Case brief
What is this about?
S.A. No.86 of 2019, High Court of Jharkhand at Ranchi, Anil Kumar Choudhary J., order dated 11-07-2024: Second Appeal dismissed as not maintainable because the impugned first appellate judgment and decree (Civil Appeal No.07 of 2009, District Judge-I, Giridih, dated 10.12.2018) was passed against respondent No.70 Sohgi Devi who had died in 2016, making it a nullity; decree against a dead person is a nullity per Kishun alias Ram Kishun v. Behari, (2005) 6 SCC 300; liberty preserved to seek reopening of the decree and impleadment of legal representatives before the first appellate court; Alimuddin Ansari v. Wasia Khatoon, (2004) 4 JCR 700 (Jhr), referred. Keywords: second appeal, maintainability, decree against dead person, nullity, legal representatives, abatement.
What did the court decide?
No substantive relief; the appeal was dismissed as not maintainable, with the clarification that the appellants remain free to take permissible steps in the lower court to have the decree reopened and the legal representatives of respondent No.70 brought on record.