RATAN SINGH Vs. GOSAIN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is a defendant's appeal against an appellate decree of District Judge T.C. Sethi dated the 13th of May, 1948, reversing the decree of the trial Court whereby the suit of the plaintiffs was dismissed.

(2.) A gift was made by Mst. Chhangi, widow of Kaka, in favour of Rattan Singh, mutation of which was refused by the revenue authorities but after a decree of the Civil Court obtained on the 9th of January, 1946, by the donee against the donor, the mutation was effected. Kaka, the husband of Mst. Chhangi, was grandson of Ghamanda Singh who purchased the land in dispute in 1865 from some proprietors of the village.

(3.) The plaintiffs brought a suit for declaration that the gift was against custom and would not effect their reversionary rights. They alleged that they were the reversioner of the deceased Kaka Singh. The defence was that the suit was barred by time, that the plaintiffs had no locus standi to sue and they were not reversioners of the alienor. Both the Courts below have found that the suit is within time. The trial Court held that the plaintiffs were not competent to sue and the District Judge reversed that finding. Although it has been held that the village is a heterogeneous village but the District Judge has held that the proprietors of heterogeneous village can challenge a gift made by a widow to a stranger.