Partition Act, 1893

 

Partition
Act [IV of 1893]


Section 4—

Legislative
intent behind making the provisions of section 4—Mores of the people and
co-sharers’ attachment to their ancestral house and their anxiety to preserve
purdah and privacy of the members of the undivided dwelling house taken into
consideration.

Expression
“a dwelling house belonging to an undivided family” is to be
liberally construed—A co-sharer’s prayer to buy up a stranger-purchaser may not
be refused on technical ground. There being no partition by metes and bounds by
any previous arrangement the impartible character of the suit properly remained
undisturbed when the suit was filed—Plaintiffs claim is sustainable.

There is no
time limit for filing an application under section 4 of the Partition Act.

The claims
of the parties in a case are to be determined with reference to their
respective position existing at the time of the filing of the suit.

When an
applicant’s prayer is allowed under section 4 of the Partition Act, it involves
a kind of forced sale for the stranger-purchaser. The Court would in equity
determine the valuation of the transferred share on the date of the filing of
the application for permission to purchase the share of the stranger-purchaser.

Sayesta Bibi
and others vs Juma Sha and others 42 DLR (AD) 53.

 

Section 4—

Suit for
partition filed by the defendant Nos. 1 and 3 who are appellants in this appeal
by leave—Suit decreed in preliminary form subject to payment of ad valorem
Court fee by the trial Court—The High Court Division modified the decree of the
trial Court by holding that the plaintiff does get saham of 1062—1l2 acre of
land out of a schedule property on partition by metes and bounds—Question arose
as to whether the High Court Division has committed substantial error of law in
failing to direct to identify and demarcate. 2125 acre of CS plot No 17 in
order to effect partition of the suitland.

Held : The demarcation of the plaintiff’s share out of SA plot No. 1162
will be done by the Advocate Commissioner having regard to all principles of
partition and the defendants can take objection, if any, before the decree is
made final.

Waliullah
and another vs Abdul Wahab and others 42 DLR (AD) 55.

 

Section 4—

The concept
of dwelling house had received a liberal construction (Ref. AIR 1960 Cal 467).
The terms “house” or “dwelling house” are ambiguous terms
and for the purpose of section 4 of the Partition Act, must be liberally
construed. High Court Division exceeded the jurisdiction in setting aside the
decree.

Sree Jugal
Kishori Sarker vs Azizur Rahman 40 DLR (AD) 150.

 

Section 4—

The purpose
of section 4 is to see that a transferee outsider does not force his way into a
dwelling house in which other members of the transferor’s family have right to
live. Once the partition decree is made in preliminary form, the rest is for
the Commissioner. But the Court at that stage is not concerned as to what
direction should be given to the Commissioner for completing the partition. The
Court can only give a limited direction after perusing the Commissioner’s
report as to which plot is to be partitioned.

Sree Jugal
Kishori Sarker vs Azizur Rahman 40 DLR (AD) 150.

 

Section 4—

The
expression a dwelling house belonging to an undivided family is to be liberally
construed. Adjacent buildings, gardens, courtyard, orchard and all that is
necessary for the convenient occupation of the house is a part of the dwelling
house.

Amena Khatun
and ors vs Md Afsaruddin being dead his heirs 1 (ka) Maleka Khatun and ors 50
DLR 156.

 

Section 4—

The stranger
purchaser who is not acceptable to other members of the family can not come
into the undivided dwelling house and possess it forcibly and section 4 of the
Partition Act does not permit it.

Amena Khatun
and ors vs Md Afsaruddin being dead his heirs 1 (ka) Maleka Khatun and ors 50
DLR 156.

 

Section 4—

The object
of this legislation is to preserve the sanctity of an undivided dwelling house
against the intrusion of a stranger on the basis of purchase of it portion of
such a dwelling house from a co—sharer or some of the co—sharers.

Protima Sen
and others vs Chitra Rani Dey and another 52 DLR 218.

