KISAN PUNJAJI Vs. YASHODABAI MAHADEO

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS is a writ petition by one Kisan who is the defendant in a pending suit and who claims to be a tenant of survey No. 129/1 of mouza Akot. On his pleading in the civil suit, an issue of his tenancy was raised and referred to the revenue Courts as required by Section 125 of the Bombay Tenancy and Agricultural Lands (Vidarbha Region) Act, 1958. All the three Revenue Courts, namely, the Tenancy Naib Tahsildar, the Special Deputy Collector and the Maharashtra Revenue Tribunal, have answered the issue against the tenant. They all held that he is not a tenant. Being aggrieved by this finding, he has filed this petition,

(2.) THE facts giving rise to this litigation are not in dispute. One Punjaji, the grandfather of the present respondent Yashodabai, was admittedly the owner of survey No. 129/1. After his death, his son, Vithu, leased out that land for a period of 15 years by registered document dated February 21, 1935, to one Govinda. It appears that Vithu died and his daughter Yashodabai and her mother Rukhabai effected a sale of the disputed land to one Mankabai who is the daughter of Rukhabai As a result, of this sale deed in favour of Mankabai, the owner of the adjoining sub -division, one Rungaji, filed a preemption suit. Pre -emption was allowed to him on payment of a certain amount.

(3.) IN this state of the record, Yashodabai, the present respondent, filed Civil Suit No. 12 -A of 1954 for partition of the family properties. In that suit, she also included survey No. 129/1 as available for division in spite of the fact that she had sold it earlier to Mankabai. Kisan, somehow, was not made a party to this sut. Since all the parties to the suit were close relations, the suit came to be compromised and the decree in terms of the compromise was passed. The result of that compromise was that Yashodabai, the respondent, was awarded 7/25ths eastern share in survey No. 129/1, The western 18/25ths share went to defendants Nos. 3 to 6 in that suit.