- (1.) These two regular appeals arise out of a single suit for declaration of the Plaintiff-Respondent's title to certain G.P. notes of the face value of Rs. 1,05,000 and the accrued interest thereon. In the suit there was a triangular contest between the Plaintiff and the two sets of contesting Defendants. In this contest the Plaintiff has succeeded before the trial Court and hence the present two appeals by the unsuccessful Defendants.
(2.) The Plaintiff who styles himself as the Nawab Bahadur of Murshidabad claims to be the sole heir of the last Nawab Nazim of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa and sets up his title to the disputed G.P. notes and interest on two counts, namely, (i) as the sole heir to the last Nawab Nazim, to whose estate, according to this contention, the said notes reverted, upon the death of the recorded holders thereof, namely, the seven daughters of the said Nawab Nazim, in whose names they were first acquired out of the Nawab Nazim's funds, but who had merely life-estates or life interests therein, and (ii) as the sole heir to the late Nawab Nazim and thus the head of the Nizamat, in which capacity-so runs this alternative contention-the Plaintiff Nawab is entitled, by reason of a Nizamat family custom or usage, to the notes in question and the accumulated interest thereof "in supersession of "and in priority over" the claims of the heirs of the said seven daughters, even assuming that these ladies had absolute beneficial interest in the said notes, etc., which were, according to the common case of the Plaintiff under both the above contentions, held by the Government, Defendants Nos. 1 and 2, merely as trustees.
(3.) The suit was instituted in September, 1943 and therein the Plaintiff Nawab impleaded as Defendants the Province of Bengal, the Governor-General of India and the heirs of the seven daughters of the late Nawab Nazim to whom reference has been made above. Of these Defendants all except the heirs of the daughter Wahidunnessa alias Sahebzadi Begum appeared in the suit and filed written statements which were, broadly speaking, of three different types. The Governor-General and the Provincial Government, who were the first two Defendants in the suit and who will be referred to at places in this judgment as the Government Defendants, denied the Plaintiff's allegation that they were trustees in respect of the suit properties, claimed the same as Government properties and also pleaded inter alia the bar of limitation to all adverse claims against them in respect of the said properties. Defendants Nos. 3 and 4 and 7 series and (sic) series who represented the several branches of four out of the seven daughters of the late Nawab Nazim, already referred to above, disputed the Plaintiff Nawab's claim and set up inter alia title in themselves and in the heirs of the remaining three of the Nawab Nazim's said seven daughters, their case being that the said seven ladies were full and absolute beneficial owners of the suit notes, etc. and that the same were held by the first two or the Government Defendants as trustees on their (the ladies) behalf during their respective lives and for their heirs thereafter. These Defendants claimed that, upon the death of the said seven ladies, the suit notes and the accumulated interest descended by right of inheritance to their heirs including the said answering Defendants and they expressly averred that the Plaintiff's case that the said ladies had merely life-interests in the suit properties or that there was a custom or usage in the Nizamat family entitling him (the Plaintiff Nawab) to the same as the head of the Nizamat over the heads of the ladies' heirs was utterly unfounded. The other sets of appearing Defendants, namely, Defendants Nos. 5 and 8 series, who were the heirs of Razia alias Peari Begum, and Nuarunnessa alias China Begum, two of the late Nawab Nazim's said seven daughters, admitted inter alia the Plaintiff's claim to the suit properties and substantially supported the plaint allegations.;