 

Section 4—

In order to·
get the benefit of section 4, it is not necessary that a person must live in
the family dwelling house. It is not residence or occupation but ownership of
the dwelling house that entitles a person to apply under section 4 of the Act.

Noorjahan
Akhter vs A Motaleb & ors 53 DLR 256.

 

Section 4—

The main
purpose behind enacting section 4 is to protect and preserve the co—sharer’s sentiment
and attachment to their ancestral house and also to preserve pardah and privacy
of the members and inmates of the undivided dwelling—house. It is further held
in this case that a co—sharer’s prayer to buy up a stranger—purchaser may not
be refused on technical ground.

Noorjahan
Akhter vs A Motaleb & ors 53 DLR 256.

 

Section 4—

‘Undivided
family’ means simply a family not divided qua the dwelling house; in other
words, a family which owns a dwelling house and has not divided it. The essence
of the matter is that the house itself should be undivided amongst the members
of the family who are its owners. The emphasis is really on the house which
imparts to the family its character of an undivided family.

Haripada
Saha vs Md Shamsuddin Quraishi and others 54 DLR 606.

 

Partition Act, 1893

 

Partition
Act, 1893

 

Section—4

If
an application under Section 4 of the Partition Act is filed to buy-out a
stranger purchaser after an inordinate delay from the date of purchase, then
the applicant himself may suffer. When an applicant’s prayer is allowed under
Section 4 of the Partition Act, it involves a kind of forced sale for the
stranger-purchaser. And hence, the Court would, in equity, determine the
valuation of the transferred share on the date of filing of the application for
permission to purchase the share of the stranger-purchaser

Sayesta Bibi
and others Vs. Juma Sha and others, 13 BLD (AD) 168.

Ref:
Md. Tazammul Hossain Vs. Purni Agarwalini, 10 DLR. 318; Md. Magdu Bhuiyan Vs.
Jabban Huq, 11 DLR. 355; Md. Habibullah Patwari Vs. Pran Ballav Bhakta &
others, 9 DLR 119; Sree Jugol Kishori Sarker Vs. Azizur Rahman & ors., 40
DLR (AD) 150 Cited.

 

Section—4

The
object of section 4 of the Act is to enable the members of the undivided family
to buy out an outsider who is a transferee from one of the co-sharers. In order
to get the benefit of section 4, it is not necessary that a person must live in
the family dwelling house. Because it is not the residence or occupation but
the ownership of the dwelling house that entitles a person to apply under
section 4 of the Act.

Noorjahan
Akhter Vs A Motaleb & ors., 21 BLD (HCD) 130.

Ref:
AIR 1928 Calcutta 539; I.L.R. 1923 (Bom) 73; 1ODLR(1958)3 18—Cited.

 

Section—4

The
main purpose behind enacting section 4 is to protect and preserve the
co-sharers’ sentiment and attachment to their ancestral house and also to
preserve purdah and privacy of the members and inmates of the undivided
dwelling house.

Noorjahan
Akhter Vs A Motaleb & ors., 21 BLD (HCD) 130.

Ref:
Sayesta Bibi and ors. Vs. Juma Sha and ors. 42 DLR(AD)53—relied.

 

Section—4

Application
under section 4 of the Act can be invoked at any stage of the proceeding be.
for the preliminary decree.

Noorjahan
Akhter Vs A Motaleb & ors., 21 BLD (HCD) 130.

Ref:
AIR (1940) Romgoon 53; AIR (1953) Patna 344; 10 DLR (1958)3 18; 7 DLR
(Dhaka)945–Cited.

 

Section—4

The
word ‘family’ has not been defined in the Partition Act. The superior courts of
the sub-continent area of the consistent view that the word should be liberally
interpreted. In order to be a member of the family, there must be a blood
relationship. Section 4 makes a distinction between members of a family
undivided qua the property under partition and transferees who are not members
of such family. The words ‘such family’ in section 4 do not mean the ‘family’
already referred to in the section without the qualification ‘undivided’. A
transferee who is a descendant from a common ancestor of himself and the joint
family cannot merely for that reason be said to be a member of ‘such family’.
Where it appears from the evidence that co-sharers were not agnates or
cognates, they never lived together nor messed together, but were merely
brought close by marriage which did not integrate their families but helped
continue their separate identities, it cannot be held that there was any common
bond or cementing factor bringing them within the fold of an undivided :
family.

