JUGAL KISHORE Vs. KHUDA BUX

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an appeal of five Vaishes of Moradabad, who instituted the suit out of which this appeal has arisen against the Secretary of State for India and five Mohamedan shop-keepers of Chowmukha Pal, Moradabad.

(2.) The cause of action of these five Vaishes of Moradabad, as set out in the plaint, is that without any reasonable and lawful ground, Maulvi Shams ud-din, the Tahsildar of Moradabad, prohibited and interfered with the bathing of the public and drawing water in a lota from the well and with the drawing of the water by the chamars, and on the report of the Tahsildar the Collector passed an order prohibiting the public from bathing, and the said order was contrary to the rights of the plaintiffs and the other parsons entitled and is prejudicial to them. With reference to the five Mahomedan shopkeepers, who are impleaded as defendants, the plaintiffs alleged: On the strength of their party and religious bigotry they hinder and obstruct the plaintiffs, the other Hindus and others from lawfully using the said wall so that they show a threatening demeanour.

(3.) In para. 9 the plaintiffs alleged that in the suit many have a similar right, and on behalf of all of them the plaintiffs bring the case under Order 1, Rule 8. They, therefore, ask for a perpetual injunction against the defendants restraining them from interfering with the use of the welt in any way. They also seek for a declaration that as the well was constructed for the benefit of the public, the plaintiffs and also all the other Hindu public irrespective of caste are entitled to use the well for the purpose of bathing and taking water, and that all the Hindu public as well as the other persons are entitled to use the pucca well without interference or objection of anyone.