Privy Council Court December 1943 Judgments

Corporation of Calcutta Vs. Province of Bengal

Court: Privy Council

Lord Porter: This appeal is against the judgment and decree of the High Court of Judicature at Fort William in Bengal, dated 13th August 1940, dismissing an appeal from the judgment and decree of the Chief Judge of the Court of Small Causes at Calcutta. The question at issue is whether for the purpose of the assessment to the consolidated rate of a house in Calcutta owned by the respondent and occupied by the Commissioner of the Presidency Division in Bengal the annual value falls to be calculated under sub-s. (a) or under sub-s. (b) of S. 127, Calcutta Municipal Act (Bengal Act 3 of 1923.) This section reads as follows : "For the purposes of assessing land and buildings to the consolidated rate-(a) the annual value of land, and the annual value of any building erected for letting purposes or ordinarily let, shall be deemed to be the gross annual rent at which the land or building might at the time of assessment reasonably be expected to let from year to year, less in the case of a bui...

Seth Manakchand Vs. Chaube, Manoharlal and Another

Court: Privy Council

Sir George Rankin: The matter for decision on this appeal is whether the respondents are entitled to recover possession from the appellant of a four annas share in a village called Chipabad. The question arises upon an application for the execution of a final decree for foreclosure dated 10th July 1930. The application was made by a tabular statement dated 19th July 1933, by which the respondents who were the plaintiffs in the foreclosure suit asked that a warrant for possession of the four annas share be issued against the appellant. On 6th April 1934, the trial Court (the Additional District Judge of Hoshangabad) ordered that a warrant for possession should issue to eject the appellant, and an appeal from this order was dismissed by the High Court at Nagpur on 24th September 1937, against whose order this appeal is brought. The respondents' mortgage is dated 31st May 1919. It was for Rs. 8000 and interest. The mortgagors were one Govindram and his son Rajaram. The dispute between the...

Bilasrai Joharmal and Another Vs. Shivnarayan Sarupchand and Others

Court: Privy Council

Sir George Rankin: The appellants on 2nd September 1939, with the sanction of the Advocate-General, brought a suit on the Original Side of the High Court at Bombay under S. 92 of the Code in respect of a public charity. The charity concerned is a hospital at a town in the Jaipur State called Bagar. It was established in 1926 for providing medical relief to the poor and was called Shivnarayan Joharmal Bagar Hospital. The plaint asked that the defendants, who were five in number, should be removed from their office as trustees and that new trustees be appointed by the Court. It also asked for accounts to be taken of the defendants' management, on the footing that they had been guilty of misapplying the funds of the trust; but it is now plain that this allegation is wholly without substance and that the sole ground of complaint is that the defendants have without authority changed the name of the hospital to Shivnarayan Chiranjilal Rungta Hospital and are employing this new style both in ...

Thakur Raghuraj Singh Vs. Lala Hari Kishan Das and Another

Court: Privy Council

Lord Atkin: This is an appeal from a decree of the Chief Court of Oudh at Lucknow setting aside a decree of the Subordinate Judge, Sitapur, which under the provisions of Ss. 5 and 30, U. P. Agriculturists' Relief Act, 27 of 1934, amended a compromise decree, dated 4th July 1933, made in a suit in which respondent 1 was the plaintiff and the present appellant's predecessor in title was the defendant. Thakur Raghuraj Singh, hereinafter called the debtor, who is now deceased and represented by the present appellant was the talukadar of a large property in the District of Sitapur. On 17th February 1928, he borrowed from respondent 1 (hereinafter called the creditor) a sum of Rs. 1,40,000 at 10 per cent. compound interest with six monthly rests on the security of six named villages. On 25th October 1931, he borrowed from the creditor a further sum of Rs. 1,53,000 at 12 per cent. compound interest with six monthly rests on the security of the former six villages and nine additional villages....

Sm. Ashtbhuja Ratan Kuer Vs. Thakur Debi Baksh Singh and Another

Court: Privy Council

Reported in: AIR1944PC29

Lord Porter: This appeal from a decree of the High Court at Allahabad dated 15th April 1937, concerns the genuineness of an alleged will of one Thakur Ambika Bakhsh Singh. The main questions for determination are : (i) whether on the evidence before the Courts in India the genuineness of the will was established; (ii) whether the grant of letters of administration cum testamento annexo by the District Judge of Benares (which is within the "province" of Agra) is invalid on the ground that although the whole of the testator's property was situated within the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh, yet by far the larger and more valuable part of it was in Oudh and only a portion small in quantity and value was situated in Agra. On 1st October 1904, the testator is said to have executed in Jaunpur in Agra a will by which he gave successive life interests in his estate of Nanemau to (a) his elder brother's widow; (b) his own senior wife ; (c) his own junior wife, and thereafter in the events whi...

Lachhmi Sewak Sahu Vs. Ram Rup Sahu and Others

Court: Privy Council

Sir George Rankin: This appeal arises out of a partition suit brought on 3rd August 1928, in the Court of the Subordinate Judge of Azamgarh by one Ram Rup son of Ram Narain a Hindu governed by the Mitakshara. Ram Rup, the plaintiff, died in 1936 and is now represented by his son and grandson. At the date of the suit, his father and all his brothers were dead and he impleaded as defendants 1 to 6 the sons and widows of his brothers. The widow of one brother who had died in 1915 was not impleaded but need not be further mentioned. Defendant 1 is the son of his eldest brother Bhairon and is the appellant before the Board. The plaintiff averred that he and his nephews were members of a joint Hindu family of which Bhairon until his death in 1927, and thereafter the appellant, had been karta. He pleaded that on 4th August 1927 the various members of the family had by a deed dated 4th August 1927 agreed to come to a partition and nominated arbitrators for the purpose; and that these arbitrato...

MartIn and Co. and Another Vs. Syed Faiyaz HusaIn and Others

Court: Privy Council

Lord Atkin: These are consolidated appeals from a judgment of the High Court at Allahabad reversing a judgment of the Munsif at Amroha in the district of Moradabad. Their Lordships have not had the advantage of hearing counsel for the respondents: but they have been able to consider the careful judgments in the respondents' favour given in the High Court. The plaintiffs are Shiah Mahomedans of the township of Amroha, and like other Shiahs on the tenth day of the Mahomedan month of Moharram they commemorate the death of Husain, a son of Fatimah, the daughter of Mohammed, by passing in a procession along the streets of Amroha. In the procession are carried "tazias" reproductions of the mausoleum of Husain, constructed of wood, paper and tinsil, borne on the shoulders of carriers. They are of various heights and have in some instances reached the height of 27, 30, or more feet from the ground. In 1929, Martin and; Co., defendants 3, obtained from the Local Government, pursuant to the Elec...