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2006 Supreme(AP) 424

2007 (2) ALD 643
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD
C.Y. SOMAYAJULU, J.
Shaik Mastan and others - - Appellants
Versus
Karempudi Dharma Rao and others - - Respondents
AS No.939 of 1990
Decided on : 26th March, 2006
Advocates appeared:
M Chandrarhekara Rao, Advocate for the Appellants;
T.S. Anand. Advocate for the Respondents.

Headnote:

Evidence Act, 1872 – Section 92 – Indian Contract Act, 1872 – Section 15 – Negotiable Instruments Act – Section 118 – Limitation Act, 1963 – Article 21 – Case, in brief, of the plaintiff is that wife of first defendar and mother of Defendants 2 to 6, was owner of Ac.1.25 cents of wet land situate of Village She agreed to sell the suit land to him for per acre and received as advance and executed an agreement of sale in his on and put him in possession thereof said agreement was attested by the first defendant. As per the terms of said agreement he has to discharge the debts due from deceased to third parties mentioned therein – So, he discharged those debts and is always ready and willing to perform his part of contract – Since the deceased died without executing sale deed in he got issued a registered notice to the defendants to execute and register the sale deed in respect of the suit land in his for which Defendants 2 to 4 sent a reply through their advocate denying the agreement. Later all the defendants approached him and sought time to execute and register sale deed and made an endorsement on reverse of agreement but failed to do so – Held, Contention of learned Counsel for the defendants is that since boundaries of the suit land show that it covers entire extent of land covered by EX.B 11 to B 15, which is betwixt land purchased by deceased under EX.B 11 and EX.B 13, it is clear that the deceased does not have title to entire suit land and so plaintiff is not entitled to the relief of specific performance. I find no force in the said contention. As stated earlier, defendants are but the legal representatives of the deceased. It is well known that the legal representatives of a person cannot take a plea which could not open to the party, whose estate they are representing – Apart in a suit for specific performance by the vendee, the vendor cannot take a defence that he has no title to the property agreed to be sold – So fact that the suit land comprises of land, which in fact does not belong to deceased is not of any consequence – This apart the rule is that nobody can convey a better title than what he has. If deceased was not the owner of the entire suit land and was the owner of only a part of it, plaintiff would get title only to that part over which the deceased had title but not to that part over which she had no title – So defendants cannot have any grievance –Appeal is dismissed.

JUDGMENT :-Defendants in a suit for specific performance are the appellant. For the sake of convenience parties to the appeal would hereinafter be referred to as they are arrayed in the trial Court.

2. The case, in brief, of the plaintiff is that Khasimbi (hereinafter referred to as the deceased), i.e., wife of first defendar and mother of Defendants 2 to 6, was the owner of Ac.1.25 cents of wet land situate in R.S. Nos.114/2 and 115/2 of Gollapud Village (hereinafter referred to as the suit land). She agreed to sell the suit land to him for Rs.30,000/-, at the rate of Rs.21,000/- per acre and received Rs. 1,000/ as advance and executed an agreement of sale in his favour on 4-6- I 976 and put him in possession thereof. The said agreement was attested by the first defendant. As per the terms of the said agreement, he has to discharge the debts due from the deceased to third parties mentioned therein. So, he discharged those debts and is always ready and willing to perform his part of the contract. Since the deceased died without executing the sale deed in his favour, he got issued a registered notice to the defendants to execute and register the sale deed in respect of the suit land in his favour for which Defendants 2 to 4 sent a reply through their advocate denying the agreement. Later all the defendants approached him and sought time to execute and register the sale deed, and made an endorsement on the reverse of the agreement on 2-6-1979, but failed to do so.

3. First and second defendants filed separate written statements. First defendant also filed additional written statement after obtaining leave from the Court. Third defendant filed a memo adopting the additional written statement of the first defendant. The case, in brief, of the first defendant is that the agreement of sale relied on by the plaintiff is not binding on him and the other defendants as it was it obtained by taking advantage of his illiteracy and the inexperience of the deceased. Plaintiff, who used to lend money to him and the deceased, was obtaining promissory notes in the names of his nominees for higher amounts than that were lent, and gave pressure to discharge those debts, with a view to coerce him and the deceased to sell away the suit land to him, and had, with that intention, filed O.S. No.538 of 1976 in the name of his nominee brother Venkata Rathaiah, and got the properties of the deceased attached before judgment. When the deceased questioned the plaintiff about that abrupt action, he suggested to the deceased to keep her documents of title as security for the amount due from her, and told her that she need not appear in the suit filed against her. Succumbing to the mechanizations of the plaintiff, the deceased, who was sick, gave her original title deeds dated 24-6-1946 and 24-4-1950 to the plaintiff. At that time she was made to sign a document in the house of the Village Karanam on 4-6-1976 at 7.30 or 8 p.m., by dominating her will, with his attestation thereon, without reading over or explaining the contents therein to them. The deceased cannot read or write Telugu language but can only sign in Urdu, and so under an impression that that document was mortgaged by deposit of title deeds, they affixed their signature and thumb mark therein. In fact, no amount was paid either to him or to the deceased at that time, nor was the possession of the suit land delivered to the plaintiff on that day. Plaintiff forcibly entered into possession of the suit land. Assuming that O.S. No.538 of 1976 would be withdrawn as per the assurance given by the plaintiff, the deceased did not appear in that suit, and came to know later that the said suit was decreed ex parte. Extent of land mentioned in the schedule appended to the agreement does not tally with the extent of land purchased by the deceased, because Ac.0.28 4/5 cents purchased by him and his brothers from Md. Akbar intervenes the land in R.S. No.115/2 and 114/2 purchased by the deceased. Since the dece












































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