MOHESCHANDRA DHAL Vs. SATRUGHAN DHAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE object of this application is the protection of property pending an appeal. The petitioner is suing to establish his title to land as heir of one Ramchandra Dhal. His suit has been dismissed by the Subordinate Judge on the ground that Satrughan Dhal, a respondent, is the preferential heir, and that decree has been affirmed by the High Court. Special leave to appeal against the decree of the High Court was granted on the 18th July 1898.

(2.) THE appellant now states that the estate of Ramchandra has been in the possession of a manager under the Encumbered Estates Act, and that the debts have been cleared off, and that a balance of Rs. 30,000 is in the manager's hands. He further states that Satrughan Dhal is a man of no means. He applied to the High Court to order that the manager should remain in possession, which they refused on the broad ground that the Code gives them no jurisdiction over the subject-matter pending an appeal not certified by themselves.

(3.) THEIR Lordships cannot direct the High Court to act where they have no jurisdiction, and they are not prepared to differ from the High Court on the question whether or no they have jurisdiction, without hearing full argument on the point. They are at present disposed to agree that the jurisdiction does not exist; and though it may be very anomalous that property should be left without the possibility of interim protection pending an appeal granted by special leave, the case is one of great rarity, and not unlikely to have escaped the notice of the framers of the Code.