Allahbad High Court
S.N.KATJU
Maharaj Singh - Appellant
Versus
Baljit Singh - Respondent
Decided On : 09/21/1966
EASEMENT - RIGHT TO FLOW WATER - PRESCRIPTION - COPARCENARY PROPERTY - OWNERSHIP OF HOUSE FROM WHICH WATER FLOWS - ACQUISITION OF EASEMENT BY COPARCENER OVER COPARCENARY LAND - ESSENTIAL INGREDIENT OF 'ANIMUS' - NATURE AND CHARACTER OF SERVIENT LAND - FRIENDSHIP OR RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SERVIENT AND DOMINANT OWNERS - CIRCUMSTANCES UNDER WHICH USER TOOK PLACE.
Fact of the Case:
Dispute between parties over five Parnalas. Maharaj Singh claimed injunction restraining Baljit Singh from interfering with his right to flow water from the Parnalas. Baljit Singh sought injunction restraining Maharaj Singh from interfering with his right to obstruct the flow of water. Trial court allowed Maharaj Singh's claim for two Parnalas and dismissed the rest. Lower appellate court allowed Baljit Singh's appeals and dismissed Maharaj Singh's appeals. Both parties appealed to the High Court.
Finding of the Court:
Maharaj Singh failed to prove partition between Nand Kishor and his brothers, hence could not prove prescriptive rights of easement to flow water on the land in question. Maharaj Singh, as a coparcener of the land over which easement was claimed, could not claim any easementary right over it. Maharaj Singh acquired a prescriptive right of easement to flow water on the land in dispute as water flowed down from his house over the land for over 20 years.
Issues: Whether Maharaj Singh had acquired a prescriptive right of easement to flow water on the land in dispute.
Ratio Decidendi: A dominant owner cannot claim an easementary right over land of which he himself is the owner. The essential ingredient of 'animus' is present if the servient tenement does not belong to the person claiming the easement absolutely and if the exercise of the right is capable of being resisted. The nature and character of the servient land, the friendship or relationship between the servient and dominant owners, and the circumstances under which the user took place, may induce the Court to hold that the enjoyment was not 'as of right' although there is no direct proof that the enjoyment was had with the permission of the servient owner.
Final Decision: Maharaj Singh's appeals partly allowed, Baljit Singh's appeals dismissed. Suit No. 744 of 1958 instituted by Baljit Singh decreed in terms of the decree passed by the trial court.
2. Admittedly the water from the Parnalas flows from the house of Maharaj Singh and falls down on the land which now admittedly belongs to Baljit Singh, Maharaj Singh instituted Suit No. 669 of 1968 claiming an injunction restraining Baljit Singh from interfering with his right to flow water from the aforesaid Parnalas. It has given rise to Second Appeals Nos. 3786 and 3788 of 1960. Baljit Singh instituted Suit No. 744 of 1958. He asked for an injunction restraining Maharaj Singh from interfering with his right to obstruct the flow of water falling from the Parnalas in dispute. It has given rise to Second Appeals Nos. 3785 and 3787 of 1960.
3. The trial court held that Maharaj Singh was entitled to flow water from two Parnalas and dismissed the rest of the claim of Maharaj Singh. It also dismissed Baljit Singh's claim with regard to the Parnalas for which Maharaj Singh's claim had been allowed. Both the parties preferred appeals before the lower appellate court. It allowed the appeals preferred by Baljit Singh and dismissed the appeals filed by Maharaj Singh. The result was that while Maharaj Singh's suit was dismissed the suit instituted by Baljit Singh was partly decreed. Maharaj Singh and Baljit Singh both have preferred second appeals to this court.
4. Nand Kishore, Khoob Singh and Anup Singh were three brothers. Nand Kishore had two sons; Maharaj Singh and Damodar Prasad. Baljit Singh purchased on 7-1-1952 the interest of Khoob Singh and Anup Singh in the land over which the water from the Parnalas in dispute is discharged. Admittedly the house from which the water from the Parnalas in dispute flows down belonged exclusively to Maharaj Singh. There was a controversy with regard to the interest of Maharaj Singh in the land which is now owned by Baljit Singh and over which the water from the Parnalas in dispute falls down and flows through. It appears that the aforesaid land belonged to the three brothers Nand Kishor, Khoob Singh and Anup Singh Maharaj Singh alleged that there was a partition between Nand Kishor and the brothers Khoob Singh and Anup Singh as a result of which the land now belonging to Baljit Singh had come to the share of Khoob Singh and Anup Singh. The court below observed as follows:
"Thus I hold that Maharaj Singh has failed to prove the Batwara between Nand Kishor and his brothers and as such he has failed to prove that the water on the land in question was flowing as of right and as such it cannot be held that he has acquired prescriptive rights of easement to flow water on the land in question.''
I am not quite satisfied with the finding of the lower appellate court that Maharaj Singh had failed to prove the partition between Nand Kishor and his brothers, but it is a finding of fact and is binding on me. The fact is that the land over which the right of easement is claimed was coparcenery properly. Before its transfer in favour of Baljit Singh on 7-1-1952 when Maharaj Singh was a coparcener of the land over which easementary right was claimed by him it could not be said that he had been exercising the right to flow water "as of right''. It cannot be denied that a dominant owner could not claim an easementary right over land of which he himself is the owner. The very concept of easementary right implies the exercise of the right by one person over the property belonging to another. It was held by the court below that since Maharaj Singh was himself one of the owners of the servient tenement, he could not claim any easementary right over it. Learned counsel for Maharaj Singh strenuously argued that it could not be said that Maharaj Singh, under the circumstances of the case, could not claim the right to flow water over the land in dispute. He argued that if the land in dispute before its transfer to Baljit Singh belonged to the coparcenery of which Maharaj Singh was one of the members, then even in
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