The Supreme Court reiterated that a counterclaim can't be filed by a defendant against co-defendants. The Court clarified that a counterclaim can only be filed against the plaintiff on a cause of action incidental or connected with the cause of action on which the plaintiff's suit was filed.

"a counter claim though can be based on different cause of action than that are put forth in the suit, it should be one incidental or connected with that cause of action and it has necessarily to be directed against the plaintiff and cannot be directed against the co-defendant." , observed a bench of Justices K Vinod Chandran and NV Anjaria while setting aside the Jharkhand High Court's decision which allowed the filing of a counter claim by a defendant against the co-defendant.

The High Court's r

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