INDIAN COTTON CO LTD Vs. RAGHUNATH HARI DESHPANDE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is a suit brought by the plaintiff to recover possession of the land in suit on the ground that the property belonged to the joint family of the plaintiff and his uncle Ramchandra Martand who passed a lease on 28 July 1879, in favor of the defendant company for a period of five years when ho was a minor and therefore the lease was void, that at a partition between the plaintiff and his uncle the land in suit fell to the share of the plaintiff, and that the defendant when he was called upon to deliver possession refused to do so.

(2.) The defendant company contended that Ramchandra Martand was a major at the time of the execution of the lease, and therefore the lease was binding on him as well as his heirs, and even assuming that he was a minor, he ratified it by his conduct in recovering the rent from the defendant company, and that the lease, Ex. 12, was not for a period of five years only but created a permanent tenancy in favour of the defendants.

(3.) The learned Subordinate Judge held that the lease was not a permanent lease, that Ramchandra Martand was a minor at the execution of the lease and therefore it was void and did not confer any rights on the defendants, and that the subsequent conduct of Ramchandra Martand did not estop him from contending that the said tenancy was an annual one, and therefore passed a decree in favour of the plaintiff for possession of the land and mesne profits.