KUESHWAR JHA Vs. UMA KANT JHA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is a second appeal by the defendants against a decision of the learned District Judge of Darbhanga reversing a decision of the Munsif of Madhubani and decreeing the plaintiff's suit without costs.

(2.) The suit was brought under the provisions of Order 1, Rule 8, Civil P.C., by certain persons as representing the villagers of Bhowanipur. It related to 1 katha 7 dhnrs of land comprising plot No. 3603 in that village and recorded in the record of rights as parti Kadim gair mazrua am.

(3.) The plaintiffs sued on the allegation that the plot in question was used by the villagers as a meeting place and play ground, and for making "structure of houses" (whatever that may mean). Three or four years before the suit the defendants first party dispossessed the villagers by constructing houses upon the land. Prior to that the land had been parti in the use of the villagers for the purposes mentioned and the defendants first party had had nothing to do with it. The defendant had taken possession by virtue of an alleged settlement from the landlord, who was impleaded as defendant second party, but that settlement of gair mazrua am land by the landlord was null and void and gave the defendants first party no right or title. Hence the plaintiffs prayed for a declaration of the rights of the villagers and for the ejectment of the defendants by removal of the structures on the land.