Mahapatra, J.

1. The plaintiff is the appellant. The suit was one for declaration that the orders of the District Assistant custodian, Patna dated the 25th May, 1950, and that in appeal of the Deputy Custodian, Patna, dated the 11th July 1950 were illegal, ultra vires, without jurisdiction and not binding upon the plaintiff, and, consequently, the house property described in Schedule A of the plaint was not an evacuee property and it did not vest in the custodians.

2. The plaintiffs case, shortly put, is that while he was a clerk in the Patna Collectorate in 1933, he purchased the house in suit in the name of his wife, Mosst. Bibi Qabulunnissa by a registered sale deed. Though the wife figured as the purchaser in the sale deed, in fact, it was the plaintiff who had supplied the consideration money and who has been in occupation of the house in question all through. He exercised his right of ownership and possession over the house since the date of purchase. The District Assistant Custodian, Patna, started a proceeding against his wife under Section 7 of the Administration of Evacuee Property Act, 1950, in April, 1950. A notice (Ext. A) was addressed to "Mosst. Quamrunnissa,