Case: Ramkishore Lal Vs. Kamal Narain

registered, in November the same year however Ramsaranlals three brothers brought a suit in the Court of the Civil Judge at Raipur in which they sought to have this registered award set aside. Ramsaranlal and other co-sharers were impleaded in the suit as defendants. After some evidence had been recorded the hearing was adjourned on the prayer of the parties who wanted to settle the dispute amicably. Mr. Bagchi who was the Pleader of some of the plaintiffs was orally requested by the parties to decide whether the award of the Panchas was proper or not and to make changes, if necessary, and on .May 14, 1896 Mr. Bagchi made his award. On the same date an application for compromise was filed in Court. Accordingly, the Court dismissed the suit as compromised. It has been strenuously contended on behalf of the respondent that this award of Mr. -Bagchi made on May 14, 1896 wholly supersedes the previous award and whether the village Telibandha forms the trust property of Shri Ramchandra Swamy or not has to be decided on a construction of this award. We see no, force in this contention. It has to be noticed that the 1896, award was not set aside by the Court and the suit was dismissed. The mere fact that the suit is stated to be dismissed as compromised and the compromise appears to have been in accordance with Mr. Bagchis award, does not in law amount to the setting aside of the prior award. We are inclined to agree with the contention of the learned Attorney-General that Mr. Bagchis award gives the property to Ramsaran Lal absolutely with only a charge on the property for the expenses of the temple and did not make an absolute dedication of the village to the temple. We are of opinion however that Mr. Bagchis award can have no legal effect in respect of the dedication already made. Once an absolute dedication of the property had been made in December 1896 in favour of Shri Ramchandra Swamy temple the former owners of the property had no legal authority to go behind that dedication.23. The learned Attorney-General concedes this position. He argues, however, that if the award that made the dedication has such legal infirmity as to make it invalid in law the dedication also must be held to be invalid. But, has the award been shown to have any legal infirmity? The answer to this question must be in the negative. The plaintiffs in the suit of 1897 did-, it is true, allege certain infirmities. We need not discuss the question whether the temple was a necessary party to the suit. For, in fact, the Court did not consider whether such infirmity existed and as pointed out above, dismissed the suit. The reference to Mr. Bagchi was made by the parties to the suit orally requesting him as shown by the preamble to the award "to decide whether the Faisla Panchayati (i.e., award of Panchas) was proper or not, adding that in case it was not proper, changes may be made in it whatever may be unnecessary and improper". on a reasonable interpretation of those words it does not seem that Mr. Bagchi was asked to. consider whether the original award suffered from any infirmity in law. Even more important than that is the fact that there is not a single word in Bagchis award to indicate, even remotely, that in his opinion, the award suffered from any infirmity. On the contrary, Mr. Bagchi accepted the previous award and gave his own interpretation of it, saying that by the award after "including mouzas Borsi and Telibandha in the partition the Panchas caused the same to be given to Ramsaran Lal and his brothers." It is true that he added the words "I too by means of this award cause the same to be given to them" and then gave certain directions. Quite clearly, therefore, he proceeded on the basis that the award was a good and valid award. We are therefore clearly of opinion that the validity and force of the dedication made by the Panch Faisla has not in any way been affected by the Bagchi Award.24. It is equally clear that the way Ram Saran Lal or after him Kamal Narayan dealt with this village Telibandha or its income can in no way affect the force or validity of the absolute nature of the dedication. The fact, therefore, that Ramsaran Lal used to credit the income from Telibandha to the Gharu Khata which was maintained for the general expenses of the family or that he made certain alienations of the property cannot change the absolute dedication into a partial dedication. It may well be that Ramsaran Lal was himself led by the terms of the Bagchi Award into thinking that the property belonged to the family with only a charge on it for the temple. Whether or not this was so or his conduct was due to deliberate dereliction of duty is really irrelevant for our present purpose.As the High Court rightly pointed out the course of conduct of the parties is of no relevance for the construction of a document which is itself unambiguously shows an absolute dedication of the village to Shri Ramchandra Swamy temple, we think it unnecessary to examine the oral or documentary evidence as to how the property or the income of Telibandha was dealt with.25. Our conclusion therefore is that High Courts decision that the plaintiffs case of absolute dedication of Telibandha in favour of Shri Ramchandra Swamy has not been established is not correct and the High Courts order based on that view that the plaintiff was not entitled to succeed, must be set aside. In view of its decision that absolute dedication had not been proved, the High Court did not consider it necessary to decide the several other issues which had been framed in the suit and without deciding which the suit cannot be properly disposed of.

