaint

    schedule ‘B’ property. In that, the Court observed that if an

    injunction is not granted, the plaintiff will be thrown out from

    the ‘B’ schedule property and the defendants will change the

    entire ‘B’ schedule property within no time. The acts of the

    defendants cannot be condoned, and the acts of the police

    should be viewed seriously. This is a classic case of illegal acts

    by police and goondas. If an injunction is not granted, the

    defendants will definitely dispossess the plaintiff from the suit

    schedule ‘B’ property and will cut and remove trees in the ‘B’

    schedule property. The Court has also observed that if at all the

    defendants have any right, they have to take possession

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    according to law; their behavior is not proper, and they cannot

    enter into the suit ‘B’ schedule property with the help of

    goondas, and the police visuals are shameful to the police

    department.

    15. The learned Senior Counsel submits that when this

    order was carried in appeal in the MFA, this Court affirmed the

    findings. The learned Senior Counsel has drawn the Court’s

    attention to the order in the MFA. This Court also considered

    the findings regarding the defendants’ high-handed action.

    When the matter was taken further to the Hon’ble Apex Court,

    the Hon’ble Apex Court affirmed the order and refused to

    interfere with the orders passed by the Courts below. It is

    submitted that, in blatant violation of the orders passed by the

    trial Court, this Court and the Hon’ble Apex Court, the

    defendants, without any respect for the rule of law, in collusion

    and hand-in-glove with the police, are repeatedly acting and

    creating law-and-order problems. It is submitted that the

    respondent/plaintiff is left with no alternative, no order was

    passed by any of the Courts rejecting the plaintiff’s case for

    police protection, and the principle of res judicata will not apply

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    to the facts of the case. He relied on the judgment of the

    Telangana High Court in the case of Gadeela Srinivas Reddy

    Vs. State of Telangana5. He relied on paragraphs 27, 28, and

    30, which read as follows:

    “27. The stand that was taken by the
    unofficial respondents with regard to the
    structure being there in the schedule
    mentioned property is that much prior to
    filing of the suit way back in the year 2013
    and about other documents in support of the
    State were negatived by the Court below. It
    is submitted that the unofficial respondents
    have preferred C.M.A. and the same is
    pending. Though the judgment and decree
    dated 25.10.2019 passed in O.S. No. 11 of
    2014, so far the appeal which was filed by
    the respondents has not seen the light of the
    day. On the face of it, it appears that having
    suffered several orders, the
    respondents/defendants were not vigilant in
    pursuing the matters. When an injunction is
    granted restraining them from interfering
    with the property, the very same defendant
    cannot come before this Court and submit
    that if at all they have violated the injunction
    orders, the remedy for plaintiff is to file an
    execution petition.

    28. A party who has no respect to the
    rule of law, who has suffered the decree and
    still consistently filing petition one after the
    other, cannot afford to submit that remedy
    of the petitioner/plaintiff is elsewhere. In
    several judgments cited by the
    petitioner/plaintiff, it has been observed
    that the orders of the Courts have to be
    upheld at all times. In this manner, if litigant
    is permitted to take different stands and
    blow hot and cold at the same time, it would

    5
    W.P.No.271/2020 dated 30.06.2023

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    be very difficult to maintain rule of law and
    impossible to implement the orders of the
    Court.

    30. In the peculiar facts and
    circumstances of the case, where both the
    parties are before this Court by filing two
    kinds of writ petitions by questioning the
    action of the police, where the unofficial
    respondents have suffered decree, all the
    stands that were taken before this Court are
    already negatived by the Court below and
    the decree happens to be of the year 2019, it
    is a fit case where the respondent police
    shall provide police protection in respect of
    the land admeasuring Ac.1-00 guntas in
    Survey No. 435/1 part, situated at
    Gundlapochampally Village, Medchal
    Malkajgiri District as per the judgment and
    decree in O.S. No. 11 of 2014 dated
    29.10.2019.”

