AIR 1956 SC 15
The Judgment was delivered by :
MAHAJAN, C. J. : This is plaintiffs' appeal, under a certificate, against
the dismissal of their suit by the High Court of Judicature for Rajasthan
(Jaipur Branch) and praying for a declaration of their rights of succession
to the Gaddi of Indergarh.
2. The relevant facts concerning this litigation are these : Mahraja Sumer
Singhji was the last jagirdar of Indergrah (District Kotah, Rajasthan). He
died without male issue on 14-7-1949 at Delhi. On 2-8-1949 Maharaja Umrao
Singh, one of the appellants in the present appeal, instituted a suit
against the respondent Maharaja Bhagwati Singh and three others on the
allegation that Maharaja Sumer Singhji of Indergarh having died without
male issue, the plaintiff was the sole heir of the deceased, and the
respondent Bhagwati Singh, minor, was falsely alleging himself to be an
adopted son of the late Maharaja and was trying to succeed to his estate;
that Maharaja Bhagwati Singh was never adopted by the deceasedc and
conseqently the plaintiff was entitled to a declaration to the effect that
he was the real successor to the Gaddi of Indergarh.
In defence it was pleaded that the adoption by the late Maharaja was made
after obtaining proper sanction of His Highness the Maharao of Kotah. It
was contended that when Kotah State was a separate political unit His
Highness the Maharaja Sahib of Kotah was the sole autbority to recognise
succession regardingthe jagirs and that on integration of Rajasthan that
authority is enjoyed by His Highness the Rajpramukh under Art. 7(3) of the
Covenant of Rulers of Rajasthan and that consequently the District Judge
had no. jurisdiction to try the case. On this pleading the Court framed the
following Issue :
"Issue No. 3 - Whether His Highness the Rajpramukh had an exclusive
right to decide the question of succession relating to Kotri (Jagir) in
question and whether the jurisdiction of the civil Courts being barred
in such matters, the District Court has no. jurisdiction to hear the
suit?"
3. The learned District Judge, after hearing arguments on this Issue, by
his judgement dated 19-12-1949 found the Issue in favour of the respondents
and dismissed the plaintiffs' suit. On appeal the High Court of Rajasthan
affirmed this decision. During the proceedings in the Courts below,
Maharaja Udaibhan Singh was a defendant in the case, was impleaded as a
plaintiff. This appeal has now been preferred by both the plaintiffs.
4. The main issue involved in the appeal is whether the civil Court has
jurisdiction to decide the question of succession to the Jagir of
Indergarh.
5. Section 9, Civil P.C. provides :
9.
"The Courts shall (subject to the provisions herein contained) have
jurisdiction to try all suits of a civil natur excepting suits of which
their cognizance is either expressly or impliedly barred.
'Explanation' - A suit in which the right to property or to an office
is contested is a suit of a civil nature, notwithstanding that such
right may depend entirely on the decision of questions as to religious
rites or ceremonies."
6. The learned counsel for the appellants contended that the suit
instituted by the plaintiffs being of a civil nature, civil Courts had
jurisdiction to entertain it and the District Judge and the High Court were
in error in holding that their jurisdiction was either expressly or
impliedly barred. In our opinion this contention is not well founded. It is
true that there is no. express statutory provision barring the jurisdiction
of the civil Courts regarding suits of this nature, but it is equally clear
that their jurisdiction to entertain suits of this nature is impliedly
barred.
7. In para 2 of the plaint it was alleged that in the absence of a real son
in the line of succession to the Gaddi of Indergarh, the members of the
family of Chhapol, on account of being of the same Gotra as that of the
jagirdars of Indergarh, i.e., Bhagatsinghot Gotra, were the nearest of kin
to them, and on account of this the ruler of Kotah, who held sovereign
powers over Indergrah, had continued to accord his sanction in respect of
their succession.
