CHET SINGH Vs. RUR SINGH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Mt. Harnam Kaur, widow of Mangal Singh, mortgaged the suit land for Rs. 1300 in favour of Chet Singh defendant on 10 April 1944. Within a few months of the alienation, Rur Singh plaintiff sued to challenge the mortgage under custom. He alleged that he was a collateral of Mangal Singh, that the land in suit was his ancestral property and that in any case even if it was held that the land was the self-acquired property of Mangal Singh the widow had only a life estate and could not mortgage it without necessity.

(2.) The mortgagee denied the ancestral nature of the property and pleaded that the widow had an unrestricted power of alienation in respect of the self-acquired property of her husband. It was also said that the mortgage was for consideration and legal necessity.

(3.) The trial Judge held that the plaintiff being a collateral of Mangal Singh was entitled to challenge the alienation in dispute, that the land had not been proved to be ancestral of the plaintiff and Mangal Singh, that the widow was in possession of it as a limited owner and that the alienation had not been made for necessity. In the result the plaintiff was granted a decree declaring that the mortgage shall not affect his reversionary rights after the death of the widow. Against this decision an appeal was preferred to the Court of the Senior Subordinate Judge, Amritsar.