RAM CHANDRA MARWARI Vs. MUDESHWAR SINGH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The plaintiff having in execution of a money decree against Sureswar Singh attached the rights and interests of his judgment-debtor in 4 mouzahs of Pergannah Padri, a claim to the same was successfully made by Sureswar Singh's father, Maharaj Kumar Guneshwar Singh. Hence the present suit to establish the right of Sureswar Singh, since deceased, to the said property, and for a declaration that his share is liable to sale in execution of the plaintiff's decree. The claim was contested by the sons and grandsons of Maharaj Kumar Guneshwar Singh, as well as by Gruneshwar Singh, who however has subsequently died. The Subordinate Judge found that Sureshwar Singh lived in a joint family with his father and as a member of a joint Hindu family governed by the Mitaksbara Law, he enjoyed the usufruct of the property in suit, that he was in debt to the plaintiff under a decree, and in execution thereof there was an attachment of the mouzahs in question before his death. These findings of fact are not now disputed.

(2.) The suit was dismissed because the Subordinate Judge was of opinion that the property being a Babuana grant by the then Rajah of Darbhanga to his son Ganeshwar Singh was not saleable.

(3.) The nature and incidents of a Babuana grant are stated in the case of Rameswar Singh v. Jibender Singh (1905) I.L.R. 32 Calc. 683: "Babuana property granted in accordance with the Kullacbar or family custom of the Darbhanga Raj is property granted to the junior male members of the family to be enjoyed by them in lieu of money maintenance subject to the proprietary rights of the grantor, and his ultimate claim as reversioner on the extinction of the grantee's descendants in the male line. The grantor remains responsible for the payment of the Government revenue, and retains his position as the recorded proprietor of the property assigned. The grantee has the right to alienate the property subject only to the contingent interest of the grantor."