SARNA Vs. PARSHOTAM DASS

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is a defendant's second appeal arising out of a suit for possession.

(2.) The plaintiff filed a representative suit on behalf of the residents of village Tika Gorur, Tappa Kohla, Tehsil Hamirpur, alleging that the residents of the village were entitled to Bartandaran rights over the land measuring ten kanals in Khasra No. 35 in the village, that the rights consisted of a right of passage, the right of grazing cattle and the right to excavate earth and stones. It was asserted that the residents of Tika Gorur had exercised the rights for many years, that in 1897 the Financial Commissioner of' Punjab recognised that while the right of ownership in the land belonged to the Raja of Nadaun the exercise of the said right of ownership was subject to the Bartandaran rights, which had been mentioned in the Wajub -ul -arz It was alleged that after the defendant Sarna purchased the land from the Raja of Nadaun he attempted to enter into possession thereof in the year 1955 -56 to the exclusion of the Bartandaran rights of the village residents in consequence of which, it was said, the Assistant Collector had intervened and terminated the defendant's possession. It was said that towards the beginning of 1963 the defendant had again started cultivating part of the land and from September, 1965 had taken exclusive possession. It was pointed out that the Bartandaran rights had been recognised earlier by the court in Civil Suit No. 312 of 1955, which was decided on August 27, 1956.

(3.) The suit was resisted on the grounds, inter alia, that the plaintiff was not entitled to sue for possession and that the suit was barred by limitation.