KEHAR SINGH Vs. DEWAN SINGH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE following Judgment of the court was delivered by

(2.) THE parties are Aulakh Jats of Tehsil Ajnala in Amritsar District, and are governed by customary law in matters of succession and adoption. THE dispute concerns succession to the property of one Santa Singh alias Din Mohammad. Santa Singh has not been heard of for a long time and is presumed to be dead. THE revenue authorities sanctioned mutation of the lands left by him in favour of the defendants, who are his collaterals of the 8th degree. one Megh Singh was the collateral of Santa Singh in the 5th degree. Megh Singh died more than 50 years ago. Before his death, he adopted his daughter's son, one Kala Singh. Kala Singh has died leaving his sons, Dewan Singh and Gian Singh as his heirs. Dewan Singh and Gian Singh instituted a suit in the ,Court of the Subordinate Judge, First Class, Ajnala praying for a decree for possession of the lands left by Santa Singh and alleging that Megh Singh adopted Kala Singh as his son, took him out of his natural family, transplanted him completely in the family of Megh Singh and bestowed on him the rights of a natural son, according to the custom by which the parties were governed, Kala Singh was entitled to succeed as a reversionary heir in the family of his adoptive father and was the preferential heir of Santa Singh. THE contesting defendants alleged that the adoption of Kala Singh amounted to the appointment of an heir only and they denied that according to custom Kala Singh was the reversionary heir of Santa Singh or entitled to inherit his lands.

(3.) THE general custom negativing the right of the appointed heir to succeed collaterally in the family of his adoptive father is stated in Art. 49 of Rattigan's Digest of Customary Law, 13th Edn., p. 572 thus : '49. Nor, on the other hand, does the heir acquire a right to succeed to the collateral relatives of the person who appoints him, where no formal adoption has taken place, inasmuch as the relationship established between him and the appointer is a purely personal one.' THE rule in Art. 49 does not apply to a formal adoption by the customary method. THE customary formal adoption completely severs the connection of the adopted son with his natural family and transplants him from his natural family to the adoptive family. Such an adoption confers on the adopted son the right of collateral succession in the adoptive father's family and takes away the right of collateral succession in the natural family. THE formal adoption may be made in accordance with custom and by observing the customary forms, and it is not necessary to comply with the rules of Hindu law in the matter of ritual or otherwise. See Abdur Rehman v. Raghubir Singh (2), Waryaman v. Kanshi Ram (3).