SATNAM DASS ARORA Vs. BACHAN SINGH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This judgment will dispose of two cross Regular Second Appeals (Nos. 928 and 978 of 1957) directed against the appellate decree and judgment of the Senior Subordinate Judge, Rohtak, dated 31st May, 1957.

(2.) The parties to this appeal are owners of two adjoining plots of land situate in the area known as Eight Maria Colony, at Rohtak, which they had purchased from the Punjab Government on instalment basis. Bachan Singh had purchased plot or quarter No. 244 having an area of 215 square yards by means of the sale deed, Exhibit P. 8, while Satnam Das was purchaser of plot No. 246 which adjoins quarter No. 244 on its southern side. On 18th November, 1956, Bachan Singh brought a suit out of which this appeal has arisen for possession of an area measuring 2 1/2 feet à - 60 feet, marked ABCD in the plan attached to the plaint, complaining that the Defendant Satnam Das had encroached upon this portion of his plot by erecting a partition wall and constructing a room. A mandatory injunction for removal of the structure standing on the encroached land was also prayed for.

(3.) In contesting the suit, Satnam Das, besides denying the allegation that he had encroached upon any part of the Plaintiff's property, pleaded that since the wall and the room were constructed under the bona fide impression that the area of the two quarters was equal and at the time of the construction there was no objection either from Bachan Singh or Sunder Lal, to whom plot No. 244 had been sold earlier, no order for demolition of the structure could be made even if it was proved that the area underneath was a part of the Plaintiffs property. The trial proceeded on the following issues:...