' Petitioner claiming himself to be a purchaser of a House No,BVII/250 situate in Gali Ghaurian, Mohallah Qanungoiyan, Gujrat City, vide registered sale-deed dated 26-2-1992 filed ejectment petition against respondents No,2 and 3 alleging therein that they are in possession of the property in dispute as tenants. It was contested on the basis of title and the learned Rent Controller held that relationship of landlord and tenant does not exist between the parties hence the petitioner should first get his title established inasmuch as he is not proved to be owner of the property in question, the ejectment petition was therefore, dismissed vide order dated 30-7-1992. This order was challenged by the petitioner in appeal before District Court. However, the same was ultimately dismissed as withdrawn by making of unilateral statement that compromise has taken place. The order of dismissal passed in appeal is dated 30-3-1993, and is reproduced as under:- {{URDU TEXT}} 30-3-1993 ' During the pendency of the appeal, the petitioner forcibly ousted respondents Nos, 2 and 3 who appear to be poor helpless occupants of the house. Consequently, a criminal case under section 447/448/148/149, P.P.C. Has been registered against the petitioner and is now pending .Before Illaqa Magistrate for forcible eviction of the respondents on 28-3-1993. An application was filed by Mst.
Hamida Bibi respondent before learned Lower Appellate Court wherein it was prayed that contempt proceedings should be initiated against the petitioner and possession may also be restored inasmuch as during the pendency of appeal before the. Learned Additional District Judge, Gujrat, she has been forcibly dispossessed by the petitioner and hence a serious contempt has been committed. This application was fixed for 30-3-1993, which was the date fixed for arguments in the appeal and was contested by the petitioner who withdrew the appeal on that very day.
Arguments were addressed on the application filed by the respondents, which was allowed vide the impugned order. It is admitted in reply to the application that a criminal case under section 447/448/148/149, P.P.C. Has been registered against the petitioner at the behest of Mst. Hamida Bibi respondent No,2 at P.S. B-Division, Gujrat. Learned Lower Appellate Court before whom the appeal has been pending, vide order dated 31-3-1993 directed restoration of possession. This order has been challenged in this writ petition.
2. Vide order dated 5-4-1993, I had issued a pre-admission notice to respondents Nos,2 and 3 for today. In pursuance of the notice issued by this Court, respondent No,2 who is an old and an illiterate lady has appeared and has denied as having surrendered possession of the house with her freewill. She has stated that the respondents Nos,2 and 3 who are poor and helpless persons have been forcibly ousted by the petitioner and hence have ridiculed the authority of the Court.
3. Mr. Muhammad Iqbal Vehniwal, Advocate learned counsel for the petitioner has contended that respondents Nos,2 and 3 handed over possession of the house in question with their free will and no proceedings were pending before the learned First Appellate Court at the time when the application was decided as the appeal was withdrawn on 30-3-1993. Hence, learned Additional District Judge, respondent No,1, had no jurisdiction to pass the impugned order and, therefore, on this short ground the said order is liable to be set aside. Learned counsel, however, has conceded that a criminal case has been registered against the petitioner for forcible eviction of respondents Nos,2 and 3 and had also admitted that the ejectment petition filed by the petitioner had been dismissed by the learned Rent Controller on the ground that he has not been able to prove that he is the owner of the house in question. He has further conceded that the possession was taken by the petitioner during the pendency of the appeal which was withdrawn unilaterally when an application had already been filed by the respondent that she has been forcibly ejected, hence her possession. May be restored. No deed of compromise or receipt about payment of any consideration was placed on record.
4. I have asked the learned counsel for the petitioner today as to for what consideration the respondents Nos,2 and 3 relinquished their possession and handed over the same to the petitioner, learned counsel states that they received money. I have asked learned counsel to produce any receipt with regard to the payment of money, learned counsel states that no receipt was obtained nor any writing was obtained with regard to the relinquishment of possession. Learned counsel further admits that there is no written deed of compromise. Resultantly, it is quite clear that respondents Nos,2 and 3 have been dispossessed by the petitioner without having recourse to legal proceedings, and, therefore, this being Constitutional discretionary jurisdiction cannot be exercised in favour of a person who does not come to Court with clean hands and whose conduct is not above board. Respondents were dispossessed and application for restoration of possession was filed during the pendency of the appeal. Hence the Court had the jurisdiction to dispose of the same, even if the appeal was withdrawn during the pendency thereof. Withdrawal of appeal in the circumstances of this case speaks volumes about the truthfulness of the case of the respondents.
It is an established principle of law that even a void order is not necessarily to be struck down in exercise of writ jurisdiction. The present is one of those cases where writ jurisdiction should not be exercised in aid of injustice and in favour of a person who has not come to the Court with clean hands.
' Resultantly, I see no force in this writ petition, the same is dismissed in limine. However, if the petitioner has any title in the property in question, he can file a civil suit for establishing his title in the property and possession thereof. For the present, he is not entitled to retain possession of the house in question. With this observation, writ petition stands disposed of.