RAM SUMERAN DAS Vs. KODAI DAS

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is a first appeal brought by the representatives of the deceased plaintiff Ram Sumeran Das against a decree of the learned Additional Subordinate Judge of Gorakhpur dismissing the suit of the plaintiff for possession of certain zamindari property in five mahals of villages Mirpur, Madroha, Keotlaha and Raj pur Dubi. The plaint was accompanied by a pedigree and the claim of the plaintiff was that one Sant Bakhsh was the last owner of the property in dispute, that Sant Bakhsh died a separated Hindu before the settlement of 1860 and that Sant Bakhsh was succeeded by his two widows of whom one died shortly afterwards and the other widow Mt. Biranja died at the e December, 1914. The plaintiff claimed that on the death of Mt. Biranja the plaintiff obtained possession of the property in dispute and that a mutation order was passed in his favour on 2 August, 1915. But that order was subsequently set aside on appeal and the opposite party, defendants 1 and 2, Kodai Das and Sat Narain, who are the grandsons of Pargash, the brother of Sant Bakhsh, obtained possession. The suit was brought on 4 January 1927.

(2.) Four questions have arisen in appeal. Firstly, whether the pedigree set up by the plaintiff is proved.

(3.) Now in the mutation proceedings of 1915, the plaintiff claimed on the same pedigree and it is apparent on the orders of the Sub-divisional Officer and of the Collector in appeal that the defendants did not take any objection to the accuracy of the pedigree there set forth. In the present suit the defendants have denied the accuracy of the plaintiffs pedigree so far as it alleges that there is a connexion between the family of the plaintiffs and the family of the defendants and the defendants have given evidence that the plaintiff is not connected with their family and this evidence has been supported by the grandnephew of the plaintiff and some other members of the family according to the pedigree of the plaintiff. Reference to settlement statements of 1839 and 1860 indicates that the early settlement of these villages, such as Mirpur when they came under cultivation, was made with three persons: Sahabdin, Brij Mohan and Guptar Das. Sahabdin is a brother of Sant Bakhsh; Brij Mohan represents their branch of the family in the pedigree of the plaintiff and Guptar Das is the father of the plaintiff. The contention of the plaintiff that these three persons all belonged to one family is supported by the fact that these three members were the first persons to settle in this village.