Customary succession barred a Sikh Kamboh daughter from ancestral property; failure to prove a contrary custom left the reversioners protected.

Ancestral immovable property in the Amritsar District was treated as subject to customary law excluding a Sikh Kamboh daughter from succeeding against collaterals. The same custom also restricted testamentary disposition of ancestral property, allowing only limited charitable gifts rather than a will in favour of the daughter. Because the daughter bore the burden of proving a custom permitting such succession or devise, and her evidence was found unsatisfactory, the claimed custom failed. The ancestral property therefore remained with the reversioners, and the decree against the daughter was maintained.

---

---

Issues: Whether a Sikh Kamboh daughter could, in the presence of collaterals, succeed to or take by will the ancestral property of her , and whether the custom pleaded by her was proved.

Analysis: The immovable property was found to be ancestral qua the plaintiffs, and the customary law for the Amritsar District was relied upon to show that a daughter was excluded from succession to such property by the agnates of her father. The challenge was not one of ordinary intestate succession alone, because the relevant custom also indicated that a proprietor could not dispose of ancestral property by will except to a limited charitable extent. The onus lay on the daughter to establish a proved custom permitting a Sikh Kamboh to devise ancestral property to her in the presence of collaterals. The evidence led on her behalf was found unsatisfactory and insufficient to discharge that burden.

Conclusion: The claimed custom was not proved, and the daughter could not take the ancestral property as against the reversioners; the decree against her was affirmed.

Final Conclusion: The appeal failed on the question of customary succession and testamentary power over ancestral property, and the decree in favour of the reversioners was maintained.

---