PRATAB SINGH Vs. NANHELAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) STRIPPED of all superfluities the plaintiff's case is that ha is the nest heir to an inalienable estate which the present holder is about to sell for Rs. 40,000 and he prays for a decree, in the form of a declaration, that shall prevent him from doing so. What right he has to prevent the present holder from alienating the estate for the term of his own life is not apparent, nor, if he had the right, does it appear how he could enforce it in a suit to which the present holder is not a party; it is admitted that a lease of the whole estate granted by him lor that period would be perfectly valid, and it would seem that the utmost the plaintiff could claim with any hope of success is a declaration that after the death of the present holder the sale will be ineffective against the next heir, whoever he may be. The Court-fee payable on a plaint with such a claim would of course be the fixed fee of ten rupees, as in the many similar suits by reversioners against Hindu widows. But the claim here is much more; it is that the present holder of the estate shall be prevented from alienating, even for the term of his own life, a claim which that present holder would doubtless support if he were made a party to the suit, as the consideration has already been paid and he is being forced to sell. As the amount for which it is proposed to sell the property is Rs. 40,000 it is beyond doubt that the Court-fee payable is the ad valorem fee on that sum. The appeal will accordingly be dismissed and the appellant must pay the costs of both parties. The pleader's fee in this Court will be fifty rupees.