ABDUL WAHAB KHAN Vs. IBRAHIM KHAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This reference to a Full Bench raises a question whether a third appeal lies to the High Court against the decree of a District Judge passed in a second appeal against the appellate decree of a Collector. The appeal arises out of a suit for arrears of irrigation dues amounting to Rupees 172-5-0, and was brought against the heirs of one Sughra Begam, who was said to be a tenant of the plaintiff.

(2.) The suit was defended on a number of grounds, which we need not specify for the purpose of disposing of the point in issue. The suit was decreed for a sum of Rs. 169-2-6 by an Assistant Collector of the Second Class on 21 February 1929. The defendants appealed to the Collector, who dismissed the appeal on 20 June 1929. The defendants appealed a second time to the District Judge, who dismissed their appeal on 7 January 1930. The defendants then instituted this third appeal in the High Court against the appellate decree of the District Judge, and the question is whether the appeal is competent.

(3.) An appeal from the decree of the Assistant Collector of the Second Class lay to the Collector, in accordance with the terms of Section 241, Agra Tenancy Act of 1926. An appeal from the appellate decree of the Collector lay to the District Judge, if the conditions laid down in Section 243 were fulfilled. It is unnecessary for us to consider whether those conditions were, in fact, fulfilled. The District Judge entertained and decided the appeal. Section 246 is the section which governs the question whether a third appeal lies to the High Court in the circumstances mentioned above. This section enacts that an appeal shall lie to the High Court from the appellate decree of a District Judge on any of the grounds specified in Section 100, Civil P.C. 1908.