Decision (1 = appeal accepted, 0 = rejected): 1

Explanation:
1[ds]12. The golden rule of construction, it has been said, is to ascertain the intention of the parties to the instrument after considering all the words, in their ordinary, natural sense. To ascertain this intention the Court has to consider the relevant portion of the document as a whole and also to take into account the circumstances under which the particular words were used. Very often the status and the training of the parties using the words have to be taken into consideration. It has to be borne in mind that very many words are used in more than one sense and that sense differs in different circumstances. Again, even where a particular word has to a trained conveyancer a clear and definite significance and one can be sure about the sense in which such conveyancer would use it, it may not be reasonable and proper to give the same strict interpretation of the word when used by one who is not so equally skilled in the art of conveyancing. Sometimes it happens in the case of documents as regards disposition of properties, whether they are testamentary or non-testamentary instruments, that there is a clear conflict between what is said in one part of the document and in another. A familiar instance of this is where in an earlier part of the document some property is given absolutely to one person but later on, other directions about the same property are given which conflict with and take away from the absolute title given in the earlier portion. What is to be done where this happens? It is well settled that in case of such a conflict the earlier disposition of absolute title should prevail and the later directions of disposition should be disregarded as unsuccessful attempts to restrict the title already given. (See Mohd. Kamgar Shah v. Jagdish Chandra Deo Dhabal Deo, (1960) 3 SCR 604     at p. 611: (AIR 1960 SC 953   at p. 957)). It is clear, however, that an attempt should always be made to read the two parts of the document harmoniously, if possible; it is only when this is not possible, e.g. where an absolute title is given in clear and unambiguous terms and the later provisions trench on the same, that the later provisions have to beheld to bedo not think so. The question as to the meaning to be attached to the word "malik" (from which the word Milkiyat has been derived) and "Milkiyat" have often been considered by the courts. A consideration of the pronouncements of the Privy Council on this question leaves no doubt that while ordinarily an intention to give an absolute and full ownership is expressed by the words "Malik" or "Milkiyat" by saying that somebody is to be the malik or is to have the Milkiyat, this is not invariably so.Remembering therefore that the use of words "Kul haq haquq samet Milkiyat" in the opening clause of this Panch Faisla raises presumption that absolute interest was given thereby to Ramsaranlal, we have also to remember that this is merely a presumption which can well be displaced by what follows in the same document as regards this very property.19. When all these different provisions are considered it appears to us to be clear beyond any shadow of doubt that the intention was not to make Ramsaranlal the absolute owner of the village but to give him possession and management of the village for the benefit of Shri Ramchandra Swamy temple. Immediately after saying that the village is given to Ramsaranlal Ku1 haq haquq samet Milkiyat" the document says in the same breath that this is being done for the under-mentioned purposes. Then the purposes are mentioned in the next sentence as meeting the expenses of worship and maintenance of the temple of Shri Ramchandra Swamy. The provision is next made that if Ramsaranlal does not carry out this purpose then out of the co-sharers between whom the partition was being made, any cosharer may carry it on and for this such cosharer shall take the Mouza Telibandha into his possession. The document then proceeds to say that none of the co-sharers and Ramsararlal had any right over the village. Then follows the prohibition againstprovision has to be considered, however, along with all other clauses and it would not, in our opinion, be right to take the indication of the words "from the profits and income" as outweighing or neutralising" the numerous other provisions which point to an intention that Ramsaran Lal would not have the absolute ownership of the village. As has been mentioned earlier the words "from the profits and income of mouza Telibandha" in the translation stand for "Telibandha ke munafa wo amdani se" of the original. It is not correct to say that these words as used in the original necessarily mean "from the profits and income of Mouza Telibandha" The words may equally well be translated as "with the profits and income of mouza Telibandha." It is worth noticing that the plaintiffs witness Mathura Rrasad stated in answer to a question from the Court: "At that time there was no question as to what should be done with thesavings from the income of the village Telibandha, after meeting the requirements of the temple, because