IMAMBANDI Vs. SHEIKH HAJI MUTSADDI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an appeal from a judgment and decree of the High Court of Calcutta, dated the 30th August, 1911, which affirmed the decree of the Subordinate Judge of Saran awarding to the plaintiffs possession of a share in certain landed property situated in that referred to.

(2.) The property in suit belonged originally to one Ismail Ali Khan, a wealthy Mahomedan inhabitant of the Sub-Division of Siwan in the Saran District. The plaintiffs allege that on his death in March 1906 he left him surviving three widows and several children, and that from one of these widows, named Enayet-uz-Zohra, acting for herself and for her two minor children, they purchased the share in suit for the possession of which they brought the present action.

(3.) It appears that shortly after Ismail Ali Khan s death the contesting defendants 1 to 7 applied to the Revenue Courts for mutation of names (as proprietors) in the Collector s records, and, as usually happens in these cases in India, especially in Mahomedan families, immediately this applica tion was made, a claim was put forward on behalf of Enayet-uz-Zohra and her children that they were equally entitled with the other heirs of Ismail Ali Khan to have their names entered as co-sharers in the estate by right of inheritance, the allegation being that Zohra was one of his lawfully wedded wives and that her children were his legitimate issue. The Revenue Courts rejected her claim, holding that it was not established to their satisfaction that she was Ismail Ali Khan a married wife or that the children were his lawful issue. They accordingly made an order directing the registration of the contesting defendants names in succession to Ismail Ali Khan.