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In Pratab Singh v. Bhabuti Singh,(1) the appellants sued for a declaration that a compromise of certain preemption suits and decrees passed thereunder made on their behalf when they were (1) 26 I.A. 16. (2) 40 I.A. 182.

minors were not binding on them, having been obtained by fraud and in proceedings in which they were practically unrepresented. The Subordinate Judge having decreed the suit on appeal the memo bers of the Court of the Judicial Commissioner differed upon the question whether the declaration sought should be refused as a matter of discretion under S. 42 of the Specific Relief Act. Before the Judicial Committee it was contended for the, respondent that the suit having been filed for the purpose of obtaining a declaratory decree only was bad in form inasmuch as it did not pray that the decree should be set aside; but that, assuming that it was rightly framed in asking only for a declaratory decree, the Court had a discretion as to the granting or refusing such a declaration. The Judicial Committee observed that S. 42 of the Specific Relief Act did not apply to the case and that it was not a question of exercising a discretion under that section; and they gave to the appellant a decree setting aside the decree complained of and declaring that the agreement of compromise and the decree complained of were not binding upon the appellants or either of them and that they were entitled to such rights as they had before the suit was dismissed on December 15, 1899. It appears to us that a decree of the character which has been sought by the plaintiff in this case is not one as to which the additional powers conferred by the Act of 1852 were required I by the Court of Chancery. The injury complained of was that the Court has, by recording the compromise in O.P. no. 3 of 1950, deprived the deity of its present title to certain trust properties. The relieve which the plaintiff seeks is for a declaration that the compromise decree was null and void and if such a declaration is granted the deity will be restored to its present rights in the trust properties. A declaration of this character, namely, that the compromise decree is not binding upon the deity is in itself a substantial relief and has immediate coercive effect. A declaration of this kind was the subject matter of appeal in Fischer v. Secretary of State for India in commercil(1) and falls outside the purview of s. 42 of the Specific Relief Act and will be governed by the general provisions of the Civil Procedure Code like S. 9 or 0. 7, r. 7.