    16. Relying on the above judgment, it is submitted that

    unless and until police protection is granted, the order passed

    by the trial Court, which has been affirmed by the Hon’ble Apex

    Court, will become a paper order.

    17. Having heard the learned Senior Counsel appearing

    on either sides, perused the material on record. It is not in

    dispute that an order of temporary injunction was granted.

    Allegations were made of interference and obstruction in the

    implementation of the temporary injunction. Earlier proceedings

    culminated in the trial Court’s observations regarding the high-

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    handed conduct of the police and the defendants. Those

    observations were not interfered in the appeal and were also

    affirmed by the Hon’ble Apex Court. The proceedings, as far as

    the grant of the interim injunction to the plaintiff are

    concerned, have attained finality. Judicial orders, once they

    attain finality, cannot be rendered meaningless by subsequent

    acts of obstruction. The authority of a judicial order does not

    depend upon the willingness of a litigant to obey it. Equally, it

    cannot be subjected to the convenience of the executive

    machinery. The rule of law requires that orders of courts must

    be implemented with the same seriousness with which they are

    pronounced.

    18. The contention that the subsequent application is

    barred merely because an earlier application for police

    protection was filed, and that it operates as res judicata, is a

    submission this Court cannot accept. Police aid is not an

    independent substantive remedy capable of being exhausted by

    a single application; it is a procedural mechanism evolved by

    Courts to secure the effective implementation of an existing

    judicial order. Every fresh act of obstruction to an injunction

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    constitutes a fresh cause requiring appropriate directions.

    Unless the injunction itself has ceased to operate or has been

    vacated, the Court retains complete jurisdiction to ensure its

    effective implementation. The doctrine of res judicata is

    founded on the principle that an issue finally adjudicated

    between the parties should not be reopened. The present

    application, however, does not invite the Court to re-adjudicate

    any issue already decided. It proceeds on the allegation that,

    notwithstanding the subsisting order of temporary injunction,

    fresh acts of obstruction have rendered the earlier directions

    ineffective. Every subsequent act of interference with the

    implementation of an injunction gives rise to a fresh cause for

    invoking the Court’s ancillary jurisdiction. Unless the injunction

    itself has been vacated, modified, or set aside, the Court’s

    power to secure its enforcement remains for the life of the

    injunction.

    19. If the argument of the learned Senior Counsel for

    the petitioners is accepted, the inevitable consequence would

    be that once an application for police aid is disposed of, the

    successful party would be left remediless against all future acts

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    of obstruction during the pendency of the injunction. Such an

    interpretation would enable an unscrupulous litigant to

    repeatedly violate the Court’s order and thereafter shield

    himself behind the technical plea of res judicata. The doctrine

    intended to bring finality to adjudication cannot be converted

    into a weapon to perpetuate disobedience of judicial orders.

    The earlier proceedings, which culminated in observations

    regarding the high-handed conduct of the police, have attained

    finality upon the dismissal of the appeal as well as the SLP

    before the Hon’ble Supreme Court. Those proceedings neither

    extinguished the injunction nor exhausted the Court’s incidental

    jurisdiction to secure its implementation. What has attained

    finality is the legality of the earlier proceedings. What survives

    is the continuing obligation of every person, including the

    executive authorities, to ensure obedience to the subsisting

    injunction. Consequently, the principle of res judicata has no

    application to the facts of the present case and the said

    submission is rejected.

    20. The second contention by the Senior Counsel is that

    the defendants are in possession and that the police cannot be

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    directed to place the plaintiff in possession. There can be no

    quarrel with the settled principle that police aid cannot be used

    as a substitute for the execution of a decree for possession, nor

    can the police be directed to adjudicate disputed questions of

    title or possession. However, that principle cannot be applied to

    the facts and circumstances of the present case, where the

    Court has already granted protection to the plaintiff’s

    possession and the subsequent obstruction is found to violate

    the subsisting injunction. The Court is not helpless merely

    because the violator claims to have altered the factual situation

    by force. No litigant can be permitted to plead his own unlawful

    act as a defence against the implementation of a judicial order.

