LILAWATI NAMBHARI Vs. THAKUR BHAGWAN DASS JUNJHUA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This order will dispose of two appeals (F.B.A.0s. Nos. 78 of 1968 and 158 of 1968). The first of the appeals has been filed by Smt. Lilawati (who is hereinafter referred to as the debtor) and the second appeal has been filed by Thakar Bhagwan Dass and Thakar Harbans Singh (who are hereinafter referred to as the creditors).

(2.) The material facts of the case briefly stated are that the aforesaid creditors had a claim for a debt against Smt. Lilawati debtor and they in 1953 filed an application under section 10 of the Displaced Persons (Debts Adjustment) Act 70 of 1951 (hereinafter referred to as the Act). The claim laid was for a larger amount, but on the admission of the debtor, the Tribunal passed a decree dated 30th December, 1953 for payment of Rs. 1,10,000.00 by the debtor to the aforesaid two creditors.

(3.) It appears that Shri Atma Singh Narndhari, M. P., husband of Smt. Lilawati, also owed a debt and on his death, Lilawati debtor above-mentioned, along with her co-widow and an adopted son, in their capacity as legal representatives of Atma Singh deceased, filed an application under section 5 of the Act in 1956. One of the debts mentioned in the schedule attached to the application was a sum of Rs. 6,500.00 owed by Atma Singh deceased to Harbans Singh., one of the creditors, but this debt is different from the one which had been adjudicated upon by the Tribunal in the earlier proceedings and Bhagwan Dass, the other creditor, has not been shown as a creditor in the proceedings instituted under section 5. This petition has had a chequered career. It was firstly dismissed by the Tribunal on the ground that the legal representatives of a debtor could not move the application which was reversed by the High Court (P. D. Sharma, J.) by judgment dated 18th September, 1963 and the case was remanded to the Tribunal for decision according to law. There were some disputes about the other creditors being included in this petition which was disposed of by Mehar Singh, J. by order dated 3rd January, 1964. One of the findings recorded in this judgment is that the decree of the Tribunal passed on 30th December, 1953 for Rs. 1,10,000.00 in favour of Bhagwan Dass and Harbans Singh (the creditors mentioned herein) had become final and their debts could not be included in the petition filed later under section 5 of the Act. The High Court also found that the legal representatives f Atma Singh had the paying capacity to meet the debts and so the Tribunal had rightly declined to scale them down. It is common case of the parties that the proceedings in pursuance of the application of the legal representatives of Atma Singh filed under section 5 of the Act are still pending before the Tribunal which happens to be the civil Court which has passed the order challenged in these appeals.