BECHAN PANDEY & ORS. versus DULHIN JANKI DEVI & OTHERS

Citation: [1976] 3 S.C.R. 555 · Decided: 09-03-1976 · Supreme Court of India · Bench: HANS RAJ KHANNA · Disposal: Dismissed

Judgment (excerpt)

I 
BECHAN PANDEY & ORS. 
v. 
DULHIN JANKI DEVI & OTHERS 
March 9, 1976 
[H. R. KHANNA AND P. K. GOSWAMI, JJ.] 
555 
Practice and procedure-Old Litigation-Must con1e to an end-No re1nand. 
The plaintiffMappellants filed a suit against defendants for a declaration of 
their title to the land in question admeasuring 142 bighas. 'Ihe trial Court 
dismissed the suit in respect of land admeasuring 28 acres and decreed the suit 
in respect of the remaining land. The plaintiffs' suit was held to be barred 
in respect of that land on ac~ount of the doctrine of waiver and acquiescence. 
The plaintiffs were also held entitled to recover mesne profits. 
On an appeal filed by some of the respondents, the High Court accepted 
the appeal and dismissed the suit in its entirety. The High Court held that 
it was not shown that the disputed land was the same as had been purchased 
by Mina Kucr in auction sale. The High Court also held that the plaintiffs' 
suit for possession was barred by limitation. 
The appellants contended, 
( 1) The respondent did not dispute that the suit land was the same which 
was purchased by Mina Kuer as per sale certificate dated 26-2-1935, 
(2) In any case the matter may be remanded for determining the above 
issue. 
Dismissing the appeal, 
A 
B 
c 
D 
l-IELD: (1) The appellants have tailed to establish that the land in dispute 
is the same as has been purchased in auction by Mina Kuer as per sale 
E 
certificate 
dated 
26-2-1935. The 
contention 
of 
the 
appellant 
that the respondents did not dispute that the suit land is the same 
as the one purchased by Mina Kuer is not correct. The respondents did deny 
this fact in their written statement. The land which is the subject matter of 
the present litigation is situate in the State of Bihar on the right bank of the 
Ganges. 
Although the land is subject to river action, the onus to prove that 
the land in dispute in Bihar State represents the land in U.P. which got sub-
IT'.erged as t.i result of river action was upon the appellants. 'fhe appellants 
F 
have failed to discharge this onus. 
[557F, H, 558A, El 
(2) The prayer of the appellants for remand of the case is rejected because 
there was no valid basis for the assumption of the appellants that the appellants 
did not dispute the identity of the land. The suit was filed as long ago as in 
January, 1950. During the pendency of this litigation many of the o.riginal 
plaintiffs ancl defendants have died and are now represented by their legal 
representatives. It is time that we draw the final curtain and put an end to 
this Jong course of litigation between the parties. 
If the passage of time and 
G 
laws of nature bring to an end the lives of men and women it \vould perhaps 
be the demand of reason and dictate of prudence not to keep alive after so 
many years the strife and conflict startea by the dead. To do so would in 
effect be defying the laws of nature and offering a futile resistance to the 
ravage of time. If human life has short span, it would be irrational to entertain 
a taller claim for disputes and conflicts which are a manifestation of human 
frailty. ihe Courts should be loth to entertain a plea in a case like the present 
which would have the effect of condemning succeeding generation of families 
• 
to spend major part of their lives in protracted litigation. [558G-H, 559A-DJ 
H 
Sant Narain Mathur v. Rama Krishna Mission A.I.R. 1974 S.C. 2241 rei-
terated. 
A 
B 
c 
D 
E 
F 
G 
H 
556 
SUPREME COURT REPORTS 
(1976] 3 S.C.R. 
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Civil Appeal No. 1432 of 1968. 
(From the judgment and decree dated the 26-10-1959 of the 
Patna High Court in appeal from Original decree No. 280 of 1953.) 
Sarjoo Prasad with D. Goburdhun, for the appellants. 
V. S. Desai with D. P. Mukherjee for respondents 3 4 5 
6(a) 
14 and 15. 
' ' ' 
Ex parte, for respondents 1, 2, 6, 7 to 13 & 16-17. 
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by 
KHANNA, J.-The plaintiff-appellants field a suit in the Court of 
Subordinate Judge Arrah against 41 defendants for a declaration of 
their title to land measuring 142 bighas, 17 kathas described in the 
schedule to the plaint situated in village Shivpur Diar in District Shah-
bad. 
Prayer was also made for delivery of possession of the land and 
for mesne profits amounting to Rs. 4,100. 
The trial court dismissed 
the suit in respect of land measuring 28.36 acres out of plot No. 3863/ 
41. 
Suit in respect of the remaining land was decreed. 
The 

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