Court : Supreme Court of India
Reported in : AIR1954SC606
B.K. Mukherjea, J. 1. This appeal is directed against a judgment and decree of a Division Bench of the Punjab High Court, dated the 30th April 1952, by which the learned Judges reversed, on appeal, a decision of the Subordinate Judge. First Class, Jullundur, dated the 31st May 1948, passed in Suit No. 131 of 1947.The facts material for our present purpose may be briefly stated as follows: There is a Thakardwara or religious institution belonging to the Ram Kabir sect of Hindu Bairagis situated at mouza Jamsher within the district of Jullundur. One Kishore Das was admittedly the last Mahant of the Thakardwara, who died on the 4th of April 1945. On the 31st March 1945, that is to say just four days before his death, Kishore Das granted a lease in respect of 645 Kanals of land, appurtenant to the endowment, for a period of 10 years in favour of defendants respondents 1 and 2 at an annual rental of Rs. 1,500 only. The suit, out of which this appeal arises, was instituted by Sital Das, who ...
Tag this Judgment!Court : Supreme Court of India
Reported in : AIR1954SC359; 20(1954)CLT366(SC); 1954CriLJ1002; (1954)IIMLJ79(SC); [1955]1SCR92
Bose, J.1. The appellant was an Inspector of Factories under the Government of Orissa. It was a part of his duty of inspect factories and mills in the State of Orissa. He toured the districts of Koraput and Balasore from 18th August, 1948, to 27th August, 1948, and from 29th September, 1948, to 30th October, 1948, respectively. The prosecution case is that he collected bribes from persons connected with some of the mills he inspected in those districts. It is said that he used to threaten to close their mills and impose other penalties for alleged defects unless they paid him a bribe.2. On 3rd October, 1948, he was camping at the Dak Bungalow at Basta in the Balasore district. Because of information received against him his person and belongings were searched on that day and a sum of Rs. 3,148 was received from him consisting of Rs. 450 paid at the time as a trap and Rs. 2,698 already in his possession. He was arrested on the spot but was later released on bail.3. Departmental and othe...
Tag this Judgment!Court : Supreme Court of India
Reported in : AIR1954SC503; [1954]25ITR426(SC)
Jagannadhadas, J.1. This is an appeal under Section 66A of the Indian Income-tax Act from the judgment of the High Court of Bombay given on a reference to it by the Income-tax Appellate Tribunal under Section 66 of the Act. 2. The proceedings relate to the four assessment years, 1942-43, 1943-44, 1944-45, and 1945-46, and arise under the following circumstances : There was a Hindu undivided family consisting of one (1)Ramjibhai, (2) his son, Ratilal Nathalal - the respondent before us, (3) Ramjibhai's wife, kamlawanti, (4) Ratilal's wife, Kantabai, and (5) Ramjibhai's unmarried daughter, Pushpa. On the July 27, 1933, Ramjibhai and Ratilal, who were the sole coparceners, at the time, of the said Hindu undivided family, executed a trust deed in respect of four items of house property belonging to the joint family, which owned at the time and continued to own other properties also. The effect of the trust deed was that the income of the property settled on trust was to be enjoyed by Ramji...
Tag this Judgment!Court : Supreme Court of India
Reported in : AIR1954SC362; 1954CriLJ1012; [1955]1SCR168
Jagannadhadas, J.1. This is a petition under article 32 of the Constitution and is presented to this Court under the following circumstances. Petitioner No. 1 before us was an Agricultural Demonstrator of the Government of Madras and was employed as an Assistant Marketing Officer in Central Provinces and Berar for the purchase and movement of blackgram and other grains on behalf of the Madras Government. He, as well as the second petitioner and 44 others, are under prosecution before Shri K. L. Pandey, a Special Magistrate of Nagpur, Madhya Pradesh, in Case No. 1 of 1949 pending before him on charges of cheating, attempt to commit cheating, criminal breach of trust and criminal conspiracy, (i.e. for offences punishable under section 420 read with section 120B or 109 of the Indian Penal Code, section 409 and section 409 read with section 120B of the Indian Penal Code) and the allegation is that by reason of the acts committed by the accused, the Government of Madras had to incur an expe...
Tag this Judgment!Court : Supreme Court of India
Reported in : AIR1954SC579; [1955]1SCR86
Bose, J.1. The plaintiffs appeal. They claim to be the presumptive reversioners to one Harnam Singh who owned the property in dispute. On 2nd November, 1944, after Harnam Singh's death, his daughter Mst. Biro, the second defendant, gifted the plaint properties to her sons who have been grouped together as the first defendant. The plaintiffs contend that the property is ancestral and that the daughter got only a life estate, so they sue for a declaration that the gift will not affect their reversionary rights.2. The defendants rely on custom. They state that, according to the customary law which governs the parties, collaterals beyond the fifth degree are not heirs in the presence of a daughter and her line. The plaintiffs, they say, are collaterals of the seventh degree, therefore they cannot displace the daughter. They also state that the property was not ancestral and so the plaintiffs cannot challenge the daughter's alienation. The third line of defence related to a portion of the p...
Tag this Judgment!Court : Supreme Court of India
Reported in : AIR1954SC581; [1955]1SCR44
Ghulam Hasan, J.1. This is an appeal by special leave granted by the Privy Council against the judgment and decree dated July 12, 1944, of a Division Bench of the High Court at Lahore passed in second appeal confirming the dismissal of the appellants' suit concurrently by the trial Court and the Court of the District Judge, Gurdaspur. 2. The two appellants are admittedly the first cousins of the respondent, Harnam Singh, and belong to village Gillanwali, Tahsil Batala, District Gurdaspur. Gurmej Singh, respondent No. 2, is a collateral of Harnam Singh in the 8th degree. The appellants sued for a declaration that the deed of adoption executed by Harnam Singh on July 30, 1940, adopting Gurmej Singh was invalid and could not affect the reversionary rights of the appellants after the death of Harnam Singh. The appellant's case was that under the Customary Law of Gurdaspur District applicable to the Gill Jats of village Gillanwali, Harnam Singh could only adopt a 'near collateral' and Gurme...
Tag this Judgment!Court : Supreme Court of India
Reported in : AIR1954SC364; [1954]25ITR449(SC); [1955]1SCR393
Bhagwati, J.1. These are two appeals from the judgment and decision of the High Court of Judicature at Hyderabad answering certain questions referred at the instance of the appellants by the Commissioner of Excess Profits Tax, Hyderabad, and adjudging the liability of the appellants for excess profits tax in regard to the amounts received by them as remuneration from the Dewan Bahadur Ramgopal Mills Company Ltd. as its Agents. 2. The Mills Company was registered on the 14th February, 1920, at Hyderabad in the then territories of His Exalted Highness the Nizam. The appellants were registered as a private limited company at Bombay on the 1st March, 1920. On the 20th April, 1920, an Agency agreement was entered into between the Mills Company and the appellants appointing the appellants its Agents for a period of 30 years on certain terms and conditions therein recorded. The appellants throughout worked only as the Agents of the Mills Company and for the Fasli years 1351 and 1352 they rece...
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