BHAGAT SINGH Vs. JASWANT SINGH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal, by special leave, is by the defendants against the decree in a suit instituted by the respondent for recovery of possession over certain plots of land. The plaintiff-respondent alleged that the plots were owned and possessed by Kartar Singh who had adopted the respondent about two years before his death. The defendants, it is alleged, got mutation made over the land in suit collusively with the revenue officials and secured possession over them by successfully inducing the tenants to pay rent to them.

(2.) The defendants accepted the allegation that Karatar Singh owned and possessed the land in suit and further alleged:

(3.) On appeal, the District Judge held that the plaintiff had been adopted as a son and appointed as an heir by Kartar Singh. He did not consider it necessary to decide whether the adoption was valid, as the properties left by Karatar Singh were not alleged to be ancestral and consequently the defendants had no right to contest any alienation or any appointment of an heir to such property in view of the provisions of S. 7 of The Punjab Custom (Power to Contest) Act, 1920 (Punjab Act II of 1920), hereinafter called the Act, which reads: