Joinder of Plaintiff:
All persons may be joined in the suit as plaintiffs where—(a) any right to relief in respect of, or arising out of, the same act or transaction or series of acts or transactions is alleged to exist in such persons, whether jointly, severally or in the alternative, and (b) where, if such persons brought separate suits, any common question of law or fact would arise. (O. 1, R. 1).
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Thus where A publishes a series of books under the title of ‘The Oxford and Cambridge publications” so as to induce a belief that the books are the publication of the Oxford and Cambridge Universities, the two Universities may join as plaintiffs in one suit to refrain A from using the title because the publication and the belief are common questions of fact arising out of same series of transactions.
Joinder of Defendants:
ADVERTISEMENTS:
All persons may be joined in one suit as defendants where—
(a) any right to relief in respect of, or arising out of, the same act or transaction or series of acts or transactions is alleged to exist against such persons, whether jointly, severally or in the alternative, and
(b) If separate suits were brought against such person, any common question of law or fact would arise. Thus, where A received injuries while riding in an omnibus belonging to B through a collision between that omnibus and a cart belonging to C, A may join B and C as defendants in one suit for damages for personal injury caused by their negligence because the injury to the plaintiff arose from the same transaction or series of transactions and the case involves common questions of fact.
Joinder of Causes of Action:
(1) Where there is only one plaintiff and only one defendant Order 2, rule 3, provides that the plaintiff may unite in the same suit several causes of action against the same defendant. But where it appears to the court that any cause of action joined in one suit cannot be conveniently tried or disposed of together the court may order separate trials.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
(2) Where there is one plaintiff and several defendants and several causes of action the plaintiff may unite in the same suit several causes of action against the same defendant if the defendants are jointly interested in the causes of action.
(3) Where there are two or more plaintiff and the defendants and causes of action are also several, the plaintiffs may unite the causes of action against the defendants in one suit, if the plaintiffs are jointly interested in the causes of action and the defendants are also jointly interested in them.
Besides the above, there are two general rules which apply to all cases irrespective of the number of plaintiffs or the number of the defendants and they are provided in Order 2, rules 4 and 5, Order 2, rule 4, provides that in a suit for the recovery of immovable property, a plaintiff is not entitled, without the leave of the court, to join any claim except (1) claims for mesne profits or arrears of rent, (2) claim for damages for breach of any ^contract under which the property is held; and (3) claims in which the relief sought is based on the same cause of action.
Order 2, rule 5, provides that no claim by or against an executor, administrator or heir as such shall be joined with claims by or against him personally. The court has, however, power to order separate trials or make such order as be expedient in the interest of justice where it appears to the court that the joinder of causes of action in one suit may embarrass or delay the trial or is otherwise inconvenient.