R.C. Lahoti, J.--1. Not a dismissal of the suit at the end of a civil trial but the rejection of plaint at the very threshold of the civil jurisdiction of the trial Court, holding the suit to be barred by law of the land, has left the plaintiff with no other choice but to prefer this First Appeal under section 96 of the Civil Procedure Code. The contesting defendant pleaded the bar enacted by section 4 of the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act, 1988 (hereinafter referred to as the 'Benami Act', for short) to the maintainability of the suit and the plea has found favour with the trial Court entailing exclusion of trial of plaintiff's case on merits.

2. The facts in brief and only to the extent necessary for the decision in this appeal may be noticed. The parties, except Balkrishan, the defendant No.6, are members of the same family. The following family tree explains their relationship inter se;

Ramgopal Gupta

Gyanchand-defendant Wife- Bhagirathi-defendant Subhash Chandra

No 1. No 1 -plaintiff.

Wife-Sushila –defendant Santosh Kumar-defendant Wife-Vma-defendant

No.2 No.3 No.5.

Smt. Uma, the defendant No. 5, is the wife of the plaintiff-appellant. Smt. Sushila, the