KALI CHARAN Vs. DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF CONSOLIDATION ALLAHABAD

JUDGEMENT

(1.) A learned single Judge while dealing with Writ Petitions Nos. 1210 of 1972 and 1211 of 1972, arising out of consolidation matter, has referred the following questions to be answered by a Division Bench : 1. Whether in a suit under Section 229-C of the U. P. Zamindari Abolition and Land Reforms Act instituted before the coming into force of U. P. Act No. 18 of 1956 a declaration that the defendant was a sirdar could be granted?

(2.) IF such a declaration could not be granted, but in order to record a finding that the defendant was not an asami an incidental finding was recorded that he was actually a sirdar, will such a finding operate as res judicata in a subsequent case where the status of the said defendant as sirdar is denied before a court or an authority competent to decide an issue about sirdari rights?" The circumstances under which the two questions arose have been mentioned at length in the referring order. That apart, it is not necessary for us to refer to those facts again also for the reason that the questions referred are purely questions of law. We, therefore, proceed to answer the questions straightway. 2. The answer to question No. 1 rests on the interpretation of Sec. 229-C which is a corollary to Section 229-B. The two sections as they stood before the 1956 amendment read as follows : "229-B. Suit by an asami for declaration of rights.- (1) Any person claiming to be an asami either exclusively or jointly with any other such person may sue the landholder for a declaration that he is an asami or for a declaration of his share as joint asami in the holding as the case may be. (2) In any suit under this section any person claiming to hold as an asami through the landholder shall be joined as a party." "229-C. Suit for declaration of rights of a person claiming to be an asami.- A Gaon Sabha or bhumidhar or sirdar of any land may sue any person claiming to be an asami of such land for a declaration of the rights of such person." From the above it would appear that Section 229-B confers a right on a person, claiming to be an asami of a holding, to sue the landholder for obtaining a declaration that he is actually the asami of the land in dispute. The words 'for a declaration that he is an asami' occurring in the section leave no room for doubt that the only declaration that can be granted under that section is whether the plaintiff is an asami or not. IF the Court comes to the conclusion that the plaintiff is not an asami, the matter ends and the suit has to be dismissed because of the aforesaid expression occurring in Section 229-B Section 229- C is converse of Section 229-B, for, while Sec. 229-B confers a right to sue on the person claiming to be an asami, Section 229-C confers a right on the Gaon Sabha or a Bhumidhar or a sirdar to sue a person, who claims to be an asami of any land. Section 229-C, therefore, takes its colour from Section 229-B and its scope should be determined in the background of that section. It should, therefore, follow that if any person claims himself to be an asami, the Gaon Sabha or the bhumidhar or the sirdar of that land can sue that person for a declaration whether that person is or is not an asami of that land. This interpretation is also consistent with the language used in Section 229-C. The expression 'declaration of the rights of such person' occurring at the end of Section 229-C, is clearly referable to the expression 'any person claiming to be an asami' occurring in the middle of the section. The two expressions read together clearly point to the conclusion that, while seized of a suit under Sec. 229-C, the only declaration that can be granted by a court is whether the person claiming to be an asami of the land in dispute is or is not the asami thereof. The moment the court comes to the conclusion that the defendant is not an asami of the land in dispute, that is the end of the matter and no further investigation is called for to decide the suit.

(3.) OUR answer, therefore, to question No. 1 is in the negative.