SETH GIRDHARI LAL Vs. SETH GAJA NAND

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The above appeal has been preferred by defendants 5 to 7 (hereinafter called the appellants). This judgment will also dispose of R.F.A. (O.S.) 19 of 1973 which has been filed by defendants 2 to 4.

(2.) The facts of the case and the events leading to the present appeals have to be briefly stated. The first defendent (who is the brother of Bhairon Prasad) died in 1968. Bhairon Prasad had a son Sardar Mal; both of them died in the year 1942. Gindori Devi (defendant No. 9) is the widow of Sardar Mal. Gaja Nand (first plaintiff) and Girdhari Lal (defendant No. 5) are the sons of Sardar Mal. Defendants 6 to 8 are the sons of defendant 5; plaintiffs 2 to 4 are the sons of the first plaintiff. The second defendant is the son of the first defendant and defendants 3 and 4 are the sons of the second defendant.

(3.) Gaja Nand and his sons (plaintiffs I to 4) filed on 18-3-1952, a suit for partition and rendition of accounts of certain immovable properties and businesses which was dismissed by the learned Sub Judge 1st Class, Delhi, on 4-1-1956. There were two separate appeals, one of them by plaintiffs I to 4 and the other by defendants 5 to 8, to the High Court of Punjab which set aside the dismissal and passed a preliminary decree for partition on 10-2-1961, as prayed for in the plaint. Against the said decision defendants 1 to 4 filed two appeals in the Supreme Court of India both of which were dismissed on 2-12-1966 except for slight modification. In the meantime the final decree proceedings were allowed to go on, pending appeals in the Supreme Court; the passing of final decree alone had been stayed. A Commissioner was appointed by the trial court who submitted his report on 8-1-1965 ; it was accepted on 8-2-1965.