RAJ KUMAR JAGANNATH PRASHAD SINGH Vs. SYED ABDULLAH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) In this suit Syed Abdullah sues the Raja of Deo for possession of a village called Badam. The plainti is purchaser from a dancing girl, Rajeshwari Koer, who is the natural daughter of the late Raja Bhikham of Deo, father of the present Raja, defendant.

(2.) The history of the matter is this : Raja Ehikham having got into involved circumstances, his estate was put under management under the provisions of the Chota Nagpur Encumbered Estates Act, which had been made to apply to Deo by a special Act. The manager appointed under the Act one Bhuan Lal, who had, in terms of the Act, powers of sale, put up to public auction the village of Badam. It was bought by Kashi Nath Singh for the sum of 2,000 rupees. As a matter of fact, Kashi Nath had been put forward by the Raja himself, who provided him with the money. No conveyance was executed by Bhuan Lal in favour of Kashi Nath. The management came to an end in 1896, and the Raja was restored to his estate. In 1897, the Raja, who had expressed his desire to benefit Munni Bibi, the mother of Rajeshwari, and his infant daughter by her, caused Lajjadhari, the adopted son of Kashi Nath who had by this time died, to execute a conveyance of Badam in favour of Rajeshwari. The deed of conveyance bore to be in respect of a consideration of 5,000 rupees, but in reality no money passed-Lajjadhari merely acted on the command of the Raja. On the 22nd April, 1898, Rajeshwari, being a minor, applied through her mother as guardian for registration and mutation of names in respect of the village of Badam. On the same day the Raja presented a petition in which he narrated the fact of Badam having been sold by Bhuan Lal, the manager, set forth that Kashi Nath had died without having obtained a conveyance and that Lajjadhari his son had sold the property to Rajeshwari, and prayed that Rajeshwari s petition should be granted and her name inserted in the register, "to which your petitioner has no objection whatever." Rajeshwari s name was accordingly entered in the Government register as proprietrix of the village of Badam.

(3.) In October 1898 Raja Bhikham died and the present Raja being a minor the estate came under the management of the Court of Wards. Sometime in 1899 Mr. Wright, the manager, turned out Rajeshwari who was in possession, via facti and without process. In 1901 Mr. Wright conveyed Badam to Ranee Chandra Koer, the surviving widow of Raja Bhikham, on the idea that it was gur property descending from Ranee to Ranee. In 1902 the Ranee applied for mutation of namea Her application was opposed by Rajeshwari and was refused. In 1904 the Ranee raised a civil suit for a declaration that the property was hers. To this suit she called as defendants Rajeshwari and the young Raja, the present defendant. The whole facts were gone into. The Ranee had based her case on an allegation that Kaahi Nath was a benamidar for her. The Subordinate Judge held that Kashi Nath was the benamidar of Raja Bhikham, and not of the Ranee, and dismissed the suit, adding an opinion that Raja Bhikham himself would have been (estopped from denying that the property belonged to Rajeshwari. On appeal the District Court affirmed the judgment, but did not repeat the dictum as to estoppel. In 1908 Rajeshwari executed a conveyance in favour of the present plaintiff, who in the same year raised the present suit.