    If the Senior Counsel’s submission is accepted, it would amount

    to recognizing a doctrine that a litigant who successfully

    violates an injunction acquires an advantage from his own

    contemptuous conduct and thereafter compels a successful

    party to institute fresh proceedings under Section 6 of the

    Specific Relief Act. Such a proposition would strike at the very

    foundation of judicial authority and the rule of law.

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    21. Section 6 of the Specific Relief Act provides a

    summary remedy to a person dispossessed otherwise than in

    due course of law. The existence of this statutory remedy does

    not deprive the Court of its inherent and incidental jurisdiction

    to enforce its own orders. The remedy under Section 6 of the

    Specific Relief Act is an additional remedy available under the

    statute. It cannot be construed as an exclusive remedy that

    disables the Court from ensuring obedience to its own

    injunctions. The Court cannot remain a mute spectator while its

    orders are openly violated. Every Court possesses incidental

    and ancillary powers necessary to preserve the efficacy of its

    own orders. The power to direct police assistance is one such

    recognized power intended to ensure that judicial orders are

    not rendered incapable of implementation.

    22. Equally unacceptable is the submission that the

    impugned order directs delivery of possession. A meaningful

    reading of the impugned order would show that the direction is

    intended to remove the obstruction created in violation of the

    injunction and to restore the efficacy of the judicial order. Such

    restoration cannot be equated with the adjudication of title or

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    the delivery of possession in the execution of a decree. The

    police are not called upon to decide competing claims. They are

    merely required to assist in implementing the Court’s order.

    23. The Court cannot overlook the practical realities

    confronting litigants. A litigant who secures an order after

    undergoing the rigours of judicial proceedings legitimately

    expects that such order will be implemented. If, despite

    obtaining orders from the trial Court, surviving appellate

    scrutiny, and even withstanding a challenge before the Hon’ble

    Supreme Court, the successful party is still left without

    enjoying the fruits of the order, the judicial process itself stands

    seriously compromised. Orders incapable of implementation

    become just paper declarations. The legitimacy of the judicial

    system depends not only upon the correctness of judicial

    pronouncements, but equally upon their enforceability. Public

    confidence in the administration of justice is sustained when

    judicial orders translate into practical reality. If a litigant begins

    to perceive that Court orders can be ignored with impunity until

    the successful party is driven into successive rounds of

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    litigation, the inevitable consequence would be the erosion of

    faith in the rule of law.

    24. The judiciary commands neither the purse nor the

    sword. Its strength lies in the confidence the people place in

    the enforcement of its orders through the State’s constitutional

    machinery. Looking at the earlier proceedings in which the

    conduct of the police authorities was adversely noted and those

    findings having attained finality before the Hon’ble Supreme

    Court, the learned trial Judge was fully justified in issuing

    appropriate directions to ensure that the subsisting order of

    injunction does not remain a paper order incapable of

    implementation.

    25. The conduct of the petitioner throughout the

    proceedings deserves serious notice. After suffering a decree of

    permanent injunction, instead of abiding by the mandate of the

    Court, the defendant has chosen to obstruct its implementation

    by resorting to repeated acts of interference as recorded by the

    trial Court in the order. It is a clear abuse of the process of law.

    Hence, this is a fit case where costs have to be imposed.

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    26. In the considered opinion of this Court, the trial

    Court had rightly considered the matter and has passed an

    order, and this Court finds no reason to interfere. Hence, this

    Court is passing the following order:

    ORDER

    i. Accordingly, the writ petition is dismissed with costs

    of Rs. 50,000/- to be paid to the respondent.

    ii. All I.As. in this petition shall stand closed.

    SD/-

    (LALITHA KANNEGANTI)
    JUDGE

    PKN



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