NAWAB IBRAHIM ALI KHAN; NAWAB MUHAMMAD AHSAN ULLAHKHAN Vs. NAWAB MUHAMMAD AHSAN ULLAH; NAWAB IBRAHIM ALI KHAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The sole question for determination involved in these two appeals relates to the rule of succession applicable to the Kunjpura State lying in what are called the Cis-Sutlej Districts of the Punjab.

(2.) The Kunjpura riasat lies about 100 miles to the north of Delhi, in the District of Karnal, and was founded in the first half of the 18th century by an Afghan soldier of fortune of the name of Najabat Khan, who, like many other adventurers, native and foreign, had taken advantage of the troublous times when the whole fabric of the Mogul Empire had fallen to pieces to carve out a small principality for himself. In 1748 he obtained a sanad from the Afghan conqueror Ahmed Shah Abdali, also called Durani, then in the height of his power in Northern India, granting him a " hereditary jagir " of the villages, 149 in number, of which he was in possession at the time. The villages were declared to be inam, or revenue-free, and he was to enjoy thenceforth the revenue payable to the Imperial Government, subject to the obligation of maintaining order in his ilaqa or possessions.

(3.) It is not disputed that the chief ship has from the time of Najabat descended in the male line to a single heir, and that heir has been invariably the eldest son, save in one instance, where the deceased rais left no issue, and was succeeded by his eldest surviving brother.