Case: Thakur Bhim Singh by Lrs and Anr Vs. Thakur Kan Singh

The plaintiffs in the suit are the appellants in Civil Appeal No. 626 of 1971 and the defendant is the appellant in Civil Appeal No. 629 of 1971. The genealogy showing the relationship between the parties is given below:-| | | |Gad Singh Bharat Singh Bhim Singh Kan Singh| (Died in (P.I.) (Deft.)| Sept. 1955) || | | |Duley Dhaney Deep |. Gad Singh, Bharat Singh, Bhim Singh (plaintiff No. 1) and Kan Singh (defendant) are the sons of Sur Singh. Bharat Singh died unmarried in September, 1955. Gad Singh died thereafter leaving behind him three sons, Duley Singh, Dhaney Singh and Deep Singh. Dalip Singh, the second son of plaintiff No.1 died in September, 1956. Bharat Singh and the defendant were residing in the house which was the subject matter of the suit. After the death of Bharat Singh, the plaintiffs Bhim Singh and Himmat Singh filed the suit out of which this appeal arises against Kan Singh, the defendant for recovery of possession of the suit house and other ancillary reliefs. In the plaint, they pleaded that the suit house belonged to them by virtue of a patta dated July 12, 1940 issued in their names; that the defendant who was the brother of plaintiff No. 1 and uncle of plaintiff No. 2 was living in a part of the house with their consent; that plaintiff No. 2 and his younger brother Dalip Singh were also living in the house till the year 1956; that the defendant had refused to receive a notice issued by them in the month of September, 1957 calling upon him to hand over possession of the house to the plaintiffs; that the defendant had done so on account of personal ill will and that the plaintiffs were, therefore, entitled to recover possession of the suit house and damages from the defendant. These were briefly the allegations made in the plaint. On the above basis, the plaintiffs prayed for a decree for the reliefs referred to above.Inthe written statement, the defendant did not admit the existence of the patta on the basis of which the plaintiffs claimed title to the suit house. He denied the allegation that the plaintiffs were the owners in possession of the suit house. He claimed that he was the exclusive owner of the suit house,and in support of the said claimOn the basis of the oral and documentary evidence produced before him, the learned District Judge who tried the suit held that Bharat Singh had secured the house from the Government of Bikaner for the plaintiffs with their money; that the patta of the house had been granted by the Patta Court in favour of the plaintiffs; that the plaintiffs were in possession of the suit house till September, 1956 and that the defendant being their close relative was living in the house not on his own account but with the plaintiffs permission. The learned District Judge also held that the defendant had failed to prove that the suit house had been acquired by him and Bharat Singh with their joint fund. Accordingly he decreed the suit for possession of the house in favour of the plaintiffs and further directed that the defendant should pay damages for use and occupation at the rate of Rs. 50 per month from September 20, 1956 till the possession of the house was restored to them. Aggrieved by the decree of the trial court, the defendant filed an appeal before the High Court of Rajasthan in Civil First Appeal No. 31 of 1960. The High Court rejected the case of the plaintiffs that the consideration for the house had been paid by Bharat Singh out of the funds belonging to them and also the case of the defendant that the house had been purchased by Bharat Singh with the aid of joint family funds belonging to himself and the defendant. The High Court held that the house had been purchased by Bharat Singh out of his own money in the names of the plaintiffs without any intention to confer any beneficial interest on them. It further held that the suit house belonged to Bharat Singh and on his death, Gad Singh, plaintiff No. 1 and the defendant succeeded to his estate which included the suit house in equal shares. Accordingly in substitution of the decree passed by the trial court, the High Court made a decree for joint possession in favour of plaintiff No. 1. The rest of t he claim of the plaintiffs was rejected. Dissatisfied with the decree of the High Court, the plaintiffs and the defendant have filed these two appeals as mentioned above.

