BADRI NARAIN SINGH Vs. HARNAM KUNWAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an appeal by the plaintiff in the suit from a decree of the Court of the Judicial Commissioner of Oudh affirming a decree of the Subordinate Judge of Partabgarh by which the plaintiff's suit was dismissed, The question raised is as to the title to an estate in Oudh of, considerable value known as the Mahal Tajpur.

(2.) Lal Ajodhia Bakhsh, the ancestor of the plaintiff, belonged to a family of Bisen Thakurs long settled in the district of Partabgarh, and was the owner of an estate called Kundrajit or Shamspur. At the time of the Mutiny, this family had four branches representing the descendants of the four sons of Lal Ajodhia Bakhsh; the first branch being represented by Thakurain Baijnath (a widow), the second by Lal Chhatarpal, the third by Lal Surajpal and the fourth by Lal Chandrapal. On the annexation of Oudh in 1856, this estate, with the remainder of the soil of the province, was confiscated by the British Government, which assumed the right (as stated in Lord Canning's Proclamation of the 15 of March, 1858), to dispose of it in such manner as it thought fitting. Lal Chhatarpal had taken action against the British Government, but Thakurain Baijnath had been loyal; and ultimately by a sanad, which is undated but which appears from other documents to have been executed in the year 1863, the Chief Commissioner of Oudh under the authority of the Governor General granted the estate of Kundrajit to the above-named four persons, Thakurain Baijnath, Lal Chhatarpal, Lal Surajpal and Lal Chandrapal, and their heirs, subject to the usual conditions as to the surrender of arms and loyalty to the British Government.

(3.) The sanad was in the form then commonly adopted and contained the following clause: "It is another condition of this grant that, in the event of your dying intestate or of any of your successors dying intestate, the estate shall descend to the nearest male heir according to the rule of primogeniture, but you and all your successors shall have full power to alienate the estate, either in whole or in park by sale, mortgage, gift, bequest, or adoption to whomsoever you please."