KANAKA BAI Vs. VETHALA DEVASWOM

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The plaintiffs (six in number) in O. S. No. 30 of 1990, Sub Court, Kochi, are the revision petitioners. In this revision, they assail the order passed by the court below in I. A. No. 24 of 1991 dated 23-1-1991. The defendants in the suit are the respondents herein. They were respondents in I. A. No. 24 of 1991 also. The plaintiffs filed I. A. No. 24 of 1991 to refer the question of tenancy to the Land Tribunal. The court below, by the order impugned, held that there is no need for referring the question of tenancy to the Land Tribunal, since it has already been decided by a competent forum in a case between the same parties. The petition was dismissed. The plaintiffs have come up in revision.

(2.) I heard counsel.

(3.) The suit is filed for a declaration regarding title and possession of plaint A schedule property and for a permanent prohibitory injunction, to restrain the defendants from trespassing into plaint A schedule property. Plaint A schedule property is 74 cents of land and a building in Sy. No. 668/1 of Ramsewaram Village, forming part of 99 cents described as B schedule in the plaint. The plaintiffs alleged that this property belonged to the first defendant Devaswom and it was leased out to the predecessor of the plaintiffs, late Manaka Prabhu, in the year 1067 ME, by a registered lease deed. The said right devolved upon the plaintiffs - petitioners. They have fixity of tenure in the property. The defendants are trying to Interfere with the possession and enjoyment of the property by the plaintiffs. So, the suit was laid. In order to decide the title of the plaintiffs, the question of tenancy has to be determined by the competent forum, for which reference has to be made to the Land Tribunal, under S.125(3) of the Kerala Land Reforms Act.