Reasoning:
4. It is thus seen that the defendant put forward a two-fold claim to the suit house-one on the basis of the right of survivorship another on the basis of a joint purchase along with Bharat Singh. Even though in one part of the written statement, he declined to admit the existence of the patta, in paragraph 13 of the written statement which is extracted above, he put forward the plea that the plaintiffs were at the most holding the property as benamdars. He, however, did not claim that he was entitled to the property as an heir of Bharat Singh alongwith plaintiff No. 1. an d Gad Singh who would have inherited the estate of Bharat Singh on his death being his nearest heirs.is admitted on all hands that though Bharat Singh and the defendant were living in the suit house from the year 1928, it continued to be the property of the Maharaja of Bikaner till the date on which the patta (Exh. 4) was issued by the Patta Court of Bikaner and that on the issue of the patta, the State Government ceased to be its owner. It is also not disputed that the patta constituted the title deed in respect of the suit house and it was issued in the names of the plaintiffs on receipt of a sum of Rs. 5, 000. On January 11, 1930, the defendant had made an application, a certified copy of which is marked as Exhibit A-116 to the Revenue Minister of the State of Bikaner making enquiry about the price of the suit house on coming to know that the State Government intended to sell it. After the above application was made, the defendant left the service of the State of Bikaner and went to Banaras for studies. Bharat Singh who was also an employee of the State Government was working as the Aid-de-Camp of the Maharaja in 1939. At the request of Bharat Singh, an order was made by the Maharaja on May 4, 1939 sanctioning the sale of the suit house for a sum of Rs. 5, 000. Exhibit A-118 is the certified copy of the said order. Exhibit A-120 is a certified copy of the order of Tehsil Malmandi showing that a sum of Rs. 5, 000 had been deposited on behalf of Bharat Singh towards the price of the suit house. It also shows that Bharat Singh was asked to intimate the name of the person in whose favour the patta should be prepared. Presumably, the patta was issued in the names of the plaintiffs as desired by Bharat Singh and Exhibit A-121 shows that it was handed over on September 30, 194 0. The patta was produced before the trial court by the plaintiffs.By the time the patta was issued in the names of the plaintiffs, the mother of plaintiff No. 2 had died. He was about eight years of age in 1940 and he and his younger brother, Dalip Singh were under the protection of Bharat Singh who was a bachelor. They were staying with him in the suit house. The defendant also was residing in it. The plaintiffs who claimed title to the property under the patta in the course of the trial attempted to prove that the sum of Rs. 5, 000 which was paid by way of consideration for the patta by Bharat Singh came out of the jewels of the mother of plaintiff No. 2 which had come into the possession of Bharat Singh on her death . The plaintiff No. 2 who gave evidence in the trial court stated that he had not given any money to Bharat Singh for the purchase of the house but he had come to know from his father, plaintiff No. 1 that it had been purchased with his money. Jaswant Singh (P.W. 2) and Kesri Singh (P.W. 3) to whose evidence we will make a reference in some detail at a later stage also stated that they had heard from Bharat Singh that the jewels of the mother of plaintiff No. 2 were with him suggesting that they could have been the source of the price house. Plaintiff No. 1 who could have given evidence on the above question did not enter the witness box. It is stated that he was a person of weak mind and after the death of Bharat Singh was be having almost like a mad man. The defendant stated in the course of his evidence that the mother of plaintiff No. 2 had gold jewels weighing about 3-4 tolas only. In this state of evidence, it is difficult to hold that the plaintiffs have establish ed that the consideration for the suit house was paid by them. The finding of the trial court that the house had been purchased by Bharat Singh for the plaintiffs with their money cannot be upheld. The case of the defendant that the price of the suit house was paid out of the funds belonging to him and Bharat Singh has been rejected both by the trial court and the High Court. On going through the evidence adduced by the defendant, we feel that there is no reason for us to disturb the concurrent findings arrived at by the trial court and the High Court on the above question.plaint does not disclose the name of the person or persons who paid the sale price of the suit house. The suit is based on the patta standing in the names of the plaintiffs. In the written statement of the defendant, there was an allegation to the effect that even though the patta was standing in the names of the plaintiffs, they were only benamidars and the real title was with Bharat Singh and the defendant. The particulars of the circumstances which compelled Bharat Singh or the defendant to take the patta in the names of the plaintiffs were not disclosed although it was stated t hat it had been done owing to some political and other surrounding circumstances and for the safety of the property. From the evidence led by the parties, we are satisfied