RAJA RAM Vs. VISHNU DUTT AND OTHERS

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is the second appeal of one of the five defendants in a suit filed by the respondents-plaintiffs (some of them now represented by their LRs), by which the plaintiffs had sought possession of the suit property by redemption of the mortgage executed on 06.04.1965 by their predecessor-in-interest, Nanak son of Ram Dayal. The facts are being taken from the judgments of the Courts below, wherein it is stated that as per the plaint, the aforesaid Nanak being the owner of the suit land measuring 44 kanals 8 marlas at that point of time, had mortgaged it in favour of Ram Narain and Ram Partap sons of Ram Lal for a sum of Rs. 5500/-, in respect of which a mutation was also sanctioned on 06.04.1965, bearing mutation no.263. Thereafter, Nanak sold the land to Mani Ram son of Ram Lal, upon which mutation no.386 was sanctioned on 07.04.1969. After the death of Mani Ram, the plaintiffs and Krishan Kumar, inherited the land being the legal heirs of Mani Ram, in respect of which inheritance, mutation no.1550 was sanctioned. Krishan Kumar expired on 03.09.2011 leaving behind plaintiffs no.7 to 16 as his legal heirs. (Thus, obviously, it was the first six plaintiffs and Krishan Kumar who had inherited the land from Mani Ram).

(2.) It was further contended in the plaint that Mani Ram had filed an application for redemption of the suit land in the court of the S.D.O. (Civil)-cum-Collector, Dabwali, against the defendants, in which the defendants took a plea that the land had been mortgaged for a sum of Rs. 20,500/- and Rs. 5500/-. The Collector, however, vide his order dated 26.11.1992, allowed the application of Mani Ram, directing him to pay/deposit an amount of Rs. 5500/- as the mortgage amount. Defendant no.2 Raja Ram (present appellant), Ram Narain and Ram Partap (predecessors-in-interest of defendants no.1, 2, 4 and 5), filed Civil Suit no.1287 of 1992 in the Court of the learned Additional Civil Judge (Senior Division), Dabwali, titled as Ram Narain v. Mani Ram , which was decreed on 10.03.1998, holding that the order of the Collector, dated 26.11.1992, was illegal, null and void and that Ram Narain etc. were mortgagees in possession and the application for redemption of the suit land was filed by Mani Ram. It was further disclosed in the plaint that an appeal was filed against the said decree before the District Judge, Sirsa, by the second plaintiff, Raj Kamal, which was dismissed on 01.10.2010. Meanwhile, Mani Ram had died on 26.05.1998, with the plaintiffs all succeeding him. The legal heirs of Mani Ram were duly impleaded in the said proceedings.

(3.) Thereafter, plaintiffs n.2 to 6 and Krishan Kumar, predecessor-in-interest of plaintiffs no.7 to 16, again filed an application for redemption of the suit land before the same authority, i.e. the S.D.O.(Civil)-cum-Collector, Dabwali, on 03.11.2010, against the defendants, but that application was dismissed on 14.09.2011, on the ground that the application was filed within a period of 30 years from the date of the mortgage and therefore, it was beyond limitation. It was further stated that along with the application, bearing no.4-RM, Rs. 20,500/- were deposited on 03.11.2010, accepting that to be the mortgage amount, in terms of the judgment/decree dated 10.03.1998 of the learned Additional Civil Judge (Senior Division), Dabwali, passed in Civil Suit no.1287. It was further stated that defendants no.1, 4 and 5 (Subhash son of Ram Narain, Sunil Kumar son of Ram Partap and Nirmal Kumar son of Ram Partap), had suffered a statement on 30.11.2010 to the effect that they had no objection if the suit land was redeemed in favour of the plaintiffs.