KULA CHANDRA CHAKRAVARTI Vs. BAMA SUNDARI DASEE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal arises out of a suit to declare that certain transfers made by defendant No. 1 cannot enure beyond her life. The suit having been dismissed the plaintiff has appealed.

(2.) The appellant s case may be shortly stated here. One Bisseswar Das Baksi died in 1286 leaving a will dated the 8th Assin, 1282. On his death his widow, Ramdhani Dasee obtained letters of administration and remained in possession of his estate till her death in Chait, 1303. At the time of her death she was in possession of two classes of properties, viz., those that were left by her husband and those that were her stridhan. The properties of the former class are set out in schedules ka and kha while those of the latter in schedule ga of the plaint. On 18th Sravan, 1303, she executed a will whereby she constituted, after her death, all the properties of the three schedules into debuttar in favour of her deceased husband s family deity, Begraha Sridhar Thakoor, and appointed her foster daughter Bama Sundari Dasee, defendant No. 1 the shebait for her life and the plaintiff aud his heirs the reversionary shebaits after Bama Sundari. On the death of Ramdhani, probate of her will was obtained by Bama Sundari and she took possession of the properties as shebait. Subsequently, however, she took out letters of administration, with a copy of the will, of the property and credits of her deceased foster father, Bisseswar Das Baksi, and made certain alienations of some of the properties in favour of the defendants 2 to 5. It is in respect of these alienations that the plaintiff seeks the declaration prayed for in his plaint.

(3.) The defendants pleaded several defences, the principal among which may be stated to be that the plaintiff had no right to maintain the suit and that there was no cause of action. The pleadings of the parties raised many issues in the lower Court but in appeal the dispute between them has narrowed down to the consideration of two points only, vis., (i) whether any of the properties forming the subject of this suit was the stridhan of Ramdhani Dasee; and (ii) whether the plaintiff had any right to maintain the suit.