SHRI D.M. DESHPANDE AND ORS.versusSHRI JANARDHAN KASHINATH KADAM (DEAD) BY LRS. AND ORS.

                      SHRI D.M. DESHPANDE AND ORS.                                 A
                                    v.
              SHRI JANARDHAN KASHINA TH KADAM (DEAD) BY
                              LRS. AND ORS.

                                NOVEMBER 12, 1998
                                                                                   B
              [MRS. SUJATA V. MANOHAR AND A.P. MISRA, JJ.]


            Bombay Public Trusts Act, 1950 : Section 50A(4).

             Bombay Tenancy and Agricultural Lands (Vidarbha Region) Act, 1958:    C
       Section 125.

            Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 : Order 6 Rule I 1.

               Public Trust-Scheme for management of-Application filed for D
       execution of scheme by appellant trustees-Possession of Trust land sought
       from respondents-Tenancy claim by respondents-Executing Court rejected
       respondent's application-Consequently, decree executed and Trust had taken
       possession of land-Review filed by respondents rejected by Executing Court-
       Appeal preferred by respondents also dismissed by.District Judge-Revision
       preferred by respondents before High Court-High Court directed that issue E
        of tenancy arises and should be referred to Tehsi!dar and Trust should hand
        over possession of land to respondents-Against order of High Court appeal
       preferred before Supreme Court-Held, no particulars have been given by
        respondents relating to tenancy and how it was created-Jn this view of the
        matter the Executing Court rightly rejected the objections of the respondents
        and handed over the possession of the Trust lands to the Trust-The High F
        Court in Revision, in these circumstances ought not to have interfered in the
        absence of any factual basis in support of the plea of tenancy raised by the
        respondents-The impugned order of the High Court, insofar as it directs
       framing of an issue relating to the tenancy of the I st respondent and directs
..,.    this issue to be decided by the Tehsildar, is set aside-The direction in the G
        impugned order directing possession of the Trust properties to be handed
        over to the I st respondent is also set aside.

           Ram Sarup Gupta v. Bishun Narain Inter College & Ors., [1987) 2
       SCC 555; Pandu Dhondi Yerudkar v. Ananda Krishan Patil, (1974) 76 BLR
                                          669                                      1-J
    670                        SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1998) SUPP. 2 S.C.R.

A 368 and Mis. Nilesh Construction Company & Anr. v. Mis Gangubai & Ors.,
    AIR (1982) Bombay 491, referred to.

         CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Civil Appeal Nos. 4441-4442
    of 1990.

B         From the Judgment and Order dated 11.4.90 of the Bombay High Court
    in C.R.A. Nos. 488 and 609of1986.

          Dr. R.B. Masodhkar and K.L. Taneja for the Appellants.

          S.V. Deshpande for the Respondents.
c         The following Order of the Court was delivered :
                                                                                       .- ~
          The appellants I to 3 are the trustees of appellant No.4 which is a public
    Trust registered under the Bombay Public Trusts Act, 1950. The second
    respondent is a former trustee of the said Trust while the first respondent
D   claims to be a tenant of the lands belonging to the said Trust. The land in
    dispute is Survey No. 14 situated at Warud Walidatpur, Yavatmal, which
    belongs to the said Trust. The present proceedings arise from an order in
    Revision passed by the High Court in Execution Proceedings.

          The Deputy Charity Commissioner by his order dated 17th of January
E   1975, framed and settled a scheme for the management of the said Trust and
    appointed certain trustees. The second respondent, who had throughout
    acted as a trustee of the said Trust, was also appointed as one of the trustees
    under the said order. The scheme was thereafter amended by the Charity
    Commissioner by his order dated 24th of Oct. 1980 in suo motu proceedings.
F   He ordered substitution of certain new trustees by removing earlier trustees.

