BABU RAM Vs. SHRIMATI ROSHAN DEVI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This Second Appeal has been directed by the plaintiff against the judgment and decree dated 26th September, 1989 of the District Judge, Kangra at Dharamshala, affirming the judgment and decree dated 7th may, 1986 of the Sub Judge First Class, Dehra.

(2.) The dispute between the parties pertains to the estate of deceased Moti Ram, who died issueless on 4th February, 1980. The plaintiff Babu Ram, who is the real brother of the deceased Moti Ram, is claiming the ownership and possession of the said property, hereinafter to be referred as the property in dispute, by way of succession being the natural legal heir of the deceased Moti Ram. The defendant Smt. Roshan Devi, on the other hand, has claimed herself to be the owner and in possession of the property in dispute, on the basis of a Will alleged to have been executed in her favour by the deceased Moti Ram on 27th May, 1968. The defendant is not related to the deceased Moti Ram, in any manner and the Will is alleged to have been executed in her favour in lieu of services rendered by her to the deceased during his life time.

(3.) After the death of the deceased Moti Ram, the necessary mutation of inheritance was sanctioned in favour of the defendant, on the basis of the registered Will, referred to above. The plaintiff has challenged the Will, on the ground that the same is false, fictitious and a frivolous document and is the result of fraud and misrepresentation and as such not binding on his rights. Further case of the plaintiff is that he and deceased Moti Ram are governed by agricultural custom of Kangra District, in the matters of alienation and succession, whereby the ancestral property cannot be alienated by way of Will or otherwise. The property in dispute is alleged to be ancestral in the hands of the deceased Moti Ram.