The court upheld that prior judicial decisions and principles of estoppel bar the plaintiffs from claiming partition in contravention of established property rights.

JUDGMENT : 
SASHIKANTA MISHRA, J. 

This is a plaintiffs’ appeal against a reversing judgment. The suit filed by the plaintiffs for partition was decreed by the trial Court but was reversed in appeal. 

2. For convenience, the parties are referred to as per their respective status before the Trial Court. 

3. Before adverting to the case of the parties it would be proper to refer the following genealogy showing the relationship of the parties. 
 

 
4. Original plaintiffs, defendant No.1 and defendant Nos. 10 to 18 are the successors of Sk. Habibulla, the common ancestor. Sk. Habibulla died leaving behind four sons and two daughters as indicated in the above table. Khalil died unmarried, while the daughters- Alarakhi and Lejua died issueless. Khuda Bux died leaving behind his two sons, Hossain Mohammed and Sk. Chunoo. Hossain died issueless, while Sk. Chunoo was succeeded by his eight children- four sons (defendant Nos. 11 to 14) and four daughters (defendant Nos. 15 to 18). On the other hand, Inayat died leaving behind four children- two sons and two daughters. His son -Didar died issueless leaving behind his widow-Kariman. His second son- Darastulla was succeeded by his son Sk. Ataulla (defendant No.1). His daughter Hanifa died issueless. His other daughter- Kalsoon Bibi is defendant No.10. Pachu died leaving behind six children- two sons and four daughters. Rahemtulla, as already stated, is his elder son and plaintiff No.1. Gafur is his second son and plaintiff No.2. His daughters are Kariman Bibi, Khatun Bibi, Futi Bibi and Haboon Bibi. 
4.2 One Kabul Khan being the maternal uncle of Hanifa (daughter of Inayat) was looking after her affairs and taking advantage of her simplicity, he obtained a sale deed from her in his favour on 03.06.1948. Subsequently, he filed a suit (T.S. No. 61 of 1951) claiming partition of his purchased property. Hanifa was not a party to the suit. In the said suit, Sk. Ataulla and Kariman (wife of Didar) were parties. The suit ended in a compromise, whereby, Kabul Khan got half share as per the sale deed dated 03.06.1948, while Ataulla and Kariman each got 1/4th share. After coming to know about the sale deed dated 03.06.1948 obtained by Kabul Khan, Hanifa filed a suit being Q.S. No. 101 of 1958 for its cancellation. Said suit was decreed and thereby, her share of the property came to her possession. While the matter stood thus, on 16.01.1963, Hanifa orally gifted her share in favour of Sk. Rahemtulla and Sk. Gafur, the original plaintiffs and delivered possession. 
4.3. Further, in the MS ROR in Lot No. 1, 4 and 6 in ‘Kha’ Schedule, the properties were wrongly recorded in the names of Didar and Ataulla, even though only Lot No.2 belongs to Didar. The plaintiffs thus, filed the suit claiming shares of Hanifa and Kariman apart from their 2/3rd shares. Defendant No.1 contested the suit by filing written statement claiming the plaintiffs had no share in suit property. Maintainability of the suit was questioned on the ground of complete partition effected in O.S. No. 24/43, in which the original plaintiffs, Rahemtulla and Gafur were defendant Nos. 1 and 2. The suit was decreed, whereby Rahemtulla and Gafur got Ac.13.21 dec. 5 kadis towards their share, out of which they sold some property to others leaving a balance of Ac.11.15 dec. but the Civil Court Commissioner made separate allotments by virtue of the Final Decree passed in the said suit and the respective allottees were put in possession accordingly. Hanifa being the exclusive owner of the suit property was defendant No. 9(a) in the said suit being substituted after death of her brother, Didar. 
4.4. Another suit being O.S. No. 146 of 1988 was filed by Gafur (plaintiff No.2) for partition against Rahemtulla (plaintiff No.1), which was compromised. According to defendant No1, the plaintiffs cannot claim partition of Hanifa’s property because the same was gifted to defendant No.1. On the contrary, Kalsoon Bibi, sister of Hanifa executed a ‘Nadabi patra’ in favou