H A SARIMAYA Vs. DAVID KHULLAKPA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS Second Appeal has been directed against the appellate judgment and order dated 04. 03. 1996 passed by the learned Additional District Judge, Manipur West in Civil Appeal No. 20/94/5 of 1995, setting aside the judgment and decree dated 29. 02. 1980 passed by the learned Subordinate Judge No. 1, Manipur in Original Suit i. e. O. S. No. 19 of 1978 by which the suit instituted by the plaintiffs/ appellants was decreed declaring that the defendants/respondents No. 1 to 4 had no right or title to the suit land and accordingly they had no right to eject the plaintiffs/appellants from the suit land and the plaintiffs'/appellants' possession over the suit land was confirmed.

(2.) WHEN this Second Appeal was admitted on 27. 05. 1996, no substantial question of law was formulated except passing the following relevant order :

(3.) FOR the purpose of determination of the above substantial question of law, it would be appropriate and necessary to notice the relevant facts of the ease in a short compass. The appellants and the respondents are inhabitants of Ukhrul Hill Village and Huining Hill Village respectively. Both these Hill villages of Ukhrul and Huining are adjacent to each other. The former lies to the East and later to the West of their common boundary stream called Kasom-Kong. The northern most part of the appellants' village Ukhrul is known as Somsai which is a common land of the village of Ukhrul compromising of an area of two miles in length and about two miles in breadth wherein lies amongst others the Ukhrul old bazaar and a number of paddy fields of the villagers of Ukhrul and this Somsai itself is the suit land in the present case. It is claimed that the villagers of Ukhrul have from time immemorial been in use, enjoyment and otherwise in possession of the suit land as their common village land to the exclusion Huining village and other adjacent villages. In the past there were litigations between villagers of Ukhrul and Huining regarding the suit land as the villagers of Huining tried to possess certain plots of land inside the suit land. All those suits were instituted by some villagers of Huining in the Court of SDO/ Munsiff, Ukhrul namely (1) Civil Suit No. 99 of 1949-50; (2) Civil Suit No. 213 of 1951-52 and (3) Civil Suit No. 52 of 1960 which were dismissed on 27. 02. 1952, 13. 12. 1952 and 25. 05. 1964 respectively. In all those Civil Suits it was held that the suit land is the part of Ukhrul village and it was possessed by the Ukhrul villagers as their common village land.