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1978 Supreme(All) 257

Allahbad High Court
GOPINATH
Hari Lal - Appellant
Versus
Amrik Singh - Respondent
Decided On : 04/18/1978

Advocates:
A.N. Bhargawa and G.P. Bhargawa, for Appellant; S.P. Srivastava, for Respondents.

An unregistered award is admissible in evidence for a collateral purpose, such as to determine the nature of possession of a party to it.

Headnote:

LANDLORD-TENANT - SUIT FOR DECLARATION OF TITLE AND EVICTION - ADMISSIBILITY OF EVIDENCE - UNREGISTERED AWARD - COLLATERAL PURPOSE - REGISTER OF TOWN AREA - ADMISSIBILITY - GENUINENESS OF DOCUMENTS - FINDING OF FACT - ADVERSE POSSESSION - PERMISSIVE POSSESSION - SUIT BARRED BY TIME - TITLE SUIT - VALIDITY OF NOTICE TERMINATING TENANCY.

Fact of the Case:

Plaintiff filed a suit for declaration of title to the premises in suit and eviction of the defendant, who was his tenant. The defendant denied the plaintiff's title and asserted a hostile title in himself. The trial court dismissed the suit, but the lower appellate court reversed the decree and decreed the suit.

Finding of the Court:

The lower appellate court found that the plaintiff was the owner of the premises in suit and the defendant was his tenant. It relied on various evidence, including an unregistered award, entries in the registers of the Town Area, and applications written by the defendant and his son to the authorities concerned.

Issues: 1. Whether the unregistered award was admissible in evidence. 2. Whether the entries in the registers of the Town Area were admissible in evidence. 3. Whether the applications written by the defendant and his son were genuine. 4. Whether the defendant had acquired title to the premises by adverse possession. 5. Whether the suit was barred by time. 6. Whether the suit was rightly tried as a title suit.

Ratio Decidendi: 1. An unregistered award is admissible in evidence for a collateral purpose, such as to determine the nature of possession of a party to it. 2. Entries in the registers of the Town Area are admissible in evidence as public documents. 3. The genuineness of documents is a question of fact to be determined by the trial court. 4. Adverse possession must be proved by the party claiming it. 5. A suit for declaration of title and eviction is not barred by time if the defendant's possession is permissive. 6. A suit for declaration of title and eviction can be tried as a title suit if the defendant repudiates the plaintiff's title and asserts his own.

Final Decision: The appeal was dismissed with costs. Two months were granted to the appellant to vacate the premises.

JUDGMENT :- This is a defendant s appeal arising out of a suit for a declaration that the plaintiff was the owner of the premises in suit and the landlord of the defendant No. 1. He further prayed for a decree of eviction against the defendant No. 1 and the recovery of rent, damages and mesne profits from him. Plaintiff s case was that defendant No. 2 Sita Ram was the owner of the house in suit. He sold it to the plaintiff for a sum of Rs. 8,500 under a registered sale-deed dated 14-8-1968. Defendant No. 1 was Sita Ram s tenant. He was informed of the sale-deed and that he was the plaintiff s tenant thereafter. He, however, denied Sita Rani s title as also of the plaintiff s to the property and asserted a hostile title in himself. He did not pay any rent to the plaintiff since 14-8-1968. He was served with a composite notice of demand and termination of tenancy dated 22-4-1969. He paid no heed to it and neither paid any rent nor vacated the premises instead claimed to be the owner of the property. Hence the suit.

2. Defendant No. 2, Sita Ram supported the plaintiff s claim and alleged that the house in suit was an ancestral property and his grandfather was the owner of it along with few others. By a partition in the family in the year 1957 the house in suit fell to his share and he became its owner. He sold it to the plaintiff under the sale-deed dated 14-8-1968 and the plaintiff consequently became its owner thereafter. It was alleged that the defendant No. 1 and his ancestors had been occupying the premises as tenants, and the defendant No. 1 was his tenant. After the transfer of the property in favour of the plaintiff he became the plaintiff s tenant and was bound to treat the plaintiff as his landlord.

3. The suit was contested by the defendant No. 1 on the allegations that the house in suit was the ancestral house of the defendant, that it never belonged to Sita Ram or his ancestors, that the plaintiff did not acquire any title to it under the sale-deed executed by Sita Ram in his favour. It was alleged that the house in suit existed on plot No. 906 which was acquired by the defendant s ancestors from the Annapur Estate and the house was constructed on it after demolishing a Kachha construction. It accordingly belonged to the contesting defendant and no relationship of landlord and tenant existed between the parties. Boundaries of the house shown in the plaint were also challenged as incorrect.

4. The trial court dismissed the suit on the findings that Sita Ram was not the owner of the house and the plaintiff had acquired no title to it under the sale-deed in his favour. It further found that defendant No. 1 was the owner, in possession of it in his own right and not as a tenant.

5. On appeal the lower appellate court reversed that decree and has decreed the suit holding that the house belonged to Sita Ram and the plaintiff became its owner under the sale-deed in his favour. The defendant was found to be a tenant of Sita Ram and thereafter of the plaintiff and liable to ejectment by the suit on termination of his tenancy by a valid notice under S. 106 of the T. P. Act. The lower appellate court found that the disputed house fell in a row of properties belonging to Sita Ram s ancestor. Its situation, location and structure indicated that it and the other properties were built by one person. It further found that from the evidence on record it was established that it was built by Sita Ram s grandfather. It was further found that there was a partition in the family of Sita Ram in 1957 and by an award dated 6-4-57 Ext. 17 the disputed house fell in his share. The house thereafter was recorded in the records of the Town Area Dildarnagar as the house of Sita Ram with Hari Lal as its tenant at a monthly rent of Rs. 10. The entries continued from 1958 to 1968. They were found to be genuine and reliable by the court below.

6. As to a rent note Ext. 15 alleged to have been executed by Hari Lal the learned Judge agreed with the trial cou

















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