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1918 DIGILAW 38 (CAL)

Hari Das v. Debendro Ram Banerjee

1918-01-18

body1918
JUDGMENT 1. This is an appeal from the judgment and decree of the Subordinate Judge of Burdwan, dated the 23rd July 1915, confirming the decree of the Munsif of Katwa, dated the 30th June 1914. The suit is a suit in ejectment and both the Courts below have found that the plaintiffs have a good title to the land which they claim, but that the suit is barred by limitation inasmuch as it was not instituted within 12 years of the date on which they were dispossessed. The findings of the Courts below are findings of fact and we are unable to interfere with them except so far as they are vitiated by error of law. There is only one point in the case. In respect of a portion of the disputed land it appears that while the defendants were in possession the plaintiff succeeded in ousting them. The defendants thereupon brought a suit u/s 9 of the Specific Relief Act to recover possession from the plaintiffs. It is admitted by the written statement of the defendants that in the interval, until the defendants recovered under the Specific Relief Act, the plaintiffs were in possession of this portion of the land. That being so, it is clear on the face of the record that on the question of dispossession the Courts below have overlooked the fact that possession by the true owner, however obtained, counts in his favour for the purpose of Article 142 of the Limitation Act. The appeal, therefore, succeeds to this extent. 2. The result is that this appeal is allowed in part, the decree of the Court below will be modified and the suit dismissed except in so far as it relates to the portion of the disputed land covered by the decree in the suit under the Specific Relief Act. As regards that portion the suit will be decreed. The plaintiffs do not appear to have made this point effectively in the Courts below and we, therefore, make no order as to costs.