In para 3 it was said that the late Maharaja Sumer Singhji himself, from
Thikana Chhapol, with the sanction of Maharao Sahib Kotah, was taken as
successor to Indergarh, on the death of Maharaja Sher Singh, without a male
issue, and that Maharaja Sher Singhji, also in the same manner, on the
death of Maharaja Sangram Singhji, dying without a male issue, was taken
from Thikana Chhapol, as successor to Indergarh.
The plaintiffs' case thus is clearly funded on the plea that the succession
to the Gaddi of Indergarh was determined by the ruler of Kotah in his
capacity as sovereign. It is not even alleged in the plaint that the jagir
is hereditary in nature or that the sanction of the Maharao was a mere
formality. After the integration of Rajasthan the sovereign right exercised
by the Maharao of Kotah in this respect was dealt with by Art. 7(3) of the
Covenant entered into between the rules of the different States of
Rajasthan including Kotah. This Covenant is in these terms :
"Article VII (3) - Unless other provision is made by an Act of the
Legislature of the United State, the right to resume jagirs or to
recognise succession, according to law and custom, to the rights and
titles of the jagirdars shall vest 'exclusively' in the Rajpramukh"
.
The Rajpramukh, in exercise of this power, on 1-12-1949 recognised Maharaja
Bhagwati Singhji, second son of Maharaja Balbir Singhji of Khatoli and
adopted son of the late Maharaja Sumer Singhji of Indergarh as successor to
the later Maharaja Sahib of Indergarh. The words of the Covenant are
unambiguous except the Rajpramukh of Rajasthan will be competent to decide
the question of succession. That being so, no. suit can be maintained in a
civil Court to direct a sovereign to perform his sovereign duties in a
particular manner.
The power of recognizing an heir to the Gaddi of Indergarh which was one
exercised by the Maharao of Kotah and which is now being exercised by the
Rajpramukh of Rajasthan, is political in character and is an incident of
sovereignty, and a matter that has to be exclusively settled in exercise of
such a power cannot possibly be the subject of adjudication in a civil
Court.
8. As above pointed out, no. averment has been made in the plaint that the
jagir was a hereditary one and was not resumable after the death of the
last holder. No. facts have been placed on record defining the incidents of
this jagir . Ordinarily a jagir is an assignment in land or money for the
support of a certain dignity and for the troops annexed thereto. It is
either conditional or unconditional.
The assignment is for a stated term, and more usually, it is for the
lifetime of the holder, lapsing on his death, to the State although no.
unusually renewed to his heir, on payment of a nazarana or fine. It is
sometimes specified to be a hereditary one. In 'Gulabdas Jugjivandas v
Collector of Surat', 3 Bom 186 (A), their Lordships of the Privy Council
held that a jagir must be taken 'prima facie' to be an estate only for
life, although it may possibly be granted in such terms as to make it
hereditary.
In the absence of any evidence to the contrary it has to be assumed that
the (Jan). 1956 S. C. /3&4
Indergarh jagir was resumable after the death of the last holder and it was
in exercise of sovereign rights that the Maharao of Kotah recognized the
adoption of Bhagwati Singh and the Rajpramukh of Rajasthan in exercise of
the same right recognized him as an heir to the last Jagirdar. Even if the
jagir was of a hereditary nature, it seems clear that the Maharao of Kotah
was admittedly the sole arbiter for determining the question of succession
to the Gaddi according to law and custom and that exclusive power, by the
binding force of the Covenant, has passed to the Rajpramukh of Rajasthan.
In this view of the case the rule laid down by their Lordships of the Privy
Council in -'Sultan Sani v. Ajmodin' 20 Ind App 50 (PC) (B) is attracted to
this case. Therein their Lordships expressed the opinion that the question
to whom a saranjam or jagir shall be granted upon the death of its holder
is one which belongs exclusively to the Government, to be determined upon
political consideration, and that it is not within them competency of any
legal tribunal to review the decision which the Government may pronounce.
9. The result is that the jurisdiction of the civil Courts is impliedly
ousted for entertaining suits of this nature and that being so, the appeal
fails and is dismissed with costs.