A right granted to a widow to appropriate profits of a property for her maintenance, specifically denying the power to mortgage or transfer, constitutes an interest restricted in its enjoyment to the owner personally under Section 6(d) of the Transfer of Property Act, 1882, and is non-transferable.

Sir George Rankin:-

Narbadeshwar Sahai, a Hindu governed by the Mitakshara, died on 28th August 1926. He had been married three times and had a son by each wife. His eldest son was Ram Nandan, his second son was Lachhmeshwar, the plaintiff-appellant: his third son Sumeshwar was born in 1924. The defendant-respondent Mt. Moti Rani Kunwar was his third wife and was the mother of Sumeshwar. The suit out of which this appeal arises was brought by Lachhmeshwar against his step-mother in the Court of the Subordinate Judge of Bareilly on 22nd May 1931. It was a suit for the enforcement by sale of two mortgages dated 18th September 1926 and 20th September 1929.

The deed of 18th September 1926 was executed by the respondent within a month of her husband's death. It was for Rupees 5000, of which only Rs. 545 was advanced at the time, the balance being set-off against four sums of Rs. 2565, Rs. 1292, Rs. 448 and Rs. 150. The last mentioned sum (Rs. 150) was not in fact advanced and no claim is made in respect of it. The sums of Rs. 1292 and Rs. 448 were described as due for principal and interest on two promissory notes and a bond executed by Narbadeshwar. The sum of Rs. 2565 was described as due on the basis of a mortgage deed dated 23rd December 1925. For this sum, a suit had been brought by the present appellant against Narbadeshwar and his wife and after his death in August 1926, the suit was by consent dismissed on 30th November upon the widow executing the mortgage of 18th September 1926.

The second of the mortgages now sought to be enforced was dated 20th September 1929, and was for Rs. 4000 borrowed by the respondent to pay her husband's debts. The properties mortgaged by the two deeds of 18th September 1926 and 20th September 1929, were different zamindari properties, but the respondent had derived title to them in the same way-viz., under a deed of partition dated 20th January 1925, which had been embodied in a compromise decree dated 27th March 1925. The first question which arises upon this appeal is whether the respondent's interest under this compromise was a transferable interest.

In 1921 Ram Nandan, the eldest son, had brought a partition suit and by the decree dated 9th August 1922, his four annas share had been separated; his father and brother being also held entitled each to a four annas share and the respondent being given a four annas share for her life as was her right upon a partition between her husband and sons. The appellant, the second son, brought a similar suit in 1923 for four annas out of the remaining 12 annas. After the birth of the third son, Sumeshwar, in 1924, the whole matter of the family property was referred to arbitration and the partition deed of 20th January 1925 was entered into by Narbadeshwar, his wife and his three sons (together with Ram Nandan's wife who claimed certain rights by transfer from her husband). The effect of the deed was that the respondent relinquished the four annas share which she had obtained under the decree of 9th August 1922; that to Narbadeshwar and each of his three sons a four annas share was allotted in severalty; and that the respondent was given an interest after her husband's death in the four annas share which her husband took under this arrangement. The passage in the deed runs as follows :

I Bahuria Moti Rani Kunwar, party No. 4, have relinquished my claim in respect of my four anna share mentioned in the decree, dated 9th August 1922, in which I have a life-interest, but we, Babu Narbadeshwar Sahai, Babu Lachhmeshwar Sahai, Babu Ram Nandan Sahai and Dulhin Sarjug Debi, covenant that after the death of me, Babu Narbadeshwar Sahai, my four anna share shall remain in possession and occupation of Bahuria Moti Rani Kunwar, party No. 4, up to her lifetime with life-interest, that up to her lifetime Bahuria Moti Rani Kunwar shall have a right to appropriate the profits therefrom after paying the Government revenue and the other Government dues, without a power of making