the income those days was not much while the expenses which used to be incurred on the temple were far in excess of the income from the village." The correctness of this statement was not challenged in cross-examination. It appears clear to us that by the use of the words "at that time" the witness meant "the time of the partition in 1896". In using tthe words "Mouza Telibandha ke munafa wo amdani se" it is more than likely therefore that the Panchas wanted to say that the purposes mentioned will be carried out with the income and profits and did not expect any surplus to behave therefore no hesitation in holding on a construction of paragraph 2 of the Panch Faisla that by this Award Telibandha village was dedicated absolutely to the temple of Shri Ramchandra Swamy and Ramsaranlal was given possession of it as the manager and trustee of thesee no, force in this contention. It has to be noticed that the 1896, award was not set aside by the Court and the suit was dismissed. The mere fact that the suit is stated to be dismissed as compromised and the compromise appears to have been in accordance with Mr. Bagchis award, does not in law amount to the setting aside of the prior award. We are inclined to agree with the contention of the learned Attorney-General that Mr. Bagchis award gives the property to Ramsaran Lal absolutely with only a charge on the property for the expenses of the temple and did not make an absolute dedication of the village to the temple. We are of opinion however that Mr. Bagchis award can have no legal effect in respect of the dedication already made. Once an absolute dedication of the property had been made in December 1896 in favour of Shri Ramchandra Swamy temple the former owners of the property had no legal authority to go behind thatanswer to this question must be in the negative. The plaintiffs in the suit of 1897 did-, it is true, allege certain infirmities. We need not discuss the question whether the temple was a necessary party to the suit. For, in fact, the Court did not consider whether such infirmity existed and as pointed out above, dismissed the suit. The reference to Mr. Bagchi was made by the parties to the suit orally requesting him as shown by the preamble to the award "to decide whether the Faisla Panchayati (i.e., award of Panchas) was proper or not, adding that in case it was not proper, changes may be made in it whatever may be unnecessary and improper". on a reasonable interpretation of those words it does not seem that Mr. Bagchi was asked to. consider whether the original award suffered from any infirmity in law. Even more important than that is the fact that there is not a single word in Bagchis award to indicate, even remotely, that in his opinion, the award suffered from any infirmity. On the contrary, Mr. Bagchi accepted the previous award and gave his own interpretation of it, saying that by the award after "including mouzas Borsi and Telibandha in the partition the Panchas caused the same to be given to Ramsaran Lal and his brothers." It is true that he added the words "I too by means of this award cause the same to be given to them" and then gave certain directions. Quite clearly, therefore, he proceeded on the basis that the award was a good and valid award. We are therefore clearly of opinion that the validity and force of the dedication made by the Panch Faisla has not in any way been affected by the Bagchi Award.It is equally clear that the way Ram Saran Lal or after him Kamal Narayan dealt with this village Telibandha or its income can in no way affect the force or validity of the absolute nature of the dedication. The fact, therefore, that Ramsaran Lal used to credit the income from Telibandha to the Gharu Khata which was maintained for the general expenses of the family or that he made certain alienations of the property cannot change the absolute dedication into a partial dedication. It may well be that Ramsaran Lal was himself led by the terms of the Bagchi Award into thinking that the property belonged to the family with only a charge on it for the temple. Whether or not this was so or his conduct was due to deliberate dereliction of duty is really irrelevant for our present purpose.As the High Court rightly pointed out the course of conduct of the parties is of no relevance for the construction of a document which is itself unambiguously shows an absolute dedication of the village to Shri Ramchandra Swamy temple, we think it unnecessary to examine the oral or documentary evidence as to how the property or the income of Telibandha was dealt with.25. Our conclusion therefore is that High Courts decision that the plaintiffs case of absolute dedication of Telibandha in favour of Shri Ramchandra Swamy has not been established is not correct and the High Courts order based on that view that the plaintiff was not entitled to succeed, must be set aside. In view of its decision that absolute dedication had not been proved, the High Court did not consider it necessary to decide the several other issues which had been framed in the suit and without deciding which the suit cannot be properly disposed of.