Title and possession claims require independent proof; revenue records alone do not confer ownership over disputed land.

In a suit for declaration of title and possession, the plaintiff must prove title independently and cannot rely on defects in the defendant's case. Revenue entries, settlement registers, jamabandis, record-of-rights documents and the general land register may have evidentiary value, but they do not by themselves confer title. As the registered partition deed did not mention the disputed land and no satisfactory explanation was offered, the materials produced did not establish title to the suit property. The claim for declaration and possession therefore failed.

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Issues: Whether the plaintiff had established title and possession over the suit land so as to obtain a declaration and consequential reliefs, and whether the entries in the revenue records and related land registers were sufficient to sustain such claim.

Analysis: In a suit for declaration of title and possession, the plaintiff must succeed on the strength of its own title and not on any weakness in the defendant's case. Entries in revenue records, settlement registers, jamabandis, record-of-rights documents, or the general land register may have evidentiary value, but they do not by themselves confer title. The plaintiff relied on a family settlement and partition deed, the setwar and revenue entries, yet the registered partition deed did not mention the suit land and no satisfactory explanation was offered for that omission. The Court held that the evidence produced did not independently establish that the plaintiff's predecessors had title to the disputed land and that the suit claim could not be sustained merely by questioning the defendants' records.

Conclusion: The plaintiff failed to prove title and possession over the suit land. The claim for declaration and possession was not sustainable.

Final Conclusion: The appeal succeeded and the decrees of the courts below were set aside, leaving the plaintiff without relief.

Ratio Decidendi: In a suit for declaration of title and possession, the plaintiff must establish title independently, and revenue or record-of-rights entries, even if admissible in evidence, do not by themselves confer title.

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