HURRI BHUSAN MOOKERJI Vs. UPENDRA LAL MOOKERJI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE plaintiffs in this suit, who are respondents in the appeal, make claim as reversionary heirs of Chunder Bhusan, who died in the year 1832. The defendants are his widow, who became his heir, and Hurri Bhusan Mookerji, whom the widow adopted in the year 1887. The substantial object of the suit is to dispute the adoption on the ground that no authority to adopt was given by Chunder Bhusan to his widow. The widow has died pending the appeal, which is now prosecuted on behalf of Hurri Bhusan.

(2.) SOON after her husband's death, the widow, or her friends, for she was then a girl of thirteen, asserted the existence of a written power to adopt, and she has at intervals renewed the assertion. But the instrument was never until the present suit produced in court, though there had been previous hostility and litigation between the widow and the reversionary heirs. No action was taken on it till the year 1884, when the widow adopted a boy. That boy died, and the present appellant was adopted four years afterwards. On these facts and on the oral evidence the Subordinate Judge decided that the instrument relied on was not genuine, and that the widow had no authority to adopt. On appeal the High Court took the same view.

(3.) THE remaining question is whether the suit has been brought in proper time. The material dates are the first adoption in 1884, the second adoption in 1887, and the commencement of the suit in 1888.