RAM BACHAN Vs. KHULBAD

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is a second appeal by the defendant arising out of a declaratory suit.

(2.) The respondents are the inhabitants of village Murtiha Khurd, a hamlet of Krishnapur, in the district of Bahraich. This village was admittedly owned by the taluqdar of Bhinga estate. The plaintiffs filed the suit in a representative capacity for the benefit of the entire body of agriculturists and riyayas residing in village Murtiha Khurd. It was alleged by the plaintiffs that plot No. 925 which measures 2.210 acres has been used as Khalian by the inhabitants of the village for over 30 years. It was further alleged that the appellant Ram Bachan was claiming the plot in suit as a tenant under a lease said to have been executed by the taluqdar of Bhinga and in order to prevent him from interfering with the right of the plaintiffs to use the land in suit as Khalian, the suit was filed. The plaintiffs also claimed fur issue of a permanent injunction to the effect that the defendant be restrained from interfering with the enjoyment and use of the disputed land by the plaintiffs.

(3.) Although the taluqdar of Bhinga was also made a party, the suit was contested by the appellant alone, who denied the allegations made in the plaint that the land in suit was being used by the inhabitants of the village as khalian.