Kehar Singh & Ors. v. Chanan Singh & Ors.
Customary succession, Punjab – Sidhu Jats of Muktsar Tahsil, Ferozepore District – non-ancestral (self-acquired) property of the last male holder
Case brief
What is this about?
Kehar Singh & Ors. v. Chanan Singh & Ors., Supreme Court of India, Civil Appeal No. 781 of 1964, decided December 14, 1967 (judgment of the Court delivered by Ramaswami, J., with J. C. Shah and V. Bhargava, JJ.). Customary-law succession dispute over 1574 kanals 4 marlas in village Kotli Ablu, Muktsar Tahsil, Ferozepore: married daughter Mst. Nihal Kaur of Dulla Singh (last male holder, Sidhu Jat) versus 5th-degree collaterals. Key themes: Riwaj-i-am of Ferozepore settlement 1914 (Questions 48 and 49) and the weight of its presumption; Rattigan's Digest of Customary Law paragraph 23; rebuttal of presumption where entries are adverse to females unheard by revenue authorities; Wilson's Manual Questions 16-17; Punjab High Court Regular Second Appeal No. 54 of 1960 (decided September 6, 1961) affirmed; appeal dismissed with costs. Cited authorities include Mst. Raj Kaur v. Talok Singh (A.I.R. 1916 Lah. 343), Mst. Subhani v. Nawab (68 I.A. 1), Har Narain v. Mst. Deoki ((1893) 24 P.R. 124), Bholi v. Man Singh ((1908) 86 P.R. 402) and Salig Ram v. Mst. Maya Debi ([1955] 1 S.C.R. 1191).