RATI BAI Vs. GUGAN SINGH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The sole question involved in this second appeal brought from the judgment of the learned Additional District Judge, Gurgaon, dated December, 1975 is the applicability of the provisions of Section 14(1) of the Hindu Succession Act (hereinafter called the Act) to the facts of the present case which are not disputed.

(2.) On the death of one Bani Singh, his estate devolved on Smt. Ramdai, his widow. Later on, Ramdai adopted Gugan Singh, respondent, as her son and got mutated half of the land inherited by her in his favour. Gugan Singh, however, filed a suit on April 11, 1935 against Ramdai for possession of the remaining half of the land which she had retained for herself. It resulted in a compromise decree Exhibit DH-2 whereby Ramdai was allowed to retain the said land for her maintenance and the respondent was given the right to recover its possession after her death by execution of the decree.

(3.) Ramdai died on December 4, 1966 but in her life time, after the enforcement of the Hindu Succession Act, 1956 , she gifted the land in her possession in favour of Smt. Rati Bai. Consequently, the respondent filed the execution application to get possession of the said land. The main defence taken by the appellant was that Smt. Ramdai had become full owner of the land in dispute by virtue of the provisions of Section 14(1) of the Act which was upheld by the trial Court and the execution application was dismissed. The learned Additional District Judge, on appeal, took a contrary view and after reversing the finding of the executing Court remanded the case back for further proceedings after fresh decision on another issue. Aggrieved by the said order, Smt. Rati Bai has come up in this execution second appeal.