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1954 Supreme(Raj) 13

Rajasthan High Court, Full Bench
Wanchoo C.J., Dave & Modi, JJ.
Kishenlal - Appellant
Versus
Sohanlal - Respondents
Ijlas-i-Khas C. Appeal Nos. 2 & 3 of 1940-41
Decided On : January 18, 1954

Advocates Appeared:
Magraj, for Appellant; Thanchand, for Respondents

Headnote:(a) Appeal—Jodhpur State Ijlas-i-Khas Rules of 1939, Rule 17, Exception—Scope and applicability—Three conditions.(b) Appeal—Right conferred by statute only.(c) Civil P.C., O.45 and R. 3—Grounds of leave—Appellant not precluded from urging grounds other than those on which leave granted—Right based on broader principles than on letter of law.

       According to the plain language of the Exception to Rule 17, the following conditions are required to be fulfilled before a case could be held to be appealable under it : (1) they case must relate to land ; (2) the parties must have pleaded that they held the land otherwise than as a cultivating tenant of the opposite party ; and (3) that an issue must have been framed regarding the tenure in which the land was held. The first condition needs no comment. The second condition was imposed so as to exclude cases involving the relationship of landlord and tenant in respect of agricultural land out of the ambit of the rule as such cases would be normally of a revenue nature, and appeals in revenue cases to the Ijlas-i-Khas were separately provided for under Chapter IV of the said Rules. The view suggested in Hukumsinghs case that the Exception applies to cases where one of the parties denies its status as a tenant is not sound, for the gist of this condition clearly appears to be that the dispute must be of a character not involving the relationship of landlord and tenant at all and not that there should be a denial as to the status of tenancy or that both parties be agreed that the land was not held in tenancy but in any other capacity. Then there is a third condition which requires that the dispute between the parties must involve a controversy as regards the nature of the tenure in which the land in question is held, and a definite issue must have been raised relating to the tenure of the land in question so as to qualify a case for appeal under the Exception. This further condition was deliberately imposed to safeguard the ultimate interests of the Darbar who was the sovereign overlord of all land in the State, even in cases the valuation whereof was below the appealable value prescribed in Rule 17 (a).

       It is open to an appellant to pray for special leave or to support the certificate on grounds other than those on which it was actually ordered to be given. The reason for this view is not to be found in the presence or absence of O. 45 in the Code of Civil Procedure but in the broad consideration that where an appellant succeeds in obtaining leave to appeal on a certain ground which subsequently fails, he should in Justice have the liberty of urging other grounds in support of the leave granted to him which he could have urged or pressed but was not called upon so to do for the reason that he was successful in obtaining leave on the ground which found favour with the court below.

MODI, J.—The question referred to the Full Bench are as follows :—

(1) What is the interpretation to be put on the Exception to Rule 17 of the Ijlas-i-Khas Rules of 1939, and whether it is necessary that there should be an issue as to the nature of the tenure before the exception applies and the conditions contained in clause (a) of Rule 17 can be waived, and whether the decision in Hukum Singhs case is correct ?

(2) Is the decision in Udaimals case correct in view of the fact that Order 45, and particularly O. 45, R. 3, were not in force in the former State of Jodhpur, and whether in view of these facts it is open to a party to whom leave has been granted, to urge other grounds in support of the leave than those on which leave was granted to him by the Chief Court?

2. The facts of the two connected cases out of which this reference has arisen may be stated very shortly for our present purpose. The dispute relates to the succession to the Jagir of Malpuria, Tehsil Sojat, District Pali, and arose on the death of its last holder Ganeshlal. Two rival claims are put forward; one on behalf of Mohanlal appellant in both cases, and the other on behalf of Ambalal and others who were respondents. The former claimed the Jagir as the adopted son of the deceased Ganeshlal while the latter on the ground that they were the next heirs of the deceased, and that the adoption of Mohanlal was void and inoperative so far as succession to the Jagir was concerned, because Mohanlal was out-side the line of original grantee to whom the Jagir was granted by the former State of Jodhpur. Both claimants filed separate suits for a declaration of their respective rights which met with very-ing fortune from court to court, and the Chief Court of the former State of Jodhpur dismissed Mohan Lals suit and decreed the claim of the rival clai-mants. Mohanlal applied for leave to appeal to the Ijlas-i-Khas, and the Chief Court granted leave in both cases with the result that both appeals came up for hearing before a Division Bench of this Court who have made the present reference.

3. It was argued before the learned Judges of the Division Bench, on behalf of the respondents, that the leave to appeal granted by the Chief Court apparently under the Exception to Rule 17 of the Ijlas-i-Khas Rules of 1939 had been erroneously granted and therefore, the appeals were incompetent. The argument was that the valuation of both the suits was admittedly below Rs. 5,000/- and, therefore, 17(a) did not apply and Exception to Rule 17 also did not apply as there was no dispute whatsoever in the suits regarding the tenure in which the Jagir in question was held, and the dispute between the parties merely centred round their rights to succeed to the Jagir. This contention was sought to be met on behalf of the appellants on the authority of Hukam Singh vs. Bhanwar Singh (1) (AIR 1950 Raj., 39.), where a Division Bench of this Court held in effect that the conditions of the Exception were fulfilled where the dispute related to a Jagir, and the judgment of the High Court was one of variance from that of the court below and it was not further necessary that there need have been any controversy regarding the tenure in which the Jagir was held. It may be pointed out that the learned Judges there were called upon to deal with the Ijalas-i-Khas Rules of 1945 and its Rule 18(b) which is the corresponding rule to the Exception to Rule 17 of the Rules of 1939 according to which a further condition as to judgment not being one of affirmance had been prescribed as one of the essential requirements for the applicability of that rule. But the corresponding provision in rule 17 of the Ijlas-i-Khas Rules of 1939 did not contain any such condition and, therefore, nothing turns on this additional qualification so far as the cases before us are concerned. It was contended on the other hand on behalf of the respondent that Hukamsinghs case was wrongly decided inasmuch as it unduly cut down the true import
















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