Case: Sarju Pershad Vs. Raja Jwaleshwari Pratap Narain Singh And Others

Ram. As, however, he was the Raja of Basti the document was executed at his palace and not in the house of the mtgee. and if as the pltf. says, the terms were already settled between Bhikhi Ram and the Raja and the only the thing left, was to embody the agreed terms in writing, we fail to see why it was absolutely necessary for Bhikhi Ram to wait upon the mtgor. personally ; and why his adult son, who was sufficiently old and experienced in business affairs, could not represent him in the transaction. The suggestion of Mr. Banerjee that the new story was invented after the pltff. had seen Harbhajan Lal giving evidence against him in the witness box, is not worthy of serious consideration having regard to the fact that the pltf. himself stepped into the witness box immediately after Harbhajan Lal had finished his deposition.17. It seems to us also that the presence of Harbhajan Lal and Buddhu Lal at the sitting when the mtge. transaction took place was quite a probable and natural thing which cannot give rise to any suspicion. It appears from the evidence on the record that Harbhajan Lal, who was a professional deed writer, was usually employed for writing deeds of the pltfs. father and he figured either as a scribe or as an attesting witness in various documents to which the pltfs. father was a party. It was quite natural for the pltf. in such circumstances to take Harbhajan Lal along with him to the Rajas palace on the day that the mtge. bond was executed and we see no reason to disbelieve the pltf.s statement that his original intention was to have the deed scribed by Harbhajan Lal. It is said by the H. C. that in the mofussil districts in U. P. the Patwari is the person generally employed for drafting and scribing deeds. This cannot mean that all the people in the district of Basti used to have their deeds drafted and scribed by the Patwari.18. We have exhibited documents in the records of this case where the name of Harbhajan Lal appears as the scribe; and so far as the pltfs father was concerned, there is no doubt whatsoever that Harbhajan Lal was the scribe ordinarily employed to do his work. In this case also, if Jawala Prasad Patwari had not been present on the spot, the pltf. would certainly have the document scribed by Harbhajan Lal, as so many documents in favour of the pltf.s father had been scribed by this man on previous occasions. We see nothing improbable in the story that it was out of deference to the wishes of the Raja that the pltf. consented to the document being scribed by Jawala Prasad Patwari.19. As regards Buddhu Lal, it is not disputed that he was an old and a trusted servant of the pltfs family. That he was trusted in business matters is clear from the fact that his name appears as a witness in the registered receipt (Ex. 10) given by Sheo Balak Ram, to whom a sum of Rs. 500 was paid by Bhikhi Ram under the terms of the disputed mtge. deed. We fail to see why it was improbable that Buddhu Lal would accompany the pltf. to the Rajas palace on the day of the execution of the document.20. The trial Judge relied to some extent upon the fact that the signatures of the executant and Harbhajan Lal were in the same ink, in support of his conclusion that Harbhajan Lal signed the document at the place of its execution and not at the Collectorate Cutchery as alleged by him. Speaking for ourselves, we do not attach much importance to the similarity in the ink which is after all not a very reliable test; but we do agree with the trial Judge in holding that Harbhajan Lal must have signed the document at the time when it was executed and not afterwards; and it is really inconceivable that an old and experienced deed writer like him did not know the requirements of proper attestation. On his own evidence he had attested numerous documents and he could not recall a single instance where he signed the document in such manner as he did in the present case. The way in which the learned Judges of the H. C. have attempted to explain away this part of Harbhajan Lals evidence does not appear to be satisfactory. The other observation made by the H. C. in this connection that in this particular province there are many persons who are acquainted with law but do not care to comply with its requirements on account of carelessness, indifference, sloth or over-confidence is not relevant and need not be taken seriously. Whatever that may be, we have no hesitation in holding that Harbhajan Lal knew perfectly well what attestation means in law and he did sign the document as an attesting witness at the Rajas Kot after the document was executed.21. Jawala Prasad Patwari is apparently a man under the control of the deft. and cannot be trusted. Why Harbhajan Lal did go over to the defts side is a question which may not admit of an easy answer. The trial Judge seems to be of opinion that it was probably due to the influence exercised by Jawala Prasad Patwari, who is a co-villager of Harbhajan. We think it unnecessary to speculate upon these matters, for, in our opinion, Harbhajan Lal stands condemned by his own statement in Ct.22. Our conclusion is that the finding of the trial Judge on the question of attestation is perfectly consistent with the circumstances and probabilities of the case and the learned Judge did not omit anything which ought to have been present to his mind in coming to a conclusion. The evidence on the record taken as a whole fully supports the finding, and in our opinion the H. C. has reversed it on totally inadequate grounds.

