HARI DUBEY Vs. DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF CONSOLIDATION VARANSI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioners are the sons of one Shiv Murat Dubey who is stated to have executed a sale deed in favour of Smt. Besar Devi the respondent no. 3 in relation to the holding in dispute of Khata No.180, Village Sohadwar, formally in district Varanasi now in district Chandauli. The sale deed is dated 30th of March, 1974 prior to the commencement of the consolidation operations.

(2.) In the basic year revenue record the disputed holding was recorded as the sirdari of Shiv Murat. After the consolidation operations set in, an objection under Section 9-A(2) of the U.P. Consolidation of Holdings Act, 1953 was filed by the respondent no. 3 Besar Devi claiming that she is entitled to be recorded over the holding in question on the basis of the said sale deed as she has purchased the entire 1/3rd share of Shiv Murat. The objection was contested by Shiv Murat himself who was then alive, denying the execution of the sale deed and also his signature thereon. He also took an alternative plea that the sale deed has been executed without prior permission of the Settlement Officer Consolidation as required under Section 5(c)(ii) of the 1953 Act, and thirdly that the land was recorded as sirdari over which he had no rights of transfer as such the sale deed was void on all three counts.

(3.) The respondent produced the marginal witness to the sale deed and also cross-examined Shiv Murat. The Consolidation Officer arrived at the conclusion that the parties had also been permitted to adduce expert evidence and since the report of the expert as relied on by the parties, contradicted each other, in such a situation it was difficult to conclude as to whether the sale deed had been executed by Shiv Murat or not.