LexINDER SINGH versus GURDIAL SINGH
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t 1 S.C.R. SUPREME COURT REPORTS 845 INDER SINGH v. GURDIAL SINGH (S. K. DAS, M. HIDAYATULLAH and J.C. SHAH, JJ.) Adoption-Custom-fats of Ludhiana-If general treatment as son essential. N, a Jat of Ludhiana district, was the last male holder of the property in dispute. He adopted the appellant before the village panchayat by distributing 'gur' and executed ~ deed of adoption in his favour. For a short period N lived with the appellant. A few weeks later N left the appellant, cancelled the deed of adoption within five months and repudiated any asso- ciation with the appellant as his son. N died three years later. The appellant claimed the properties of N contending that he had been validly adopted by N and that the adoption once validly made could not be revoked. Held, that the appellant was not validly adopted by N. The formalities necessary for customary adoption in accordance with the rules prevalent amongst Jats of Ludhiana district are: (i) a declaration of adoption and (ii) general treatment of the appointed heir as a son. A mere declaration or even the execu- tion of a deed of adoption unaccompanied by precedent or subsequent treatment as son is insufficient. In· the present case the second formality was lacking. There was no evidence that N treated the appellant as his son; on the contrary there was evidence to show that he repudiated the declaration that he had made earlier. Gurbachna v. Bujha, (19rr) 46 Punj. Record 151, Baj Singh v. Pratap Singh, (1923) 77 I. C. 473, Chhajju v. Mehr Singh, (1930) 31 P.L.R. 997, Chanan Singh v. Buta Singh, A.LR. 1935 Lah. 83 and Kishen Singh v. Taru, A.I.R. 1949 East Punjab 342, referred to. CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDIOTION: Civil Appeal No. 141 of 1956. Appeal from the judgment and decree dated Sep- tember 2, 1954, of the Punjab High Court at Chandi- garh in Civil Regular Second Appeal No. 337 of 1952 . .Achhru Ram, R. Ganapathy Iyer and G. Gopalakrish- nan, for the Appellant. S. P. Sinha and V. N. Sethi, for the respondents. 1961. April 10. The Judgment of the Court was delivered by April IO. Inder Singh v. Gurdial Singh S. K. Da' ]. 846 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1962] S. K. DAS, J.-This is an appeal on a certificate granted by the High Court of Punjab on March 7, 1955. The only question which falls for decision is whether Inder Singh, plaintiff in the court of first instance and appellant herein, was validly adopted by one Nathu in accordance with the rules of cus- tomary adoption prevalent amongst Jats of the Ludhiana district in the State of Punjab. The relevant facts are these. N athu, the last male holder of the property in dispute, was a J at of Ludhiana district. He was blind, not married and had no issue. He was a resident of village Mohan- pur. Inder Singh, a resident of the same village,. was his nephew by collateral relation of the fifth degree. Inder Singh's case was that he looked after Nathu since his childhood and on March 24, 1946, Nathu adopted him, according to the custom prevalent amongst them, before the village Panchayat by distri- buting "gur" (jaggery) and on the next day, that is, March 25, 1946, Nathu executed a deed of adoption in his favour and got it registered on the same day. For a short period thereafter N athu lived with Inder Singh. Then Gujar Singh, defendant in the suit, who was a nearer collateral of N athu, gained influence over the latter. N athu left Inder Singh and on Sep- tember 6, 1946, cancelled the deed of gift. Nathu died three years after, that is on October 27, 1949. On Nathu's death Gujar Singh got the property of Nathu mutated in his name in the revenue records. Inder Singh then brought the suit out of which this appeal has arisen for possession of the property of Nathu Singh, which consisted of about 16 bighas odd of land and a house, on the footing that he was the adopted son of Nathu. The suit was contested by Gujar Singh who alleged inter alia that Inder Singh was not validly adopted by Nathu in accordance with the custom prevalent amongst the Jats of Ludhiana. The trial Judge held that the story of the alleged adoption before the village Panchayat was not sub- stantiated and the recitals in the deed of adoption were incorrect. He further found that according to ... t ' - I • I > 1 S.C.R. SUPREME COURT REPORTS 847 the customary rules of adoption the deed of adoption could not have any effect unless after its execution there w
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