PRATAP BAHADUR SINGH Vs. DAU BAHADUR SINGH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Pratap Bahadur Singh instituted a case under Sections 379 & 426, I. P. C. against Dan Bahadur Singh & others in the Court of a Tahsildar Magistrate of Rae Bareli. Subsequently, Pratap Bahadur Singh applied to the Tahsildar Magistrate on 30-8-1949, praying that, as the case related to the price of wood worth Rs. 25 only, the case was triable by Panchaiti Adalat & should, according to Section 56, Panchayat Raj Act, be transferred to the Panchaiti Adalat of Benta Kalan. This application was opposed by the accused who alleged that the complainant himself was a Panch & that his witnesses too were panches or the Sarpanch of the said Adalat. They also gave other grounds for not transferring the case. The learned Tahsildar Magistrate considered that he could not transfer the case to that Panchaiti Adalat because that lay in Tahsil Dalmau while he had jurisdiction only in Tahsil Rae Bareli. He accordingly instructed the applicant to move the Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Dalmau for necessary orders.

(2.) The applicant failed to take any action & the Tehsildar Magistrate dismissed the application.

(3.) Thereafter the applicant was again given time to move the Sub-Divisional Magistrate & he did do so but the Sub-Divisional Magistrate held that the Court empowered to hear appeals from orders of the Tahsildar Magistrate was the District Magistrate & that he could not, therefore, entertain the application. He accordingly rejected the application.