that they knew during the trial of the suit that the question whether the transfer effected under the patta was a benami transaction or not arose for consideration in the case. Even in the appeal before the High Court, the main question on which arguments were addressed was whether the transaction was a benami transaction or not. Merely because the plaintiffs attempted to prove in the trial court that the money paid for purchasing the house came out of their funds, they cannot in the circumstances of this case be prevented from claiming title to the property on the basis that even though Bharat Singh had paid the consideration therefore, plaintiff No. 2 alone was entitled to the suit house.the above case, the Court distinguished the decision in Trojan. Ltd. v. RM. N. N. Haggappa Chettiar(1) on which much reliance was placed by the learned counsel for the defendant before us. In the case of Trojan. Ltd. (supra), this Court came to the conclusion that the alternative claim on which relief was sought was not at all within the knowledge of the parties in the course of the trial. The case before us is not of the nature.In Ismail Mussajee Mookerdum v. Hafiz Boo(2) the plaintiff laid claim to a property which had been transferred in her name by her mother alleging that she had paid the purchase money to her mother. The court came to the conclusion that she had failed to prove that she had paid the consideration. Still a decree was made in her favour holding that she had become the owner of the property by virtue of the transfer in her favour even though consideration had not been paid by her since it had been established in the case that her mother intended to transfer the beneficial interest in the property in her favour. This is borne out from the following passage at page 95:In her evidence, which was very confused, she tried to say that she paid that purchase-money to her mother. This was clearly untrue: as both Courts have found. The fact, therefore, remains that the properties purchased by the sale proceeds were purchased no doubt in Hafiz Boos name, but were purchased out of funds emanating from her mothers estate. This circumstance no doubt, if taken alone, affords evidence that the transaction was benami, but there is, in their Lordships opinion, enough in the facts of the case to negative any such inference.. Moreover no plea was raised on behalf of the defendant before the High Court in this case contending that the High Court should not go into the question whether the transfer under the patta was a benami transaction or not. We, therefore, reject the above contention and proceed to examine whether the High Court was right in arriving at the conclusion that the plaintiffs were only benamidars holding the property for the benefit of its real owner , Bharat Singh as the consideration therefore had emanated from him.Two kinds of benami transactions are generally recognized in India. Where a person buys a property with his own money but in the name of another person without any intention to benefit such other person, the transaction is called benami. In that case, the transferee holds the property for the benefit of the person who has contributed the purchase money, and he is the real owner. The second case which is loosely termed a s a benami transaction is a case where a person who is the owner of the property executes a conveyance in favour of another without the intention of transferring the title to the property thereunder. In this case, the transferor continues to be the real owner. The difference between the two kinds of benami transactions referred to above lies in the fact that whereas in the former case, there is an operative transfer from the transfer to the transferee though the transferee holds the property for the benefit of the person who has contributed the purchase money, in the latter case, there is no operative transfer at all and the title rests with the transferor notwithstanding the execution of the conveyance. One common feature, however, in both these cases is that the real title is divorced from the ostensible title and they are vested in different persons. The question whether a transaction is a benami transaction or not mainly depends upon the intention of the person who has contributed the purchase money in the former case and upon the intention of the person who has executed the conveyance in the latter case. The principle underlying the former case is also statutorily recognized in section 82 ofthe Indian Trusts Act, 1882 which provides that where property is transferred to one person for a consideration paid or provided by another person and it appears that such other person did not intend to pay or provide such consideration for the benefit of the transferee, the transferee must hold the property for the benefit of the person paying or providing the consideration.12. The principle governing the determination of the question whether a transfer is a benami transaction o r not may be summed up thus: (1) The burden of showing that a transfer is a benami transaction lies on the person who asserts that it is such a transaction; (2) if it is proved that the purchase money came from a person other than the person in whose favour the property is transferred, the purchase is prima facie assumed to be for the benefit of the person who supplied the purchase money, unless there is evidence to the contrary; (3) the true character of the