Judgment

DAS GUPTA, J.: Thirteen-month old Bhakthavathsalam brought this suit for partition on a claim that on his birth he became a member of the joint Hindu family which his father V. R. Sadagopa Naidu, the first defendant, in the suit, formed with the other nine persons impleaded as defendants 2 to 10. His case is that Padmavathi and Sadagopa were validly married on June 24, 1948 and of that marriage he was born. The main contention of the contesting defendants is that there was never any marriage of Padmavathi and Sadagopa and that Bhakthavathsalam is not Sadagopa s son.

2. On both these points the Trial Court found the plaintiff s case proved and rejected the defence pleas. At the trial a further point was raised that even if any marriage between Padmavathi and Sadagopa did take place that was not a valid marriage as Padmavathi was a Brahmin girl and Sadagopa a Shudra. The Trial Court was of opinion that Padmavathi was a Brahmin, and as admittedly Sadagopa was a Shudra, the marriage would be invalid according to the Hindu law as it stood before the Hindu Marriages Validity Act, 1949. It held however that the position had been entirely changed by S. 3 of this Act and that even if