CHARAN DASS Vs. RAJINDER PAUL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The instant Regular Second Appeal has been filed by the plaintiffs against the judgment and decree dated 9-5-2001, passed by learned Additional District Judge, Jalandhar, vide which the appeal of the defendant against the judgment and decree dated 21-1-1995 passed by learned Sub-Judge IInd Class, Jalandhar was accepted and the suit filed by the plaintiffs for declaring them as owners on the basis of adverse possession was dismissed.

(2.) The brief facts of the case are that the plaintiffs-appellants filed suit for declaration for declaring them as owners of the property in dispute on the basis of adverse possession alleging therein that they migrated from Pakistan and came to India in the year 1947. At that time, the suit property was lying vacant and only three kacha rooms were existing thereon. The plaintiffs-appellants settled over the said property and raised construction over the same from time to time. It was alleged that since then they are in peaceful, uninterrupted and hostile possession of the suit property as adverse to the owner of the land underneath for the last more than 12 years and therefore, they have become joint owners by way of adverse possession. The defendant-respondent has now started making illegal and baseless declaration claiming ownership over the suit land and constructions made over the same and threatened to dispossess them with the help of local police, therefore, the present suit was filed by the plaintiffs-appellants.

(3.) The defendant-respondent contested the suit by pleading that the property in dispute was earlier owned by his father Bhagat Ram. It was in possession of Muslim tenants, who filed to Pakistan in 1947. The Custodian department treated this property as evacuee property and allotted the same to the Refugees, who were coming from Pakistan. It was pleaded that the property in question was wrongly treated as evacuee property and when Bhagat Ram pointed out this fact to the Custodian Department, the property in question was released vide order dated 25-9-1962 passed by Assistant Custodian, (General) Jalandhar. It was further pleaded that after the release of the said property by the Custodian Department, Bhagat Ram moved application before the custodian authorities for putting him in actual possession of the property where the plaintiffs-appellants and their predecessors raised many objections, which were rejected. After the death of Bhagat Ram, the defendant-respondent inherited the property and approached Custodian Department for ejecting the plaintiffs-appellants from the property in question. Therefore, it was pleaded by the defendant-respondent that he is proceeding in accordance with provisions of law for getting the property back from the plaintiffs-appellants, therefore, the suit filed by them is not maintainable and they cannot be said to have become owners of the property by way of adverse possession.