A
house which has not actually been used by an undivided family for a number of
years is not a dwelling house. The expression ‘dwelling house belonging to an
undivided family’ refers to a family dwelling house. It does not mean any house
or building for human dwelling belonging to an undivided family. A house which
is in the occupation of tenants cannot be said to be a family dwelling house.

Haripada
Saha v. Md. Shamsuddin Quraishi and others, 22 BLD (HCD) 16.

Ref:
AIR 1941 Patna4l9O;IC(1940) 117; 88C WN147; AIR 1953(Pat) 344; AIR 1950
(Cal)111; Cases cited but not relied on : 30 Indian Cases 936; 97 Indian Cases
416; AIR 1963(Cal)161; 58 CU 1974.

 

Partition Act, 1893

Partition Act, 1893 [IV of 1893]

Allotment of a Share
in respect bow of non contested defendant

As
defendant no. 17 never contested the suit nor prayer for any share, her
entitlement in the joint suit land could not be decided. Consequently, she did
not get any share declared in the joint property in the preliminary decree. So
the order of the appellate Court for allotment of a share to her and! or other
defendants beyond the terms of preliminary decree is wholly Misconceive and
baseless and arbitrary.

A. Ali  Sheikh & Anr Vs. K. Ali Sheikh & Ors.
11 BLT (HCD)-444

Whether in a Suit
for Simple Partition the court is debarred to decide question of title or
genuineness of a document, incidentally

When a
suit is based on joint ownership and enjoyment, a co-sheerer in possession is
always entitled to seek partition simplicitor without seeking any declaration
of his title. In deciding such suit, questions of title and nature of
particular transaction may come up for decision, incidentally and need to be
decided as incidental to adjudication of the shares of the co-owners.

Birendra Nath Mondal
& Ors Vs. Dulal Chandra Mondal & Ors 13BLT (HCD)10

Section-4

(a) “Dwelling house”
co-sharer’s attachment to ancestral house intention of the legislators to make
the provisions of S. 4 of the Partition Act

After
considering the modes of our people, the co-sharer’s attachment to their
ancestral house and their anxiety to preserve the purdah and privacy of the
members and inmates of the undivided dwelling house, the legislators made the
provisions of section 4 of the Partition Act. The expression a dwelling house
belonging to an undivided family is to be liberally construed. We have done so
in Sree Jugal Kishori Sarker Vs. Azizur Rahman & Ors. 40 DLR(AD) 150. A
co-sharer’s prayer to buy up a stranger-purchaser may not be refused on a
technical ground.

Syesta Bibi and
Other’s Vs. Juma Shah and Other’s 1BLT (AD)-34

(b) There is no time
limit for filing an application under section 4 of the Partition Act

The
appellate Court’s finding that “That suit land is no doubt a homestead, but is
not a dwelling house of an undivided family” is utterly Misconceived. In the
suit land an undivided dwelling house is situated. The defendant himself
claimed to be residing in a portion there. The suit property never lost its
character of an undivided homestead because there had admittedly been not
partition by metes and bounds by any previous arrangement. The impartible
character of the suit property remained undisturbed when the suit was filed in
1962. There is no time limit for filing an application under section 4 of the
Partition Act. In the instant case, the plaintiffs claim cannot be called sale.

Syesta Bibi and
Other’s Vs. Juma Shah and Ors. 1BLT (AD)-34

(c) To buy-out a
stranger purchaser-Inordinate delay in filing application under S-4 of
Partition Act from the date of purchase consequences— What involves a kind of
forced sale for the stranger purchaser

If an
application under section 4 of the Partition Act is filed to buy out a stranger
purchaser after an inordinate delay from the date of the purchase, then the
applicant himself may suffer. When an applicant’s prayer is allowed under
section 4 of the Partition Act, it involves a kind of forced sale for the
stranger purchaser. And hence, the court would, in equity, determine the
valuation of the transferred share on the date of the filing of the application
for permission to purchase the share of the stranger purchaser.

