PALAS RAM Vs. DEVI DAS

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Devi Das, a sonless proprietor, executed a registered sale-deed in respect of some agricultural land in favour of Hari Das for the ostensible consideration of Rs. 4,000/-. On the allegations that the land was ancestral, that he was a reversionary heir of the vendor, that under custom a sonless proprietor is not entitled to alienate his property without the consent of the reversioner, and that the sale was made otherwise than for valuable consideration or legal 'necessity, the plaintiff sued the vendor and the vendee for a declaration that the sale would not affect his reversionary rights after the death of the vendor. In the alternative, he also prayed for recovery of possession of the property by preemption. The plaintiff also impleaded as a pro forma defendant one Joban Das as another reversioner.

(2.) The suit was dismissed by the Senior Subordinate Judge of Kasumpti on 28- 8-1950, and the plaintiff's appeal was dismissed by the District Judge of Mahasu of Sirmur on 7-3-1951. He has now come up in second appeal to this Court.

(3.) The preliminary objection that no second appeal lay has no force. The lower appellate Court having affirmed the decision of the trial Court, and the property which was the subject-matter of the decree of the lower appellate Court being in any case worth more than Rs. 1,000/-, this is a competent second appeal under para. 32 (1) (b) (ii), Himachal Pradesh (Courts), Order, 1948.