The Study Of Mesne Profits - Application, Assessment And Calculation In Partition Suits
- IJLLR Journal
- Dec 28, 2025
- 2 min read
Ms. Sanjukta Mitra, BBA LLB (Hons.), Symbiosis Law School, Pune
Mr. Abhinav Saran, BBA LLB (Hons.), Symbiosis Law School, Pune
ABSTRACT
"Mesne profits" is the term used to describe the legal compensation for people who have been denied access to jointly owned property due to the illegal actions of joint co-owners. This is a remedy created by the courts through many years of jurisprudence under the Civil Procedure Code, 1908. It has been established that the Courts will determine a party's rights and interests in accordance with the statutory guidelines of Sections 2(12) and Order XX Rules 12 and 18 of the Civil Procedure Code. This paper will highlight how Section 2(12) and Order XX Rules 12 and 18 work together to provide the process for determining a party's interest in a property before commencing with the physically dividing of the property into separate lots and avoiding the need to file multiple Partition Suit actions when it comes to calculating Mesne Profits. The analysis of the law as determined by the Courts is as follows: Lucy Kochuvareed (1979), The Honourable Supreme Court held that post-preliminary-enquiry mesne profits determination was allowed; Phoolchand (1967), The Honourable Supreme Court allowed multiple decrees to be issued in relation to the same Partition Suit; Shiv Kumar Sharma (2007) held that the plaintiff must pay fees for any past profits recovered; alternatively, the Honourable Supreme Court Shub Karan Bubna (2009) held that mesne profits are a legal and equitable remedy for both parties and there are no standalone claims for mesne profits recovery. The Courts use their discretion to order mesne profits without the need for pleading or an amendment to the original suit when the party seeking mesne profits has complied with the fee requirements and the claim for mesne profits is not deemed to be frivolous. This paper urges the establishment of uniform guidelines for determining the value of mesne profits, as well as a common method for executing the enforcement process, and penalties for delayed enforcement of mesne profits, to enable rapid family partition resolutions and to reduce Court backlogs.
Keywords: Mesne profits, Partition suits, Order XX Rule 12, preliminary decree, court fees.
