KONWAR DOORGANATH ROY Vs. RAM CHUNDER SEN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS is a suit brought by the appellant Konwar Doorganath Roy to sot aside certain alienations of two-thirds of an ancestral mehal called Gopeejan, made by his grandmother Rani Rashmoni, on the ground that the mehal had been dedicated to the worship of an idol Radha Mohun Thakoor, The respondents are the successors of the original grantees, or persons deriving title from thorn. To show the position of Rashmoni at the time she made the alienations in question, and that she may have acted not merely as the widow and heiress of her deceased husband Roy Bijoy Krishna, an anumati-patra has been put in, which gave her, undoubtedly, special powers. The anumati-patra, or so much of it as is material 'is as follows;--You are my wife. You have no children horn to you. I. am now very ill in body. I have no hope of life. On my doatb there will be no one to perform the ancestral deh-kirti (worship of the gods), &c, and offer the jalpinda (funeral cake and libations of water) of my ancestors. For the observance of all those rites, and of the jalpinda to the ancestors, as well as the preservation of the zemindaris, lakhiraj, debutter, &c, I, in my sound mind, give you permission, on my death, to keep possession of my zemindaris, debutter, &c, recording your own name in the Collectorate shorishta, to remain in enjoyment of the profits, and to defray the expenses of the deb-kirti during your lifetime, and to adopt one or two sons born in the family of true Brahmans. On your death, that adopted son will succeed to all properties; and on the said adopted son attaining his majority, you will, if you should desire it, get his name recorded in the zemindari tahut, and surrender the entire management to him," And then there is this statement: Now I am a debtor tomabajans (creditors). Some mehals of the zemindari are in mortgage on account of those debts. If there should be no other moans of liquidating the debts, you will either sell a small portion of the zemindari or make conditional sale of it, as appears necessary, and liquidate the debts."

(2.) NOW , undoubtedly, there is a reference to debutter property in this document, but this document itself creates no endowment; and it is necessary for the plaintiff to show aliunde that there was an existing endowment in favour of this particular idol to which the word debutter may be referred.

(3.) THAT being her position, she made the two alienations in question. The first is a maurasi mokurari patta, which she granted to two persons, Nimai Soondur Roy and Ram Soondur Sen. This patta describes the estate thus: "Tarraf Wargopjan alias Goaljan," which, is admitted to be the estate Gopeejan, "the patrimonial debutter rent-free land of Bijoy Krishna Roy, my late husband, the boundaries of which are on the east of the Ganges," and so on, "is the debutter property of the Sri Sri Iswai" Radha Mohun Thakoor of Raninuggur, which is in my possession and enjoyment as shebait of the idol." Then the grantor notices the fact that 120 bigas, or one-third of that mehal, had been decreed to Bhagiruthi Debi, the widow of one of her husband's brothers, Ram Krishna Roy. "With the exception of 120 bigas of mathan land decreed in the suit of Bhagiruthi Debi, widow of the late Ram Krishna Roy, the eldest brother of my late husband, the remaining lakhiraj lands," and so on. The document proceeds: