AMIN LAL AND OTHERS Vs. NIHALA AND OTHERS

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Plaintiffs, five in number had filed the suit, which has given rise to this appeal, for permanent injunction restraining the defendants from cutting trees from the land in dispute comprising in khasra No. 188 situated in village Manas, Tehsil Kaithal and from taking away the wood of the trees which had been cut by them. According to the allegations in the plaint, the residents of village Manas are in possession of the suit land and many trees are standing on it and no one has a right to cut the trees for his personal use. The defendants had cut down many trees from the land and were taking away the wood of the trees cut by them. The defendants had no right to do so.

(2.) Only defendant Nos. 1, 3, 4, 7 and 8 had contested the suit and they pleaded that the plaintiffs had no interest in the suit land and, therefore, they have no locus standi to file the suit; that the present suit is also barred by the principles of res judicata; that the land in suit belongs to Mandir Shivji and defendant No. 3 is Pujari and Mohatmin of the Mandir and in that capacity he is in possession of the land and that only dired trees had been cut.

(3.) The learned trial Court held that the whole village community of Manas was in possession of the suit land and the trees standing thereon and nobody was entitled to cut them for their individual use. Consequently, the plaintiffs' suit was decreed. Feeling aggrieved, the contesting defendants filed an appeal which was heard by additional District Judge, Karnal. He held that the suit was not maintainable because the plaintiffs had not filed the suit in a representative capacity on behalf of the residents of the village and moreover, that the suit land had vested in the Gram Panchayat under the Punjab Village Common Lands (Regulation) Act, 1961 (hereinafter called the Act). Consequently he accepted the appeal and set aside the decree passed by the learned trial Court and dismissed the suit of the plaintiffs. The plaintiffs have now come to this Court in appeal.