MOHD ZAHIR HASAN Vs. DULARE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is a plaintiffs' application in revision arising out of a suit for the issue of a permanent injunction to restrain the defendants from taking possession over the plots specified in the plaint.

(2.) The suit was filed in the Court of the Munsif West Allahabad, on the allegations that the plaintiffs were zamindars of the land in suit, which was their 'sir' and 'khudkasht', that the defendants had no manner of right in this land, but they wrongly deposited 10 times the rent and sought to obtain 'bhumidari' rights under the provisions of the U. P. Tenants Acquisition of Privileges Act, and that the defendants were also trying to enter into possession of the land. The actual relief claimed in the plaint was that, on proof of the plaintiff's possession over the land as their 'sir' and 'khudkasht', a permanent injunction be issued to the defendants restraining them from interfering with the plaintiffs' possession of the land in suit. One of the defences taken to the suit was that it was not cognizable by the civil Court and was exclusively triable by the revenue Courts. There were some other defences also, but it is not necessary to mention them for the purposes of this revision. The learned Munsif tried the issue of jurisdiction only, namely, issue No. 3, and came to the conclusion that the suit was not entertainable by him, and ordered the plaint to be returned for presentation to the revenue Court. The plaintiffs went up in appeal, and the lower appellate Court agreed with the decision of the learned Munsif on this point and dismissed the appeal.

(3.) The learned counsel for the plaintiffs-applicants has strenuously urged before us that the suit was cognizable by the civil Court, inasmuch as the relief that was claimed in the suit was a relief of a permanent injunction which could not be granted by a revenue Court. He has further argued that he has nowhere admitted in the plaint that the defendants are tenants, and" all that he has stated is that they are attempting to obtain possession over the land, and, with that object in view, they deposited certain amounts in the Tahsil with a view to get 'chumidhari' certificates; and that the plaintiffs had taken steps in the revenue Courts for the cancellation of these certificates. We were informed that, after the institution of the suit, some of the certificates have actually been cancelled.