Judgement

Appeal (No. 38 of 1921) from a judgment and decree of the High Court (February 27, 1919) reversing a decree of the first Court of the Subordinate Judge of Mozaffapur (November 27, 1916).

The suit was brought in 1914 by one Rai Mahabir Prasad (now represented by the appellants) to recover possession of a village, the plaint alleging that certain execution proceedings in which the village had been sold on April 18, 1899, were illegal, collusive, and fraudulent. The first defendant, the present first respondent, by his written statement denied the facts alleged, and pleaded that the suit was barred by limitation.

The material facts appear from the judgment of the Judicial Committee.

The Subordinate Judge found that one Hari Narain, the purchaser at the sale, was merely a benamidar for the first respondent, as the plaintiff alleged. He held that the first respondent, having purchased after the refusal of an application by him under s. 294 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, for permission to do so, the sale was void and inoperative. In his view the case was governed by art. 141, and not art. 12, of Sch. I. of the Indian Limitation Act, and the suit was therefore not barred