NAGEN CHANDRA DAS Vs. ABHIJIT DEB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Heard Mr. S P Roy, learned counsel appearing on behalf of the appellants. Also heard Mr. S Ali, learned counsel representing the respondents.

(2.) The present appellants are the defendants in Title Suit No.62/2001(old)/ Title Suit No.1067/2006(new). The respondents are the plaintiffs. The plaintiffs/respondents filed the said suit for declaration of their right, title and interest over the suit land, recovery of possession, injunction both prohibitory and mandatory in permanent nature. Lt. Sindhu Bhusan Deb was the uncle of the plaintiffs/respondents and was the owner and predecessor of the suit property, described in Schedule-A of the plaint. Said Sindhu died on 05.10.2000 leaving his nephew and niece i.e. the plaintiffs/respondents. It is the claim of the said plaintiffs/respondents that they are entitled to the suit land as they are cognate and agnate of the said deceased Sindhu Bhusan Deb. In the plaint, the genealogical relation derived from the common ancestor of deceased Sindhu Bhusan Deb is pleaded. The plaintiffs/respondents took care of the deceased uncle and used to look after him and if necessity arose, he was hospitalized and they maintained a healthy family relation with the said uncle. It is pertinent to mention here that the said Sindhu Bhusan Deb was unmarried and was enjoying the suit property as one of the inheritors from its original owner. After the death of Sindhu Bhusan Deb, the plaintiffs/respondents visited his house and found it unlocked where after it came to their knowledge that the defendant/respondent Nos.1 to 5 locked the said house and the almirah, consisting the title documents of the suit land was kept under the custody of the defendant No.5, who is the police officer of the Udalbakra Police Outpost, under Basistha PS. Though the plaintiffs/appellants moved to the said defendant No.5 but, they were unsuccessful in bringing back to their custody the said almirah and the title document of the suit land. Being aggrieved, they preferred the suit claiming recovery of possession and permanent injunction over the said property with a prayer for mandatory injunction directing the defendant No.5 to hand over the said almirah back to the plaintiffs/respondents.

(3.) The defendants/appellants No.1 to 4 contested the suit by denying the claim of the plaintiffs/respondents to be cognate/agnate of Lt. Sindhu Bhusan Deb thereby raising the defence that the said plaintiffs/respondents in order to grab the suit property has filed the suit. The defendant/respondent No.5, is a trust represented by its managing trustees who was impleaded later on, at the instance of the learned trial court. The said defendant/appellant No.5 filed its written statement claiming that the physical possession of the suit property is under the said trust. It was also pleaded that in a meeting held on 11.1.1998, Lt. Sindhu Bhusan Deb publicly offered and dedicated the suit property in the name of Vivekananda Vidyapith High School at Udalbakra for its use and for other work on the suit land. After the death of Sindhu Bhusan Deb, the said trust was formed vide Registered Deed No.3792 dated 6.10.2000. It is also pleaded, as the plaintiffs/respondents are not family members of Lt. Sindhu Bhusan Deb they are not entitled for the claim they made in the suit.