Syesta Bibi and
Others Vs. Juma Shah and Others. 1BLT (AD)-34

Section-4

Partition
suit by transferee of share in dwelling house —the plaintiff petitioner is in
possession of .5612 acres of land in ejmali by registered kabala, filed the
present partition suit —opposite party No. 1 as defendant No.1 contested the
suit, contending inter alia that he has been possessing the suit land as
cosharer and suit land being dwelling house that the defendant is ready to
purchase the share of the plaintiff-petitioner. The learned trial court decreed
the suit in part with direction that the ‘defendant may purchase .04 decimals
of homestead having the dwelling hut and courtyard on it and the plaintiff will
get .5212 decimals of land out of the jote — the lower appellate court
reversing the judgment and decree of the trial court in the manner and on the
finding that the plaintiff is a stranger in the suit land, if plaintiff is allotted
shaham in the ejmali homestead and ejmali tank the members of the Hindu family
cannot conveniently use the homestead and the tank which is a cartilage of
their dwelling house, trial court ought to have allowed pre-emption in favour
of the contesting defendant No. 1 in full—Held: It appears that the appellate
court while reversing arrived at its own independent findings on the issues
involved in the case rule is therefore discharged.

Hafizuddin Bepari
Vs. Nepal Chandra Das & Ors. 4BLT (HCD)-109

Section-4

Delivery of
possession by the Advocate Commissioner

The
Advocate Commissioner while delivering possession to the parties in a partition
suit shall abide by the final decree and not by the preliminary decree.

Md. Shahjalal &
Ors Vs. Sultan Gazi & Ors. 6BLT (AD)-233

Section-4

Applicability—The
Kha schedule property may be a dwelling house but it was not under direct
occupation of the plaintiff and defendant No. 1 and the plaintiff was not
residing in that house when the suit for partition was filed and there is no
evidence that the undivided family occupied Kha schedule property—we hold that
Section 4 of the Partition Act has no manner of application in the present
case.

Bina Roy Chowdhury
Vs. Amullya Roy Chowdhury & Ors. 7BLT (HCD)-80

Exceptions; When all property need not be
included

The
general rule that a partition suit should embrace all the joint properties of
the parties concerned is indeed a rule of convenience. If properties are left
out in a partition suit it brooks further litigation. It is true that this rule
is relaxable. But there are specific situations calling for relaxation. They
are generally (a) where different portions of the property lie in different
jurisdictions, or (b) when some portion of the property is at the time
incapable of partition, or (c) when the property from its nature is impartible,
or (d) when property is held jointly with strangers who cannot be joined as
parties to a general suit for partition, or (e) where cotenants, by mutual
agreement, decide to make partition of a part of the joint property retaining
the rest in common.

Nurul Afsar Vs
Rafiqul Ahmed 7BLT (AD)-335

Section-4

Decrees never put into execution within 12 years.

Decree
in partition suit of I 1 6, appears that the decree in Title Suit No. 167 of
l9I was never put into execution within 12 years and as such the decree holder
plaintiff including plaintiff nos. 4 and 5 (Safunnessa and Jahra Bibi) could
not get into possession in the decreetal land particularly in ‘Cha and Tha’ of
the schedule upon evicting the defendants including the sons of Moinuddin
Kochwan, the defendant no. 21, the substituted heirs of defendant no. 21-Kha
Abdus Sattar, the predecessor-in-interest of defendant nos. 6-9 and Abdul
Halim, the substituted defendant no. 21-Ga, the predecessor-in-interest of
defendant nos. 1-5, the transferors of the defendant nos. 10-17.