transaction is governed by the intention of the person who has contributed the purchase money and (4) the question as to what his intention was has to be decided on the basis of the surrounding circumstances, the relationship of the parties, the motives governing their action in bringing about the transaction and their subsequent conduct etc.Even though there is a slight variation between what is stated by D.W. 6 and what is contained in the judgment of the trial court with regard to certain details, we do not feel that the said variation is of any substantial nature. The evidence of D.W. 6 suggests that Bharat Singh was of the view even during his life time that the suit house belonged to plaintiffs and not to himself. Even though an application had bee n made by the defendant to treat D.W. 6 as hostile, we feel that this part of the evidence of D.W. 6 cannot be rejected on that ground since it is consistent with the evidence of Jaswant Singh (P.W. 2) and Kesri Singh (P.W. 3).It is seen fro m the judgment of the High Court that the effect of the statement of Kesri Singh (P.W.3) in his deposition that Bharat Singh had told him that the suit house was the property of plaintiff No. 2 has not been considered. The High Court while dealing with the evidence of Jaswant Singh (P.W. 2) and Kesri Singh (P.W. 3) laid more emphasis on those parts of their evidence where there was a reference to the alleged utilisation of the jewels or moneys belonging to the plaintiffs by Bharat Singh for the purpose of acquiring the suit house. The High Court has also observed in the course of its judgment that neither of them had stated that Bharat Singh had told them that he was purchasing or had purchased the suit house as a gift to Bhim Singh and Himmat Singh. The above observation does not appear to be consistent with the evidence of Kesri Singh (P.W. 3) discussed above.18. The above pass age, we are of the view, does not really assist the defendant in this case. What was held by the House of Lords in the case of Shephard. (supra) was that the presumption of advancement could be displaced only by a statement or conduct anterior to or contemporaneous to the purchase nor could any conduct of the children operate against them as admissions against their interest as they acted without the knowledge of the facts. In the instant case, we are concerned with the conduct and declarations of Bharat Singh subsequent to the transaction which were against his interest. The evidence regarding such conduct and declarations is not being used in his favour but against the legal representative of Bharat Singh i.e. the defendant who would have become entitled to claim a share in the suit house if it had formed part of his estate. Such conduct or declaration would be admissible even according to the above decision of the House of Lords in which the statement of law in Snel ls Equity to the effect `but subsequent declarations are admissible as evidence only against the party who made them, and not in his favour is quoted with approval. The declarations made by Bharat Singh would be admissible as admissions under t he provisions of the Indian Evidence Act being statements made by him against his proprietary interest under section 21 and section 32(3) of the Indian Evidence ActThe defendant cannot also derive any assistance from the decision of t his Court in Bibi Saddiqa Fatima v. Saiyed Mohammad Mahmood Hasan(1).have gone through the evidence bearing on the above question. We are satisfied that the defendant has not established that he had spent any money at all for construction and repairs. Even if he has spent some money in that way with the knowledge of the actual state of affairs, it would not in law confer on the defendant any proprietary interest in the property.It is also significant that neither Gad Singh during his life time nor his children after his death have la id any claim to a share in the suit house which they were entitled to claim alongwith the defendant if it was in fact a part of the estate of Bharat Singh. Their conduct also probabilities the case of the plaintiffs that Bharat Singh did not intend to retain for himself any interest in the suit house20. On the material placed before us, we are satisfied that the transaction under which the patta was obtained was not a benami transaction and that Bharat Singh had acquired the suit house with his money with the intention of constituting plaintiff No. 2 as the absolute owner thereof. Plaintiff No. 2 is, therefore, entitled to a decree for possession of the suit house21. The trial court passed a decree directing the defendant to pay damages for use and occupation in respect of the suit house at the rate of Rs. 50/- per month from September 20, 1956 till the possession of the house was delivered to the plaintiffs. The operation of the decree of the trial court was stayed by the High Court during the pendency of the appeal before it. In view of the decree passed by the High Court, the defendant has continued to be in possession of the suit house till now. Nearly twenty years have elapsed from the date of the institution of the suit. In the circumstances, we are of the view that the defendant should be directed to pay mesne profits at the rate of Rs. 50/- per month till today and that an enquiry should be made by the trial court under Order 20, Rule 12 of theCode of Civil Procedure to determine the mesne profits payable by the