Refusal to Prepone Hearing Amounts to Pre-Judging Appeal: P&H High Court Intervenes in Partition Dispute

Case Name: Khurshid Ahmed & Ors. v. Shehnaj Begum & Ors.

Date of Judgment: 18 March 2026

Citation: CR-2521-2026

Bench: Justice Virinder Aggarwal

Held: The Punjab & Haryana High Court held that refusal to grant early hearing of an appeal on the ground that the trial court has already protected the parties’ interests amounts to pre-judging the appeal. Courts are required to consider urgency based on facts and cannot decline hearing merely by relying on earlier observations of the trial court.

Summary: The petition arose from a partition suit where the trial court had allowed the defendant to continue construction on the disputed property, subject to the final outcome of the suit and at her own risk and cost. As noted the plaintiffs challenged this order in appeal along with an application for interim injunction.

The appellate court issued notice but declined the petitioner’s request for early hearing, observing that since the trial court had already safeguarded the petitioner’s interests by making construction subject to final adjudication, no urgency was made out.

Before the High Court, the petitioners contended that ongoing construction on a valuable portion of the property would cause irreparable loss and defeat the purpose of the appeal if not heard urgently.

The High Court examined the reasoning of the appellate court and found it unsustainable. It held that the mere fact that construction is at the risk of the defendant does not eliminate the possibility of irreparable harm to the plaintiffs. More importantly, by declining early hearing on such reasoning, the appellate court effectively pre-judged the merits of the appeal.

The Court further clarified that although an Action Plan exists for prioritizing old cases, it does not mean that other cases lacking such categorization should not be heard expeditiously. Courts must assess urgency based on the specific facts and circumstances of each case.

Decision: The High Court allowed the revision petition, set aside the impugned order, and directed the appellate court to pre-pone the hearing of the appeal to the next working week and decide the interim injunction application expeditiously.