Judgment

M. Jagannadha Rao, J.-Leave granted.

2. This appeal is preferred by the two appellants namely A.G. Varada­rajulu and Srimati V. Jayalakshmi who are respectively, husband and wife, against the order passed by the Tamilnadu Land Reforms Special Appellate Tribunal, Madras in TRP No. 82 of 1994 dated 25th April, 1995. The case arises under the Tamil Nadu Land Reforms (Fixation of Ceiling on Land) Act, 1961 (hereinafter called the Act)

3. The 1st appellant is the declarant. The 1st appellant’s plea is that land of an extent of acres 36.74 allotted in favour of his wife, the second appellant Smt. V. Jayalakshmi in a partition Deed dated 25.9.1970 executed between the appellants’ son. Bala­guruswamy and his wife should be excluded from his (the 1st appellant) holding as being ‘Stridhana land’ of his wife, within the meaning of the said expres­sion in Section 3(42) of the Act, to the extent permissible under Section 5(4) of the Act.

4. The following are the facts:

There was a partition deed between the first appellant and his son Balaguruswamy in the year 1959. Under the said document, each of them was allotted certain extent of the joint family property. On the basis that the wife of