Allahbad High Court
B.DAYAL,S.D.KHARE
Mahendra Singh - Appellant
Versus
Attar Singh - Respondent
Decided On : 11/26/1965
LAND REFORMS - BHUMIDHARI RIGHTS - TRANSFERABILITY - RESTRICTIONS - U. P. ZAMINDARI ABOLITION AND LAND REFORMS ACT, 1950 - SECTION 152 - BHUMIDHARI RIGHTS ARE TRANSFERABLE SUBJECT TO CONDITIONS IN THE ACT - NOTIONS OF HINDU LAW OR MOHAMMEDAN LAW NOT APPLICABLE - BHUMIDHAR CAN TRANSFER HIS INTEREST WITHOUT PROVING LEGAL NECESSITY.
Fact of the Case:
Attar Singh, the adopted son of Jeet Singh, filed two suits challenging the sale deed executed by Jeet Singh in favor of Mahendra Singh, alleging that the sale was without legal necessity, consideration, and involved joint family property. The trial court upheld the sale of the house, gher, and half of the bhumidhari land but set aside the sale of the other half of the bhumidhari property. The lower appellate court set aside the entire sale deed and decreed the suit for the release of the attached crop. Mahendra Singh appealed against these decisions.
Finding of the Court:
The High Court held that the sale deed was valid only to the extent of half of the bhumidhari property held by Jeet Singh. It held that the bhumidhari rights were not joint family property and could be transferred without proof of legal necessity under the U. P. Zamindari Abolition and Land Reforms Act, 1950. The court also dismissed the appeal related to the attached crop, upholding the finding that Mahendra Singh did not have possession of the plots and could not have sown the crops.
Issues: 1. Whether the bhumidhari rights were joint family property and could be transferred without proof of legal necessity. 2. Whether Mahendra Singh had possession of the plots and was entitled to the attached crop.
Ratio Decidendi: 1. The U. P. Zamindari Abolition and Land Reforms Act, 1950, Section 152, grants bhumidhars the right to transfer their interest subject to the conditions in the Act. 2. The notions of Hindu Law or Mohammedan Law are not applicable to bhumidhari rights, which are governed solely by the provisions of the Act. 3. A bhumidhar can transfer his interest without proving legal necessity or making a gift of the property, unlike joint family property governed by Hindu Law.
Final Decision: The High Court partly allowed the appeal challenging the sale deed, upholding the validity of the sale only to the extent of half of the bhumidhari property. It dismissed the appeal related to the attached crop, confirming the lower court's finding that Mahendra Singh was not entitled to the crop.
B. DAYAL, J. :- These are two connected appeals both arising out of two suits filed by Attar Singh against Mahendra Singh and Jeet Singh referred to this bench by a learned Single Judge. Both the suits nos. 145 of 1954 and 333 of 1954 were heard together. The former suit no. 145 of 1954 was treated as the main suit. The allegation of the plaintiff was that the sale deed executed by his adoptive father Jeet Singh in favour of Mahendra Singh was without legal necessity, without consideration and was in respect of the joint family property in which he was also interested as the adopted son and the sale deed was, therefore, invalid. There were proceedings under section 145, Cr. P.C. and the agricultural plots and their crop had been attached in criminal proceedings. The second suit was, therefore, filed for a declaration that the attached, property, namely, the crop belonged to the plaintiff and was liable to be released in favour of the plaintiff. The defence taken to both these suits was that Jeet Singh had a right to sell the property, that there was legal necessity and there was valid consideration for the sale. It was also denied that the plaintiff was an adopted son of Jeet Singh. The trial court after hearing both the suits, came to the conclusion that the sale deed was for legal necessity and consequently the house, the gher and half of the agricultural bhumidhari land which belonged to Jeet Singh were validly transferred by the sale deed. But the court held that half of the bhumidhari property could not be sold by Jeet Singh as it was the share of the plaintiff Attar Singh, and Jeet Singh had no right to sell it. The court also found that possession of the agricultural plots had been handed over to Mahendra Singh, the transferee even before the sale was executed and consequently the crop grown upon these plots belonged to the transferee and the plaintiff had no right to it. On these findings, the trial court decreed suit no. 145 of 1954 only to the extent of the half of the bhumidhari property and dismissed the rest of the plaintiff's claim in that suit, and dismissed suit no. 333 of 1954 Against that decision, the plaintiff filed two appeals, appeal no. 165 of 1963 against the decision in suit no 145 of 1954 refusing to set aside the sale in respect of the house, the gher and half of the bhumidhari property and appeal no. 150 of 1963 against the dismissal of his suit no. 333 of 1954. The defendants filed appeal no. 180 of 1963 against that part of the decision in suit no. 145 of 1964 by which the sale deed was set aside to the extent of half of the bhumidhari property. The learned Civil Judge heard all the three appeals together and framed three points for its decision. The first was whether Attar Singh was the adopted son of Jeet Singh and on this he came to the conclusion that he was the adopted son. This was the concurrent finding by both the courts below and has not been challenged before us in Second Appeal. Nothing more need be said about that matter now.
2. The second point considered by the lower appellate court was whether Attar Singh could get the whole sale deed executed by Jeet Singh in favour of Mahendra Singh set aside. On this point, the lower appellate court found that there was no legal necessity for the sale and that the bhumidhari property also was the joint family property and in the absence of legal necessity no part of it could be transferred by Jeet Singh. He, therefore, set aside the whole of the sale deed. The third point considered by the lower appellate court was whether the plots in suit were given in the possession of Mahendra Singh, the transferee so that the crop in dispute for Rabi 1361 F was sown by him. On this point the court found that possession had not been transferred to the transferee and the crop was, therefore, not sown by him. On this ground suit no. 333 of 1954 was also decreed. Against that decision of the lower appellate court, two appeals have been filed by Mahendra
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