Judgement

Appeal (No. 14 of 1919) from a judgment and decree of the Court of the Judicial Commissioner (October 22, 1917) reversing a decree of the District Judge, Wardha.

The suit had been on appeal to the Privy Council in September, 1913, the appeal being reported at L.

R. 40 I. A. 213. On that occasion the suit was remanded for trial. The principal question arising in the present appeal was whether the first respondent (the principal defendant) Jainarayan had been validly adopted by Jaidevi Bai as a son to her deceased husband Rambilas. The fact of the adoption, which took place in 1886 or 1887, was not in dispute. The appellants-plaintiffs alleged that the family was governed by the Mitakshara, and that Jainarayan being an orphan the adoption was invalid. The family were Hindus of the Dhusar caste who about 1836 had migrated into the Central Provinces from the Gurgaon District of the Punjab. The defendants pleaded that the family was governed by the customary law of the Gurgaon District and not by Hindu law, and that the adoption was valid according to the customary law. The plaintiffs by their reply pleaded (inter alia) that the Dhusars were not agriculturists and consequently