BHAGAT SINGH Vs. UDHAM SINGH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The sole question involved in the present case whether the sister's sons of the last male-holder would be excluded from inheritance in the presence of collateral of fifth degree.

(2.) In the trial Court the question of the ancestral nature of the suit land formed issue No. 5 but no evidence was led from which it could be held that the property was ancestral. No excerpt was produced and the only document on the record relating to the land is the jamabandi of 1953-54, in which the sister Mst. Ishri, to whom a gift had been earlier made by the widow of the last male holder, was shown in actual possession. It must, therefore, be taken that the property has not been proved to be ancestral on the record and the decision of the question given above is to be found by treating the property as non-ancestral.

(3.) Now it may further be stated that apart from reliance being placed on paragraph 24 of the Rattigan's Digest of Customary Law and question 54 of the customary law of the Hoshiarpur district, to which the parties belong no other evidence has been led by either party with regard to the custom followed in respect of the matter in controversy.