Sheikh Eradut and others vs Daloo Sheikh and others

This was a suit by the widow and three son?, of one Delsad Sheikh, deceased, to recover possession of a jote, which they alleged they had been dispossessed of by the Defendants. The defence was that the jote in question did not belong to Delsad Sheikh, but to. one Ahladi, who, having surrendered it to the landlord, the latter had, subsequent to the relinquishment, settled it with the Defendants.

The Court below has found all the facts in favour of the Plaintiffs. It has found that the jote did, as a matter of fact, belong to Delsad Sheikh, and the Judge adds at the end of his judgment: --" Upon a fair consideration of the evidence, as a whole, 1 think I can safely hold that Delsad was the owner o the jote, and that it was possessed, after his death, by his sons and widow. The surrender by Ahladi I discredit;" but he has thrown out the case of the Plaintiffs on the ground that their claim is barred by the special limitation of two years provided in the Tenancy Act, in respect of suits for dispossession by the landlord.

That the persons who have ousted the Plaintiffs, are the agents of the landlord there is no warrant to suppose, and the learned pleader, who appeared in this Court on behalf of the Respondents, did not attempt to support this part of the Lower Court''s judgment. It has been held in this Court that the limitation of two years is provided for cases in which a tenant is dispossessed by an act of the landlord himself. In the present case the landlord is no party, and there is nothing on the record to show that the lanlord had any hand in the ouster of the Plaintiffs. His agent seems to have simply given an amalnamah to the Defendants, but there is nothing to show that he had any authority to do so. The amalnamah recites that the jote belongs to Ahladi, but there is nothing in the amalnamah itself, which would justify the conclusion that it authorised the Defendants to oust the Plaintiffs even if they (the Defendants) could be regarded as the agents of the landlord.

The facts being found in favour of the Plaintiffs, we think they are entitled to a decree. We accordingly set aside the order of the Lower Court, and decree the suit with costs in both Courts. We assess pleader''s fee in this Court at Rs. 50.