defendant hereafter till the date of delivery of possession.is stated that the defendant had again been employed in the service of the State of Bikaner. The patta was issued in the names of plaintiffs 1 and 2 at the request of Bharat Singh. Even though the defendant stated in the written statement that the patta had been taken in the names of the plaintiffs owing to certain political circumstances, he had not disclosed in the course of his evidence those circumstances which compelled Bharat Singh to secure the patta in the names of the plaintiffs, though at one stage, he stated that it was under his advice that Bharat Singh got the patta in the names of the plaintiffs. Bharat Singh had no motive to suppress from the knowledge of the public that he had acquired the property. It was suggested in the course of the arguments that he had taken the patta in the names of the plaintiffs because he was in the service of the State. We do not find any substance in this submission because the property was being purchased from the State Government itself and there was no need for him to shield his title from the knowledge of the State Governmentappears that Bharat Singh acquired the suit house for the benefit of plaintiff No. 2 for the following circumstances: The first circumstance is th at the original patta had been handed over by Bharat Singh to plaintiff No. 2 on his passing B. Sc. Examination. This fact is proved by the evidence of plaintiff No. 2 and it is corroborated by the fact that the patta was produced by the plaintiffs before the Court. In the course of his evidence, the defendant no doubt stated that the patta had been stolen by plaintiff No. 2 from the suit house during the twelve days following the death of Bharat Singh when the keys of Bharat Singhs residence had been handed over to plaintiff No. 2 by the defendant. It is difficult to believe the above statement of the defendant because of two circumstances-(i) that the defendant did not state in the written statement that the patta had been stolen by plaintiff No. 2 and (ii) that within a month or two after the death of Bharat Singh, plaintiff No. 2 wrote a letter which is marked as Exhibit A- 124 to the defendant stating that the rumour which the defendant was spreading that plaintiff No. 2 had stolen some articles from the suit house was not true since whenever plaintiff No. 2 opened room or any of the almirahs of Bharat Singh in the suit house, Devi Singh the son of the defendant was keeping watch over him. T hat letter has been produced by the defendant and there is no reference in it to a false rumour being spread about the theft of the patta by plaintiff No. 2. Plaintiff No. 2 however, while asserting his claim to the suit house in the course of that letter stated that he had seen that the patta had been executed in his favour; and that the patta contained his name. The defendant does not appear to have sent any reply to Exhibit A. 124 nor did he call upon the plaintiffs to ret urn the patta to him. He did not also file a complaint stating that the patta had been stolen by plaintiff No. 2. We are of the view that there is no reason to disbelieve the evidence of plaintiff No. 2 that the patta had been handed over to him by Bharat Singh on his passing the B.Sc. examination. This conduct of Bharat Singh establishes that it was the intention of Bharat Singh when he secured the patta from the State Government in the names of the plaintiffs the plaintiff No. 2 whom he loved should become the owner. It is no doubt true that the name of plaintiff No. 1 is also included in the patta. It may have been so included by way of abundant caution as plaintiff No. 2 was a minor when the patta was issued. The above circumstance is similar to the one which persuaded their Lordships of the Privy Council in the case of Mohammad Sadiq Ali Khan (supra) to hold that the property involved in that case belonged to the person in whose favour the conveyance had been executed.The second circumstance which supports the view that Bharat Singh intended that plaintiff No. 2 should become the owner of the suit house is proved by the declarations made by Bharat Singh regarding the title to the suit house. Jas want Singh (P.W. 2) was a former Prime Minister of the State of Bikaner. His wife was a cousin of plaintiff No. 1, Bharat Singh and the defendant. Being a close relative of Bharat Singh who was also the Aid-de-Camp of the Maharaja of Bikaner, he was quite intimate with Bharat Singh who used to discuss with him about his personal affairs. P.W. 2 has stated in the course of his evidence that Bharat Singh thought it proper to purchase the house in the name of plaintiff No. 2 and that he intended to make plaintiff No. 2 his heir and successor. He has also stated that Bharat Singh had expressed his desire to give all his property to plaintiff No. 2 by a will and that he had told Kesri Singh (P.W. 3) just a day prior to his (Bharat Singhs) death that a will was to be executed. This statement of Jaswant Singh (PW. 2) is corroborated by the evidence of Kesri Singh (P.W. 3) whose wife was also a cousin of Bharat Singh, plaintiff No. 1 and the defendant.14. There is no reason to disbelieve the evidence of these two witnesses. Their evidence is corroborated by the deposition of Dr. Himmat Singh (D.W. 6) who was the Secretary of a Club in Bikaner of which Bharat Singh was a member. He was examined by the defendant himself as his witness