The court held that the plaintiffs had failed to prove that any settlement was made in favour of their ancestors or that they were ever in possession of the land in suit, and therefore, the suit was barred by limitation.

Choudhary, J.

1. This appeal is by the plaintiffs. They instituted a suit for declaration of their title to and recovery of possession over 13.27 acres of land out of plot No. 583 of khata No. 243 in village Burhee Pali Tajpur, Taraff Ramcharan, Tolo Mahrauchak, Kita Kohwarba. The said land admittedly was the bakasht land of one Ramdhan Singh who died before survey leaving behind two widows, (1) Musammat Manrup Kuer and (2) Musammat Pari Kuer. The case of the plaintiffs is that in Aswin, 1317 Fasli, corresponding to October, 1909, their ancestors took settlement of the said land orally from those two widows on an annual rental of Rs. 85/- and that they and their ancestors were all along in possession thereof as occupancy raiyats.

Subsequently, on the 18th of September, 1928 on partition between the members of their family the said land was divided amongst the co-sharers in live equal shares under a registered deed which was attested by defendants 1, 13 and 34 who had also acted as Panches in the partition. It appears that Musammat Manrup Kuer died in the year 1923 and on her death Musammat Pari Kuer came in exclusive possession of the entire inheritance of the said Ramdhan Singh. On the 5th of April, 1933, she executed a registered deed of surrender in favour of Gaya Prasad Singh and Falgu Prasad Singh alleging them to be the daughters sons of Ramdhan Singh and as such his next reversioners.

Later on, Musammat Pari Kuer died and on her death a dispute arose with regard to the inheritance of her husbands estate between Gaya Prasad Singh and Falgu Prasad Singh on the one hand and the defendants, who claimed to be his agnates, on the other. As a result of this dispute, cases cropped up between the parties in the Land Registration Department as well as in the criminal court under Sec.145 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. In that proceeding plaintiff No. 1 along with other persons who also claimed to have taken settlement of other lands from the two widows made an application to be added as parties, but their application was rejected.

All those cases, however, terminated in favour of the said Gaya Prasad Singh and Falgu Prasad Singh and the defendants had to file five title suits against them for declaration of their title to and recovery of possession over that inheritance. All those suits were decreed in favour of the plaintiffs by the trial court and the decrees were maintained on appeal by this Court. In pursuance of the decrees passed by the trial court, the defendants took delivery of possession over the properties constituting the Inheritance of the said Ramdhan Singh.

Thereafter, trouble arose between the plaintiffs and the defendants with regard to the suit land, and a proceeding under Sec.145 of the Code of Criminal Procedure was started as between them which ended in favour of the defendants on 22-10-1940. The present suit was, therefore, filed by the plaintiffs for the reliefs stated above on the allegal ion that as a result of the order passed under Sec.145 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, they were dispossessed by the defendants.

The suit was mainly contested by defendants 1 to 3, 5 to 8, 13 to 10, 20 and 21, who filed a joint written statement. They pleaded, inter alia, that the land in suit was never settled with the ancestors of the plaintiffs and that they were never in possession thereof. It was also alleged that Sundar Singh, brother of Musammat Pari Kuer, was the manager of her estate, that on her death he had falsely set up Gaya Prasad Singh and Falgu Prasad Singh, who were his relations, to claim being the daughters sons of Musammat Manrup Kuer in order to deprive the defendants of the inheritance of Ramdhan Singh and that the plaintiffs are the creaturtes of the said Sunder Singh who, having failed in his first attempt to usurp the estate of Ramdhan. Singh by setting up the above Gaya Prasad Singh and Falgu Prasad Singh, has set up these plaintiffs to claim the land in Suit as being their raiyati