KARNAIL SINGH Vs. SURJIT KAUR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is plaintiffs second appeal whose suit for declaration that he was the owner in possession of the suit land has been dismissed by the two Courts below.

(2.) The dispute in the present case was to the inheritance of one Nirmal Singh son of Nagahia Singh. Nagahia Singh had three sons, Karnail Singh, plaintiff Ram Singh defendant and the deceased Nirmal Singh. Nirmal Singh left behind a widow Surjit Kaur and a son Buta Singh. Karnail Singh plaintiff, filed the present suit on the basis of a Will dated December 7, 1974, alleged to have been executed by the deceased Nirmal Singh. Admittedly, the said Nirmal Singh died on December 8, 1974, i.e., one day after the alleged execution of the will The second ground taken by the plaintiff was that Surjit Kaur was not the widow of the deceased Nirmal Singh, nor Buta Singh could be said to be the legitimate son of Nirmal Singh. Ram Singh, the brother of the plaintiff did not contest the suit. The stand taken by the widow Surjit kaur and her son Buta Singh was that Nirmal Singh, deceased, used to work at Talwara Township for the last ten years and Surjit Kaur, defendant, was married to him. She gave birth to Buta Singh out of her marriage with Nirmal Singh As regards the will, it was denied that Nirmal Singh, plaintiffs, ever executed any will in favour of the plaintiff. On the appreciation of the entire evidence, the trial Court found that the execution of the Will was not proved beyond reasonable doubt and that Nirmal Singh never executed any valid Will in favour of the plaintiff. The trial Court also found that Surjit Kaur was the widow of Nirmal Singh, deceased, and that Buta Singh was his son. Consequently, the plaintiff's suit was dismissed vide judgment dated April 18, 1979. In appeal, the learned Additional District Judge affirmed the said findings of the trial Court and thus maintained the decree dismissing the plaintiff's suit.

(3.) At the time of the motion hearing, it was pleaded that even at the time of the marriage of Surjit Kaur with Nirmal Singh deceased her previous husband Harnek Singh was alive and, therefore, there could not be a legal marriage between Surjit Kaur and the deceased. The same argument was raised by the learned counsel at this stage. In support of the contention, the learned counsel relied upon Curjit Singh (deceased) and others v. Mohinder Pal Singh and another, 1987 91 PunLR 475and Narain Singh v. Bal Singh, 1977 CurLJ 288(Civil) . According to the learned counsel, this is admitted by Surjit Kaur herself in her statement that her previous husband Harnek Singh was alive and, therefore, in view of that statement, the marriage, if any, with the deceased Nirmal Singh, was not valid and legal. No challenge was made to the findings of the two Courts below as regards the validity of the Will.