- (1.) The plaintiff-appellant had filed the instant suit seeking permanent injunction against the defendant-respondents restraining them from shifting the site of cremation ground from the existing place to near the plot of plaintiff and further restraining them from removing the cremation shed from the existing cremation ground.
(2.) It is the case of the plaintiff-appellant that he is the owner in possession of plot bearing Khewat/Khatoni No.251/251, Khasra No.338/1-19. The defendant no.2 is the husband of Ex- Sarpanch of the Gram Panchayat having influence in the village and the plaintiff was having litigation with him and the ex-Sarpanch of the village. The existing cremation ground was being used by the villagers since time immemorial and the same is at a distance from the residential area of the village. The said cremation ground was developed by the villagers and iron sheets/shed has been constructed over the same. It was alleged in the suit that the defendant Gram Panchayat wanted to shift the said cremation ground to a place near to the plot of the plaintiff. The said action was being taken by the Panchayat members in collusion with defendant no.2 to harass the plaintiff. It was alleged that cremation of dead bodies near the populated area would be injurious to the health of the villagers. The plaintiff requested the defendants not to proceed with their illegal act, but they declined the request of the plaintiff. Hence, the suit.
(3.) Upon notice, the defendants appeared and filed written statement, raising various preliminary objections. On merits, it was stated that the plaintiff is a chronic litigant and is in the habit of filing false suits. In fact, the plaintiff was in unauthorized possession of the phirney of the village. Wife of defendant no.2, being the Sarpanch, wanted to remove the said unauthorized possession of the plaintiff. As such, the plaintiff was having a grudge against defendant no.2 and his wife. It was further denied that the present cremation ground was continuously used by the villagers for the last 150 years or that it was at a distance of about 3-4 killas from the residential area of the village. It was claimed that the cremation ground is situated in Khasra No.127 and 129. A temporary shed was constructed in the land of Gurudwara Sahib for the purpose of cremation during rainy season. There was no pucca passage leading to the cremation land in the Gurudwara Sahib, therefore, the cremation ground in Khasra No.127 was developed. It was further claimed that there was no plot of the plaintiff adjoining Khasra No.127 and the actual cremation ground is half kilometer away from the abadi of the village and about 200 meters away from the Phirney of the village. There are no residential houses near the cremation ground and the plaintiff had no right to stop the shifting of the cremation ground or construction of any shed in the same. The villagers had already spent more than Rs.2 lac for construction of road and for filling earth in the plot in Khasra No.127. The aforesaid Khasra No.127 is only one killa away from the existing shed built in the land belonging to the Gurudwara. In view of the aforesaid pleadings, dismissal of the suit was prayed for.;