Judgement

Appeal (No. 25 of 1944) from a judgment and decree of the High Court (July 15, 1942) which allowed in part an appeal from, and modified a judgment and decree of, the Court of the Subordinate Judge of Gurdaspur (March 3, 1941).

The following facts are taken from the judgment of the Judicial Committee It was common ground that before 1934 the appellant and respondent, who were full brothers, their father Bhodu Shah, and their step brother Wadhawa Mal had formed a joint Hindu family, and that in 1932 Wadhawa Mal instituted a suit for partition. On December 27, 1934, Bhodu Shah having died during the pendency of the suit, Wadhawa Mal on the one hand and the appellant and respondent on the other hand entered into a compromise whereby one-third of the family property was assigned to Wadhawa Mal and two-thirds to the appellant and respondent.

The suit in which this appeal arose was instituted by the appellant on December 21, 1939. In his plaint he alleged that after the partition of 1934 he and the respondent remained members of a joint Hindu family, the respondent, as the elder brother, being the Karta. The appellant claimed partition of the joint family property, possession of