BHAGWAN DEVI Vs. BENI BAI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE plaintiff Smt. Beni Bai is a widow. Ram Charan Lal her husband was the owner of two houses numbered 135 and 136 in Mohalla Nai Basti, Jhansi. House No. 135 was purchased by her husband in the year 1953 in a court auction for a sum of Rs. 1150 and house No. 136 was purchased by him in the year 1958 for a sum of Rs. 250/-. Defendant no.4 Sri Ram Rastogi is a moneylender. Ram Charan Lal borrowed some money from Sri Ram Rastogi, which he could not repay. In the year 1966, Ram Charan Lal executed a sale deed of the two houses in favour of Sri Ram Rastogi for a consideration of Rs. 500/-. Ram Charan Lal died in 1980. After his death both the houses were sold by Sri Ram Rastogi to defendant no.1 Smt. Bhagwan Devi for a sum of Rs.8,000/-. The defendant no.2 Narain Das Verma, husband of Bhagwan Devi, was a tenant of house no.135 and defendant no.3 Bhaiya Lal was a tenant of house no.136. Their tenancy was continuing since the days of Ram Charan Lal. After the sale deed in favour of Smt. Bhagwan Devi. The plaintiff Smt. Beni Bai, widow of Ram Charan Lal filed a suit for declaration that Ram Charan Lal was the owner of the two houses and that the sale deed executed in the year 1966 by him in favour of defendant no.4 Sri Ram Rastogi and the subsequent sale deed executed by Sri Ram Rastogi in favour of defendant no.1 Smt. Bhagwan Devi in the year 1980 were void documents.

(2.) THE plaintiff's case is that Ram Charan Lal was an illiterate person and could only write his name and that defendant no.4 who was a moneylender had advanced him a sum of Rs.500/-, to secure which, a mortgage deed was intended to be executed by Ram Charan Lal but defendant no.4 played fraud and obtained a sale deed from him. The case of the defendant-appellants Bhgwan Devi and Narain Das is that the transaction in question was a sale out right and not a mortgage and that no fraud was practiced upon Ram Charan Lal. It was also alleged that an agreement was executed by defendant no.4 Sri Ram Rastogi to reconvey the property in favour of Ram Charan at his option to be exercised within a period of three years but Ram Charan failed to get it reconveyed. Similar stand was taken in the written statement filed by defendant no.4 Sri Ram Rastogi.

(3.) I have heard Shri B.N. Agarwal counsel for the defendant-appellants and Shri A.N. Bhargava, counsel for the plaintiff-respondent no.1. The appeal was admitted on two substantial questions of law. They are:-