Research › Browse › Judgment

Calcutta High Court · body

1906 DIGILAW 39 (CAL)

Rajnarain Mitra v. Anant Tarai

1906-02-22

body1906
JUDGMENT Maclean, C.J. - The object of this suit, which is a suit by a landlord against his tenants, is to make the Defendants jointly and severally liable for the entire rent of the property held by them. The Defendants set up that for the last 60 years they had separately held possession of their respective shares on payment of rent separately and obtaining separate receipts. On what does the landlord base his right ? He can produce no contract. The so-called kabuliyat, which is printed at page 16 of the Paper-book, is apparently signed by no body and has no real effect as a contract between the parties. It has been found in this case by both the Courts below that, for 60 years or upwards, the Defendants have separately held possession of their respective plots on payment of a separate rent. The Plaintiff contends that the true effect of sec. 104 A of the Bengal Tenancy Act is to make the khewat for proprietary tenure-holders, a copy of which is printed at page 20 of the Paper-book, conclusive on the point that the tenants were joint tenants and held jointly and are liable jointly and separately for the entire rent. I can find nothing in that section to justify this suggestion. Sec. 103 B is against that view. It says:-" Every entry in a record-of-rights so published shall be presumed to be correct until the contrary is proved." This shows that the entry was not intended to be conclusive. It is only presumed to be correct until the contrary is proved. Here the Court has found that the presumption of the correctness of the entry has been rebutted. That ends the Plaintiff's case. In my opinion the judgments of both the Courts below are right and this appeal must be dismissed with costs