TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2006 (11) TMI 654
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....o have expired sometime after 1932. The plaintiffs herein are heris of Ram Layak- one of the sons of Mahadeo whereas the respondent herein are heirs of Raja, another son of Mahadeo. The Properties in question bearing plot Nos. 901, 902 and 907 were acquired under the provisions of the Land Acquisition Act. The properties were mutated in the name of Damoder. The amount of compensation was paid to respondent Mona Devi. The appellants herein filed an application under section 30 of the Land Acquisition Act before the Collector whereupon a reference was made. One of the issues which fell for consideration before the Reference Judge under the Land Acquisition Act was as to whether the deed of gift executed by Koleshra Devi in respect....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....he learned councel appearing on behalf of the appellants would contend that having regard to the fact that a finding of fact had been arrived at that Koleshra Devi was possessed of the property in question, the High Court committed a manifest error in interfering therewith. Our attention in this behalf has been drawn to a decision of this Court in Raghubar Singh and Ors. v. Gulab Singh & Ors., [1998] 6 SCC 314. Mr. Upadhyay, learned senior counsel appearing on behalf of the respondents on the other hand would support the judgment. We may before adverting to the question raised before us must observe that the High Court dealt with the matter in a very slipshod manner. It interfered with the finding of fact arrived at by the First Appel....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
.... it was found that Koleshra Devi was possessed of the land in question in lieu of her right of maintenance, in our opinion, Sub-Section 1 of Section 14 of the Hindu Succession Act, 1956 will clearly be attracted. In Raghubar Singh and Ors. v. Gulab Singh & Ors., [1998] 6 SCC 314 this Court stated the law in the following terms: "17. The obligations, under the Shastric Hindu Law, to maintain a Hindu widow out of the properties of her deceased husband received a statutory recognition with the coming into force of the Hindu Women's Rights to Property Act, 1937. the law on the subject was, thereafter, consolidated and codified by the Hindu Married Women's Right to Separate Residence and Maintenance Act, 1946 which came into ....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....aw before the passing of the 1937 or the 1946 Acts. Those Acts merely recognised the position as was existing under the Shastric Hindu law and gave it a `statutory' backing. Where a Hindu widows is in possession of the property of her husband, she has a right to be maintained out of it and she is entitled to retain the possession of that property in lieu of her right to maintenance." In Shakuntala Devi v. Kamla and Ors., [2005] 5 SCC 390] it was observed : "11. However, the decision of this Court in the case of Balwant Singh, [1997] 7 SCC 137 would have a bearing on the merits of this case wherein it is held that suit for possession would not be maintable on the basis of a declaratory decree as the declaratory decree did not....