          The second respondent, by this order was removed as a trustee and he
    was directed to handover possession of the Trust property as well as
    management of the Trust to the trustees appointed under the order of 24th
    of Oct., 1980. Since the second respondent did not handover possession of
G   the properties of the said Trust which consisted of the said land bearing
    Survey No. 14 and also did not handover management of the said trust, the
    trustees moved the Charity Commissioner, Chandrapur. The Assistant Charity
    Commissioner by his order dated 19th of July, 1984 held that the scheme
    which was framed by the order of 17th of January, 1975 and modified by the
    order of 24th of Oct., 1980 was a decree under the provisions of Section
H   50A(4) of the Bombay Public Trusts Act, 1950. Therefore, the trustees should
          D.M. DESHPANDE v. SHRI JANARDHAN KASHINATH KA DAM              671
ask for execution of the scheme as a decree.                                   A

       Accordingly, the present trustees i.e. appellants I to 3, who were the
trustees at the material time, filed a Regular Execution Application No. 98/84
in the Court of the Civil Judge, Senior Division, Yavatmal against the
respondents praying for execution of the said scheme and asking for
possession of land bearing Survey No. 14 from the respondents. On notice B
being issued, the respondents appeared in the Execution Proceedings. The
respondents in the Execution Proceedings filed joint application dated 17th
of January, 1985 being Exhibit No. 8. In the application filed jointly on behalf
of both the respondents, the followirg statement was made in Paragraph 2;
"That the applicants did not obtain any decree of competent Court against C
the non-applicants for delivery of possession from non-applicant No. 2 who
is tenant over the field in question". The non-applicants are the present
respondents while the applicants are the present appellants I to 3. Again in
paragraph 4 of this application it is stated, inter-alia, "moreover the non-
applicant No. 2 is a tenant over the said field Survey No. 14 of Walidatpur
and he is entitled to retain possession of the said land till the eviction order D
 from Tenancy Court. Even the District Court has no jurisdiction to try any suit
 for possession against him". There are no particulars mentioned in this
 application as to when this alleged tenancy was created in favour of non-
 applicant No. 2, that is to say, the present !st respondent. No date of creation
 of tenancy has been mentioned; nor is it mentioned as to who created this E
 tenancy in favour of the I st respondent or how this tenancy came into
 existence. Even the quantum of rent payable is not mentioned. No particulars
 are given about this alleged tenancy in Exhibit 8. The present appellants in
 their reply denied any tenancy in favour of the I st respondent. They pointed
 out that the first respondent is the brother-in-law of the ex-trustee-second
 respondent and the tenancy was being claimed by both the respondents only F
 to defraud the Trust of this property. It was also submitted by the appellants
 that since Respondent No. 2 was removed as a trustee of the said Trust, an
 attempt was being made to claim rights over the Trust property in the form
 of an alleged tenancy in favour of the brother-in-law of the removed trustee-
 Respondent No. 2.                                                                G
     This application of the respondents was rejected by the Executing
Court by its order of 3rd of May, 1985. Thereafter, the decree was executed
and on 15 .6.85 the Trust has taken possession of the said land.

      The !st respondent filed a Review Application ·before the Executing       H
    672                        SUPREME COURT REPORTS (1998) SUPP. 2 S.C.R.

A Court which was rejected by the Executing Court by its orders of 2nd July,
     1985. An appeal was filed by respondents from the order of3.5.85 and 2.7.85.
    It was dismissed by the Distridt Judge by his order of 6.8.85. Thereafter, the
     I st respondent filed a Civil Revision Application before the High Court. By
    the impugned judgment and order, the High Court has upheld the submission            ... .,.
B   that the scheme could be validly executed as a decree. However, the Court
    went on to hold that the issue of tenancy arises and should be referred to
    the Tehsildar under Section 125 of the Bombay Tenancy and Agricultural
    Lands (Vidharbha Region) Act, 1958. The High Court has further directed that
    the Trust should' handover possession of the said land to the I st respondent.

C          The present appeal has been filed by the appellants challenging that
    portion of the order of the High Court which directs the framing of an issue
    relating to tenancy of the 1st respondent and directing handing over of               ,..   ..
    possession of the Trust property to the 1st respondent.

          It has been submitted by the appellants that the entire proceeding
r> started by the respondents in Execution, claiming tenancy is a collusive
    proceeding between the former trustee and the I st respondent, who have
    joined hands to prevent the present trustees from obtaining possession of the
    trust property. It is also submitted that no material particulars relating to this
    alleged tenancy of the 1st respondent have been submitted anywhere in the
E   application (Exhibit 8) before the Executing Court. In the absence of any
    material particulars relating to this alleged claim of tenancy, no issue could
    have been framed or referred to the Tehsildar. A bare statement claiming
    tenancy is not enough for the purpose of raising an issue relating to the
    alleged tenancy of the 1st respondent. The appellants have relied upon Order
    6 Rule 11 of the Civil Procedure Code which requires that every pleading shall
F   contain a statement in a concise form of material facts on which the party
    pleading relies for his claims or defence. In the absence of any concise
    statement of material facts, the mere raising of a plea of tenancy is not enough
    for the purpose of raising an issue on the question.