Court's decision (1 = petition accepted / positive for appellant, 0 = rejected / negative): 1

Reasoning from the judgment:
1[ds]13. The learned Judges of the H. C. in dealing with the appeal do observe at the beginning of their discussions that on a question of fact the appellate Ct. should be slow to differ from the conclusions arrived at by the trial Judge who had seen and heard the witnesses ; but in their opinion, this rule did not apply to the present case as the trial Judge here did not base his conclusions on the impressions created in his mind by the witnesses who deposed before him. What the trial Judge relied upon, it is said, was not the demeanour of the witnesses as index of their credibility but upon the inherent improbability of the circumstances deposed to by the defts. witnesses. It is observed by the H. C. that the trial judge, when he found the defts story to be improbable, should have considered whether or not there were improbable features in the pltf.s case also, and whether the evidence of the pltf. and his servant Buddhu Lal merited credence at all. The learned Judges at the H. C. then proceed to examine and discuss at great length the different reasons put forward by the trial Judge in support of his finding that the deft.s case was unreliable. These reasons are held to be inconclusive and unsound and the H.C. further found that the pltf.s story as narrated by him and his servant, is improbable and not worthy of belief.In our opinion, the H. C.s approach to the case has not been proper and its findings are unsupportable on the materials in the record.We think that this argument rests on an extremely flimsy basis which does not bear examination. It may be that the Baja was a man of high social position, but it should be remembered that he was in the position of a borrower and moreover it was not the first time that he was borrowing money from Bhikhi Ram. As, however, he was the Raja of Basti the document was executed at his palace and not in the house of the mtgee. and if as the pltf. says, the terms were already settled between Bhikhi Ram and the Raja and the only the thing left, was to embody the agreed terms in writing, we fail to see why it was absolutely necessary for Bhikhi Ram to wait upon the mtgor. personally ; and why his adult son, who was sufficiently old and experienced in business affairs, could not represent him in the transaction. The suggestion of Mr. Banerjee that the new story was invented after the pltff. had seen Harbhajan Lal giving evidence against him in the witness box, is not worthy of serious consideration having regard to the fact that the pltf. himself stepped into the witness box immediately after Harbhajan Lal had finished his deposition.It seems to us also that the presence of Harbhajan Lal and Buddhu Lal at the sitting when the mtge. transaction took place was quite a probable and natural thing which cannot give rise to any suspicion. It appears from the evidence on the record that Harbhajan Lal, who was a professional deed writer, was usually employed for writing deeds of the pltfs. father and he figured either as a scribe or as an attesting witness in various documents to which the pltfs. father was a party. It was quite natural for the pltf. in such circumstances to take Harbhajan Lal along with him to the Rajas palace on the day that the mtge. bond was executed and we see no reason to disbelieve the pltf.s statement that his original intention was to have the deed scribed by Harbhajan Lal. It is said by the H. C. that in the mofussil districts in U. P. the Patwari is the person generally employed for drafting and scribing deeds. This cannot mean that all the people in the district of Basti used to have their deeds drafted and scribed by thehave exhibited documents in the records of this case where the name of Harbhajan Lal appears as the scribe; and so far as the pltfs father was concerned, there is no doubt whatsoever that Harbhajan Lal was the scribe ordinarily employed to do his work. In this case also, if Jawala Prasad Patwari had not been present on the spot, the pltf. would certainly have the document scribed by Harbhajan Lal, as so many documents in favour of the pltf.s father had been scribed by this man on previous occasions. We see nothing improbable in the story that it was out of deference to the wishes of the Raja that the pltf. consented to the document being scribed by Jawala Prasad Patwari.Jawala Prasad Patwari is apparently a man under the control of the deft. and cannot be trusted. Why Harbhajan Lal did go over to the defts side is a question which may not admit of an easy answer. The trial Judge seems to be of opinion that it was probably due to the influence exercised by Jawala Prasad Patwari, who is a co-villager of Harbhajan. We think it unnecessary to speculate upon these matters, for, in our opinion, Harbhajan Lal stands condemned by his own statement in Ct.Our conclusion is that the finding of the trial Judge on the question of attestation is perfectly consistent with the circumstances and probabilities of the case and the learned Judge did not omit anything which ought to have been present to his mind in coming to a conclusion. The evidence on the record taken as a whole fully supports the finding, and in our opinion the H. C. has reversed it on totally inadequate grounds.