RAJA DHRUV DEV CHAND Vs. RAJA HARMOHINDER SINGH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellant obtained from the Court of Wards, Dada Siba Estate, a lease of five squares of land in Tahsil Okara District Montgomery in the undivided Punjab for the Kharif season 1947 and Rabi season 1948. Following upon the partition of India in July 1947 and allotment of the territory in which the lands were situate to Pakistan, the appellant migrated to India

(2.) An action commenced by the appellant against the Court of Wards in the Court of the Subordinate Judge, Kangra, at Dharamsala for a decree for refund of the rent paid by him was decreed. But the High Court of Punjab reversed the decree, holding that the doctrine of frustration of contract did not apply to leases of immovable property and that in any event on the facts proved there was no case of frustration established by the appellant. With certificate granted by the High Court. this appeal is preferred by the appellant. Raja Harmohinder Singh and Kanwar Rajinder Singh have now been substituted in place of the Court of Wards as the respondents.

(3.) The appellant claimed a decree for refund of the rent on the ground that the consideration for the lease failed, because the covenants of the lease had become impossible of performance as a result of communal riots in the District of Montgomery and the inability of non-muslims to continue to reside in that area. The High Court rejected the contention.