G         Learned counsel for the appellants has relied upon three decisions in
    support of his contention that a vague plea does not justify an issue being
    framed. In this connection a reference was made to Ram Sarup Gupta v.
    Bishun Narain Inter College & Ors., [1987] 2 SCC 555, where this Court has
    held that all necessary and material facts should be pleaded by the party in
    support of the case set up by it. In the absence of pleading, evidence if any,
H   produced by the parties cannot be considered. The object and purpose of a
            D.M. DESHPANDE v. SHRIJANARDHANKASHINATHKADAM                      673
    pleading is to enable the adversary party to know the case of the opponent.        A
·· ·in order to have a fair trial it is imperative that the parties should state the
    essential material facts so that the other party may not be taken by surprise.
    The Court has, however, cautioned against a pedantic approach to the problem
    and has dire~ted that the Court must ascertain the substance of the pleading
    and not the form, in order to determine the case. The respondent have              B
    emphasised latter observations. In the present case, however, no material in
    support of the plea of tenancy has been set up anywhere in any form. In the
    case of Mis. Nilesh Construction Company & Anr. v. Mis Gangubai & Ors.,
    AIR (1982) Bombay 491 ), the Court obs.:rved that before a reference to the
    Mamlatdar for deciding the issue of tenancy under the Bombay Tenancy and
    Agricultural Lands Act, 1948 is made the alleged tenant, must disclose in his      C
    pleadings, details about the tenancy and the exact nature of the right which
    is claimed by him. An issue of tenancy cannot be raised on a vague plea.

         Similarly in an earlier case of Pandu Dhondi Yerudkar v. Ananda Krishna
  Patil, reported in (1974) 76 BLR 368, the High Court has observed that when
  inspite of particulars being asked for a vogue plea is made by the defendant,        D
  contending that he is a tenant of the land, the Court should hesitate to frame
  such an issue on such a vague plea, unless the defendant is able to give
  particulars showing the time when the tenancy was created, the person by
  whom it was created and the terms on which it was created. However, in that
  case since an issue regarding tenancy had already been raised, it was obligatory     E
  for the Court to refer this issue to the authorities under the Tenancy Act. The
  Court, therefore, held that the issue had to be so determined.

         In the present case, no particulars have been given by the !st respondent
  or the second respondent relating to this tenancy-how it was created, when
  it was created and the terms thereof. Learned counsel for the respondents,           F
  however, has relied upon an order of the Agricultural Lands Tribunal dated
  27.2.71 which was passed in suo motu proceedings taken under Section 49A
  of the Bombay Tenancy and Agricultural Lands (Vidharbha Region) Act,
  under which proceedings for transfer of ownership to the alleged tenants of
  whom the i st respond.!nt was one, were dropped on the ground that properties        G
  belonging to the public Trust were exempted under Section 129 of the said
  Act. We fail lO see how this will help the !st respondent because the question
  whether he was in fact a tenant over the said land or not, was not examined
   in those suo motu proceedings, since, in any event, the lands of the said
  Trust were exempted from the operation of Section 37 of the said Tenancy
  Act.                                                                                 H
    674                        SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1998] SUPP. 2 S.C.R.

A         In this view of the matter the Executing Court rightly rejected the
    objections of the respondents and handed over the possession of the Trust
    lands to the Trust on 15.6.85. The District Judge has also dismissed the
    appeal in a lengthy judgment. The High Court in Revision, in these
    circumstances, ought not to have interferred in the absence o( any factual
B   basis in support of the plea of tenancy raised by the I st respondent.

          The appeals are, therefore, allowed and the impugned order of the High
                                                                                      c
    Court, insofar as it directs framing of an issue relating to the tenancy of the
    !st respondent and directs this issue to be decided by the Tehsildar, is set
    aside. The direction in the impugned order, directing possession of the Trust
C   properties to be handed over to the I st respondent, is also set aside. There
    will be no order as to costs.

    T.N.A.                                                      Appeals allowed.