Judgement

Consolidated Appeals (No. 12 of 1932) from three decrees of the Chief Court of Oudh in its appellate jurisdiction (August 25, 1930) affirming two decrees of the Court in its original jurisdiction (April 15, 1929) subject to a slight modification as to one of the said decrees.

The appeals related to the succession to the estate of a Mahomedan taluqdar, Raja Shamsher Bahadur, who was included in list 2 made under s. 8 of the Oudh Estates Act, 1869. The taluqdar died on April 18, 1883, having on March 26 of that year executed a will by which, after certain charitable gifts, he bequeathed half his property to his senior wife Aulia Begam and their only surviving child Jani Begam, and the other half to his junior wife Barkat-un-nissa Begam, who was childless. Aulia died in 1897, and Barkat-un-nissa in 1927.

The two suits giving rise to the present three appeals were instituted in the Chief Court in 1928. Abdul Latif, the appellant in the first appeal, was the grandson of Nawat Begam, the elder daughter of the deceased taluqdar who had predeceased him; Abadi Begam, the first respondent in the first appeal, was the elder daughter of Aulia Begam.

The claims made in the two suits,