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SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
N.V. RAMANA, DEEPAK GUPTA, INDIRA BANERJEE, JJ.
SOPANRAO AND ANR. – APPELLANT(S)
Versus
SYED MEHMOOD & ORS. – Respondent
CIVIL APPEAL No. 4478 of 2007
Decided on : 03-07-2019
Facts of Case:
Title suit. Trial court dismissed the suit of the plaintiffs and held that suit was not filed within period of limitation. It also held that suit is bad for non-joinder of parties. Lastly, trial court held that plaintiffs had failed to prove that suit land was Inam land or the plaintiffs are Inamdars. District Judge reversed judgment and decree of trial court and came to the conclusion that the land originally belonged to Dargah and plaintiffs and Defendant No. 12 were the Inamdars of the suit land. It further held that Government had wrongly given possession of suit property. It was also held that all necessary parties had been joined in suit. Finally, first appellate court held that the plaintiffs were entitled to a decree for possession of suit land and accordingly allowed appeal and decreed suit.
Findings of Court:
High Court rightly held that plaintiffs were not claiming any personal right in land but only claiming rights of management over property of Dargah. Civil court had jurisdiction to decide suit.
Result : Appeal dismissed.
JUDGMENT
Deepak Gupta, J.
A suit was filed by Respondent Nos. 1 to 4 herein before the trial court against the present appellants and others in which the main prayers were as follows:
(i) "That, the lands S.Nos.60, 62, 77, 79/2 and 78 admg. 31 acres 32 gunthas, 15 acres 22 gunthas, 27 acres 18 gunthas, 15 acres 19 gunthas and 9 acres 19 gunthas respectively situated at village Haregaon Tq. Ausa Dist. Latur may be declared as Inam lands of Niyamatullah Shah Dargah Haregaon and the plaintiffs as Inamdars of the above lands.
(ii) That, the plaintiffs be put in possession of the lands referred to above from defendant No. 1 to 11."
2. The present appellants and others contested the suit. According to the plaintiffs, the possession of the land in question was illegally given to Namdeo Deosthan Trust (for short 'the Trust') on 19.08.1978 by the Government and it was prayed that the possession of this land be restored to the plaintiffs. The defendants contested the suit on various grounds. One of the main grounds raised was that the suit was not filed within the period of limitation. It was also contended that the suit was bad for non-joinder of necessary parties and it was contended that the suit land belonged to the Trust since time immemorial and the suit be dismissed. The trial court vide judgment dated 14.10.1992 dismissed the suit of the plaintiffs and held that the suit was not filed within the period of limitation. It also held that the suit is bad for non-joinder of parties. Lastly, the trial court held that the plaintiffs had failed to prove that the suit land was Inam land or the plaintiffs are Inamdars.
3. Aggrieved, the plaintiffs filed an appeal in the Court of District Judge, Latur. The District Judge vide judgment dated 26.11.1997 reversed the judgment and decree of the trial court and came to the conclusion that the land originally belonged to Dargah Niyamatullah Shah Quadri (for short 'the Dargah') andthe plaintiffs and Defendant No. 12 were the Inamdars of the suit land. It further held that the Government had wrongly given the possession of the suit property. It was also held that all necessary parties had been joined in the suit. Finally, the first appellate court held that the plaintiffs were entitled to a decree for possession of the suit land and accordingly allowed the appeal and decreed the suit in favour of the plaintiffs and Defendant No. 12 and against Defendant Nos. 1 to 11 and 15.
4. Aggrieved, the present appellants and two others filed an appeal in the High Court of Bombay. This appeal was dismissed vide judgment dated 29.03.2007. However, the High Court modified the decree of the District Judge to the limited extent that the plaintiffs and Defendant No. 12 were held to be descendents of Mutawalis and not Inamdars. Hence, this appeal.
5. We have heard learned counsel for the parties.
6. During the pendency of this appeal, some of the plaintiffs have died and their legal representatives were not brought on record. Though a preliminary objection was raised that the appeal abates as a whole, we find no merit in this preliminary objection. The plaintiffs have been held to be descendents of Mutawalis of the properties which is in the nature of a managerial post. As such the appeal does not abate.
7. Learned counsel for the appellants submitted that the plaintiffs had failed to prove that the land was the land of the Dargah. The second submission was that the suit was barred by limitation. It was also contended that the suit was not maintainable and that the High Court had granted reliefs which had not even been prayed for by the plaintiffs.
8. As far as the issue of title is concerned, that, in our view, is a finding of fact arrived at by the District Judge and confirmed by the High Court. This finding cannot be disturbed in this Court. However, on the insistence of learned counsel for the appellants, we have gone through the record and find that the possession of land in question was handed over to the Trust only on
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