Judgment

SEN, J. :- This appeal by special leave is directed against the judgment of a Division Bench of the Punjab High Court in Letters Patent Appeal No. 80 of 1967 dated September 9, 1969 upholding the judgment and order of a learned single Judge dated July 27, 1967. It follows the earlier common judgment delivered by the Division Bench in Letters Patent Appeal Nos. 357-359 of 1467. By the judgment. the learned single Judge allowed three writ petitions filed by respondents Nos. 1 and 2 who are purchasers from the original landholder Kulwant Rai and have been held to be mere benamidars in Civil Suit No, 23 of 1967 decided on January 6, 1967 brought by respondents Nos. 3 to 14, the legal heirs of the aforesaid Kulwant Rai.

2. The arguments in the appeal mainly revolved around the question as to the applicability of the rule laid down by this Court in Rameshwar v. Jot Ram (1976) 1 SCR 847 to the facts and circumstances of the present case. In Rameshwars case. this Court held that the death of the large landholder Teja during the pendency of the appeal before the Financial Commissioner upon the happening of which event inheritance opened resulting in his legal heirs becoming small lan