KALAWATI Vs. IIND ADDITIONAL DISTRICT JUDGE SHAHJAHANPUR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) -Heard learned counsel for the petitioner.

(2.) IN spite of sufficient service, no one has appeared for respondent No. 2 the only contesting respondent. Petitioner filed O. S. No. 288 of 1985 against defendant-respondent No. 2. The suit was for cancellation of a sale deed and a Will deed alleged by the defendants to have been executed by one Januka. Petitioners claimed themselves to be heirs of Smt. Januka. The trial court decided the question of maintainability of the suit before the civil court in favour of the plaintiff.

(3.) IN my opinion, the view taken by the revisional court is utterly erroneous in law. IN the Full Bench authority of this Court in Ram Padarath v. Second A.D.J., Sultanpur, (1989) RD 21 : 1989 (1) AWC 290 (LB-FB), it has been held that suit for cancellation of a void document or for declaration that the document is void is maintainable before the civil court if plaintiff has prima facie title and is recorded tenure-holder. Supreme Court has approved the said authority in Bismillah v. Janeshwar Prasad, AIR 1990 SC 540 : 1990 (1) AWC 359 (SC) and Shri Ram v. Ist Addl. Distt. Judge, AIR 2001 SC 1250 : 2001 (1) AWC 862 (SC). Paragraphs No. 4 to 7 of the latter authority are quoted below :