Pyare and Others vs Pyare and Others

Kapur, J.—This is a defendants'' appeal against a judgment and decree passed by Mr. Manohar Lal Vijh, Senior Subordinate Judge, Delhi, dismissing the appeal of the landlords against the decree passed against them by the Subordinate Judge on the ground that the appeal had abated due to the death of one of the landlords.

Kure was the occupancy tenant of the land in dispute u/s 6 of the Punjab Tenancy act. Pyare sued the landlords for possession of the tenancy land in dispute on the ground that he had been adopted as a son by Kure deceased. This suit was decreed and an appeal was taken to the Senior Subordinate Judge.

During the pendency of the appeal, one of the landlords, Gordhan son of Sis Ram, died and his legal representatives were not brought on the record within the time allowed by law and the Senior Subordinate Judge held that the whole of the appeal had abated.

In appeal, Mr. Fakir Chand Mital submits that by the death of one of the landlords the whole of the appeal does not abate because the landlords had specified shares in the tenancy and he relies on the observations made by Sir Shadi Lal, C. J., in ''Sant Singh v. Gulab Singh'', 10 Lah 7. The present case is, however, a different one. The present case relates to the occupancy tenancy and is between the tenants on the one hand and the landlords on the other. The tenancy is an indivisible one. The landlords as a body constitute one landlord and if one of them dies and his legal representatives are not brought on the records, the suit or appeal must abate.

In ''Akbar v. Hukam Singh A. I. R. 1930 Lah 353 Jai Lal, J. in a similar case now before me, held that the suit abated as a whole.

Quite recently, their Lordships of the Supreme Court, in Badri Narain Jha and Others Vs. Rameshwar Dayal Singh and Others, have laid down that landlords and tenants qua each other form one indivisible whole. This is a judgment which is binding upon me, and relying upon this, I hold that by the death of one of the landlords whose legal representatives are not brought on the record the appeal has rightly been held to have abated as a whole.

I therefore dismiss this appeal and affirm the judgment and decree of the Senior Subordinate Judge, but in the circumstances of this case leave the parties to bear their own costs in this Court.