SAJID ALI AND WAJID ALI Vs. IBAD ALI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE late Chaudri Karim Baksh was owner of one-half share of the talook Pachgahni, in the district of Bara Banki, which was duly entered in Lists 1 and 3 prepared under the Oudh Act I. of 1869, and was therefore descendible, in the event of his dying intestate, according to the rule of primogeniture. He had three sons, the eldest, Ibad Ali, by his first wife, being the Respondent, and the younger sons, Sajid Ali and Wajid Ali, by his second wife, being the Appellants in the original and only appeal which has been insisted in at their Lordships' bar.

(2.) THE deceased had a paralytic attack about the year 1879, by which he was affected until his death, which occurred on the 16th of October, 1883. In the year 1882 the deceased became dissatisfied with the conduct of the Respondent Ibad Ali, to whom he had previously entrusted, for a period of twenty years, the entire management of his property. On the 24th of March, 1882, he executed a will by which he settled his estates upon his three sons in equal shares; and on the 27th of May, 1882, he applied for mutation of names in their favour. That application was resisted by the Respondent, on the ground that his father had become unable to manage his own affairs, and was "a perfect insane." It was ultimately withdrawn, in consequence of the deceased having executed a second will on the 25th of September, 1882, by which he appointed his two younger sons to succeed him as talookdars, having the sole management and administration, and restricted the interest of the Respondent to one-third of the free profits during his lifetime.

(3.) ON the 29th of June, 1883, the Respondent presented a petition to the Deputy Commissioner of Bara Banki, praying him to place the estate of the deceased under the management of the Court of Wards. The reasons assigned for the application were, that the deceased was a man of seventy, that he had been paralysed for three or four years, and that he had "consequently become weak and imbecile, quite unable to manage the affairs of the estate. He has no discretion of either good or bad, and has lost his powers of moving and seeing, and is a perfect insane." The Deputy-Commissioner made a remit to his Assistant for inquiry into the condition of the deceased. The Extra Assistant-Commissioner summoned Karim Baksh before him, and, after an examination on various matters connected with the estate and family of the deceased, he reported, on the 30th of August, 1883: "Chaudri Karim Baksh certainly had an attack of paralysis, and in consequence thereof he has lost strength of his leg to some extent, but he is not out of his senses, nor is he of unsound mind. He has answered the questions put to him very thoughtfully." Upon receiving that report the Deputy-Commissioner declined to entertain the Respondent's petition.