Sahani Bibi &
Ors. Vs. Nurul Islam & Ors 12 BLT (AD)-11

Section—4

It is
proved beyond doubt the homestead upon the plot No.2523 and the land of plot
No.2525 are the part and parcel of the ancestral homestead of the plaintiff and
as well as of the defendant No.2 and they’re having been no partition by metes
and bounds and the defendant No.1 being an outsider and being not a member of
the plaintiffs family, the land purchased by him comes within the Mischief of
section 4 of the Partition Act.

Surajit Kumar Das & Ors. Vs. Jahanara
Hossain & Ors 14 BLT (HCD)383

Section-4 read with Specific Relief Act, 1877 Section-42

A
complicated question of title is involved in the suit which cannot be settled
in a simple suit for partition without claiming declaration of title.

Jotimoy Datta &
Ors Vs Mritunjoy Datta @ Palash & Ors 16 BLT (HCD)446



Civil Justice in respect of Partition

In a
partition suit the rights of the parties are finally determined in the
preliminary decree by which specific sahams are allotted. The final decree is
just a follow-up of the preliminary decree whereby actual partition of the
ejmali property is effected through the Court in execution of the preliminary
decree. In effecting partition by metes and bounds the existing possession of
the parties is usually maintained as for practicable and in so far it is not
inconsistent with the decree. Possession or no possession in a particular plot
or plots of an ejmali property cannot therefore, be a ground to refuse a decree
for partition once the plaintiffs title and possession is found in any portion
of the suit property.

Md. Azimuddin
Talukder & Ors. Vs. Md. Abdul Mannan Talukder & Ors. 7BLT (HCD)-43

Principle—Partition Suit

The
cause of action for a partition suit being recurring one the dismissal of a
partition suit for default does not bar again a suit for partition.

Abdul Jabbar Vs
Sultan Mia & Ors. 2BLT (HCD)-139

Patent and Designs Act, 1911 Section-51A(1)(a)

When a
design is registered prima facie it is presumed to be new and original. But
entry in the register is not conclusive thereof and the presumption is
rebuttable one. We have examined the sample, compared them and looked at their
design as a whole and found that the design of the respondent is nothing but an
imitation of the petitioner’s design. So, the design of respondent No.1 is not
a new or original one. The respondent’s design is, therefore, liable to be
called on all the grounds stated in Section 51A(1)(a) of the Act.

Mr. Yar Mohammad Vs.
Mr. Satadal Dhali 9 BLT(HCD)-31

Section-51A

Has no locus
standi-in the instant case the petitioner has utterly failed to show how he is
an interested person in respect of a design relating to cycle and rickshaw
parts inasmuch as he has failed to bring home his claim that he is a dealer of
those parts or that at any point of time he manufactured them. In that view of
the matter it appears that he has failed to fulfill the condition precedent for
filing an application under section 51 of the Act. Moreover, on a perusal of
the materials on record it appears that it has been finally established that
the registered design bearing No.01010, dated 12.8.92 is a new and original
one-application is rejected.

Md. Shahidullah Vs.
Year Mohammad. 9BLT(HCD)-132

Section-51A(1)

It
appears that the design of the respondent No.1 substantially resembles with the
design of the petitioner, which is apparent in the neck eye. Therefore, it
appears that the respondent No.1 by suppressing the fact that a similar design
had already been registered as back as in 1994 obtained the registration of
their design by committing a fraud upon the Controller of Designs. It further
appears that the respondent No.2 also failed to discharge the legal duties cast
upon him and after proper scrutiny failed to discover the fact that the design
applied for already registered. Thus, the registration given by the respondent
No.2 in favour of the respondent No.1 being registration No.01638 dated 14.5.96
in class-I is neither a new nor an original design and it has previously been
published in Bangladesh and also registered by the petitioner in 1994. Thus the
registered design No.01638 dated 14.5.96 is class-I is liable to be cancelled.

Golam Rabbani
Chowdhury Vs. Md. Izzat Ali Khan & Anr. 9 BLT(HCD)-170.