BAL KISHAN Vs. SALIQ RAM

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The parties are Choubes of Muttra. They are the sons of one Ram Raj Chaube, who is dead. They carry on a business which is known as Brit Jijmani. It consists of looking after pilgrims who come to Muttra and taking them to the various temples and sometimes helping them in their pujas or religious worship. The pilgrims pay for this service according to their capacity to pay and the capacity of the Panda to extract money from them. When a pilgrim goes to Muttra, he is claimed by the Panda on the ground that he or his ancestors had attended on the pilgrim or his ancestors on their previous visit or visits to Muttra. Generally, the pilgrim decides to engage the services of the same Panda who had attended on him or his ancestors or that Panda's descendants. If, however, the pilgrim decides to go to a different Panda or not to have a Panda at all, his right to do so cannot be fettered nor has a Panda a legal right to force himself on an unwilling pilgrim. Who does not require his services. Generally, however, the tendency is not to make a change and in that sense this office, if it can be called an office at all, becomes hereditary. The Ghaubes of Muttra, like the Pandas of many other places of pilgrimage, maintain books on which they make a note of the pilgrim they have attended on and sometimes take his signature or thumb-impression so that they may be able to prove, when occasion arises, that they attended on him before and would be able to appeal to him or to his descendants to engage their services. Ram Raj Chaube left two sons, of whom the elder, Salig Earn, is the plaintiff and the younger, Bal Kishen the defendant. He also left a widow, the mother of the plaintiff and the defendant who died about the year 1928 or 1929. Ram Raj Chaube had left three houses, known as, Purani haveli house No. 206, Nauwala, house No. 208 and a house in Mohalla Golpara No. 587. There was a fourth house, No. 505 in Gali Tiwari which was purchase by the plaintiff in his own name on 31st August 1984. There was also a plot of land in the name of the parties which had been acquired from the Nazul Committee. Ram Raj Chaube had left certain Jijmani bahis or books in which the names of the pilgrims on whom he and his ancestors had attended were entered and probably some other movable property. The plaintiffs case was that on 29 November 1934, there was an oral partition with the help of Moolji Ranchordas of Bombay one of the Jijmans, when it was decided that the Purani haveli house No. 206 was to be given to the defendant, while the Nauwala house No. 208 and house No. 587 in Mohalla Golpara would fall to the plaintiff's share, that the parties were living in Purani haveli, that as that house was of higher valuation than the two houses allotted to the plaintiff, the defendant was required to pay Rs.500 as compensation to the plaintiff, that as regards the house purchased by the plaintiff, it was decided that the defendant would pay to the plaintiff Rs. 550 and would then get a half share in the house. That the Nazul land was to belong to the parties half and half and each was required to pay Rs. 2 to the Nazul Committee as rent, that the rest of the movables were also divided between the parties and it was held that the articles in possession of each party would belong to him, and that as regards the Jijmans, the parties agreed to divide them by castes and the Jijmans belonging to certain castes fell to the share of Bal Kishan and the Jijmans of certain other castes fell to the share of Salig Ram.

(2.) At the time of the partition according to the plaintiff there was some sort of a panchayat and some of the Jijmans and well wishers of the family were also present. One Madanlal Chaturvedi wrote out a memorandum of what had taken place and obtained the signature of the parties on it. The paper was also signed by two witnesses, Tapia Chaube and Sundarlal Chaube. The plaintiff's case is that after this partition of 29 November 1934, the parties divided the pages of the bahis on 26 August 1935, with the help of another Jijman, one Mt. Prem Kuar of Bombay. According to the plaintiff, in spite of the partition, the defendant was interfering with the plaintiff's rights and the plaintiff, therefore, claimed the two following reliefs: (a) It may be deolared that a private partition has been made between the parties that the plaintiff is the atatato owner in poisessicra of the property given in Schedule A and that the defendant has no right and share in it laid at Rs. 5000. (b) The defendant may be ordered to render account of the amounts realised by him from the plaintiff's Jijmans and a decree in respect of the amount which may be found due to the plaintiff may be passed in his (plaintiff s) favour as against the defendant. The court-fee on the amount which is found on account will be laid later on laid at Rs. 110.

(3.) In Schedule A are given the houses which the plaintiff said belonged to him as they fell to his share and the list of various castes who become his jijmans after the partition. Schedule B gives the list of property and the castes of jijmans that fell to the share of the defendant. The defence was a total denial of any partition between the parties and it was said that everything was joint up to the date of the suit. In para. 8, however, the defendant alleged that there were several attempts made at partition but on account of the plaintiff the partition could never be completed.