- (1.) THIS second appeal is against the judgment and decree of 1st Additional District Judge, Jamtara, whereby learned Appellate Court has affirmed the judgment and decree of learned Additional Subordinate Judge, Jamtara passed in Title Suit Nos. 186 of 1966/93 of 1982. The appellant was the defendant in the said Title Suit No. 186/1966.
(2.) THE plaintiffs had filed the said suit praying for declaration of their right, title and interest over the suit land with further declaration that the decree passed in Title Suit No. 114 of 1964 by the Deputy Collector, Jamtara is void and not binding on the plaintiffs. They had also prayed for recovery of possession and decree of permanent injunction restraining the defendant from going over the suit land. The case of the plaintiffs, in brief, was that the suit land described in Schedule of the plaint was exclusively recorded in possession of Fakir Mandal in the last survey. The said Fakir Mandal was the original plaintiff. He died during pendency of the suit and his sons and daughters were substituted in his place. It has been stated that the defendant forcibly dispossessed the plaintiffs in 1966 saying that he had got the land through the court. When the plaintiffs inquired about the same they found that the said defendant had set up a fictitious person in the name of Fakir Chand Mandal and got the Title Suit No. 114 of 1964 filed in the Court of Deputy Collector, Jamtara. Subsequently, a compromise petition was filed and a compromise decree was obtained. The same was done behind the back of Fakir Chand Mandal. The original plaintiff of the suit obtained decree playing fraud on the court. The decree, according to the defendant, was, thus, wholly illegal and void.
(3.) THE defendant contested the suit. One of the grounds, inter alia, was that the suit was barred by principle of res judicata as there was already a compromise decree. It was further stated that recorded tenant -Fakir Mandal had no male issue, he had only two daughters. The defendant had got a grocery shop in the village and said Fakir Mandal used to purchase articles on credit. When the dues accumulated, Fakir Mandal was unable to pay the same. He, therefore, transferred the suit land in favour of the defendant in the year 1935 B.S. The name of the defendant was also mutated in the office of Circle Officer, Narayanpur in Mutation Case No. 38 of 1966. The defendant has been in peaceful possession of the suit land continuously and has also acquired title by adverse possession.;