Allahabad HC Transfers Adoption Deed Cancellation Suit to Kanpur Nagar to Avoid Conflicting Decrees

Holding that two suits arising from the same adoption deed must be heard by one court, the Allahabad High Court transferred a cancellation suit from Kannauj to Kanpur Nagar under Section 24 CPC.

The Allahabad High Court has allowed a transfer application under Section 24 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, directing that a suit seeking cancellation of a registered adoption deed — filed before the Court of Civil Judge (Junior Division), Kannauj — be moved to the Court of Civil Judge (Junior Division), Kanpur Nagar. The reason: an earlier declaratory suit involving the very same adoption deed and the very same parties was already pending at Kanpur Nagar. Justice Dr. Yogendra Kumar Srivastava, sitting singly, found that allowing both proceedings to continue independently before different courts would risk duplication of evidence and the real possibility of inconsistent decrees on the same document.

The Dispute Before the High Court

A registered adoption deed dated 30 June 2022 was executed between the parties, under which a minor girl child was given in adoption to the applicants, Preeti Mishra and another. The applicants state that since the deed was executed, they have been caring for the adopted child, who has settled into their family.

Trouble arose when the opposite parties — Vishnu Kant Tripathi and another — began pressing for the child's return. The applicants responded by filing O.S. No. 2465 of 2022 before the Civil Judge (Junior Division), Kanpur Nagar, seeking a declaration that the adoption deed dated 30 June 2022 is legal, valid, and binding. That suit remained pending.

The opposite parties then instituted O.S. No. 170 of 2023 before the Civil Judge (Junior Division), Kannauj, seeking cancellation of the very same adoption deed. The applicants filed Transfer Application (Civil) No. 900 of 2023 in the High Court, seeking to have the Kannauj suit moved to Kanpur Nagar so that both suits could be heard together.

Counsel for the opposite parties, Sri Rajeev Tiwari, stated on instructions that his clients had no objection to the proposed transfer.

The Legal Issue: Section 24 CPC and the Limits of Consent

Section 24 of the Code of Civil Procedure empowers a High Court to transfer or withdraw any suit, appeal, or other proceeding pending before any court subordinate to it. The power is discretionary.

The court addressed a question that arises whenever both sides agree to a transfer: does the absence of objection suffice to justify the order? Justice Srivastava held that it does not. The opposite parties' consent was “a relevant circumstance” but the exercise of jurisdiction under Section 24 CPC “cannot rest upon consent alone.” The court is required to independently satisfy itself that the transfer would advance the ends of justice.

The court also clarified the scope of the provision: it is not confined to situations where a party demonstrates hardship or inconvenience. Its purpose extends to regulating the course of judicial proceedings so as to secure effective, efficient, and comprehensive adjudication of a controversy. The ultimate test, as the court framed it, is whether the proposed transfer would better serve the administration of justice.

How the Bench Reasoned

Justice Srivastava identified the foundational issue common to both suits: the validity of the adoption deed dated 30 June 2022. In the Kanpur Nagar suit, the applicants seek a declaration of the deed's validity. In the Kannauj suit, the opposite parties seek its cancellation. The principal controversy in both proceedings is, therefore, substantially identical.

Since the same document is at the centre of both suits, the evidence likely to be led and the questions requiring determination would substantially overlap. A finding in one proceeding would inevitably bear directly on the issues in the other. Permitting separate trials before different courts would risk not only duplication of evidence but also the possibility of contradictory decrees — one court upholding the deed and another cancelling it. The court treated the avoidance of such a situation as itself a relevant consideration when exercising Section 24 jurisdiction.

On the choice of forum, the court applied a principle it described as ordinarily applicable: where two suits involving substantially the same subject matter are pending before courts of competent jurisdiction, the court in which the earlier proceeding was filed is the more appropriate forum for continuation of the subsequent proceeding, unless compelling circumstances point otherwise. The declaratory suit at Kanpur Nagar was instituted first — as O.S. No. 2465 of 2022 — while the cancellation suit at Kannauj came later as O.S. No. 170 of 2023. No compelling circumstance was brought to the court's notice to justify departure from this course.

The court added that the discretion under Section 24 CPC exists not merely for the convenience of the parties, but to ensure the orderly administration of justice. Where the controversy in two proceedings is substantially common and the decision in one is likely to have a material bearing on the other, transfer of the subsequently instituted proceeding to the court where the earlier proceeding is pending would ordinarily advance the ends of justice.

Directions Issued

Justice Srivastava allowed the transfer application and issued the following directions:

O.S. No. 170 of 2023 (Vishnu Kant Tripathi and another v. Apurva Shukla and another), pending before the Civil Judge (Junior Division), Kannauj, is withdrawn from that court and transferred to the Civil Judge (Junior Division), Kanpur Nagar, having jurisdiction to try the matter.

The Civil Judge (Junior Division), Kannauj, is directed to transmit the entire original record of the suit to the transferee court within fifteen days of receiving a certified copy of the High Court's order.

Upon receipt of the record, the transferee court at Kanpur Nagar is to proceed with the suit from the stage at which it stands transferred. It is then to consider, after hearing the parties, the desirability of hearing O.S. No. 170 of 2023 together with O.S. No. 2465 of 2022, or of adopting such other procedure as may be permissible in law, so as to secure effective adjudication and avoid inconsistent decrees.

Order

Transfer Application (Civil) No. 900 of 2023 was allowed by the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad on 23 July 2026. O.S. No. 170 of 2023, the adoption deed cancellation suit, stands transferred from the Civil Judge (Junior Division), Kannauj to the Civil Judge (Junior Division), Kanpur Nagar. The Kannauj court must transmit the original record within fifteen days of receiving a certified copy of the order.