Judges : KUMARA PILLAI,T.K.JOSEPH
Janaki Amma - Appellant
Versus
Venkitasubba Iyer - Respondent
Case No : A. S. No. 43 of 1955 (T)
Decided On : 08/28/1957
Advocates Appeared :
T. K. Narayana Pillai; For Appellants N. Sankara Iyer; For Respondent
mortgages - suit for money due under four simple mortgages or hypothecation bonds - ancestral properties - possession and adverse possession - rights of the mortgagor and mortgagee - unnecessary party - charge on the right, title and interest of the mortgagor - reversal of findings and direction for adjudication in a properly framed suit
Fact of the Case:
The suit arose from a claim for money due under four simple mortgages or hypothecation bonds related to ancestral properties. The appeal related to a specific property, and the question raised was whether the appellant, defendant 19, was liable for the claim.
Finding of the Court:
The court found that defendant 19's possession was permissive and did not confer adverse possession rights. It also held that the mortgages were valid and binding on the half share of the property owned by the mortgagors. However, the court concluded that defendant 19 was an unnecessary party and her rights should be adjudicated in a properly framed suit.
Issues: The main issues revolved around the possession and adverse possession of the property, the validity of the mortgages, and the necessity of adjudicating defendant 19's rights in the current suit.
Ratio Decidendi: The court determined that the possession of defendant 19 was permissive and did not confer adverse possession rights. It also established that the mortgages were valid and binding on the half share of the property owned by the mortgagors. Additionally, the court concluded that defendant 19 was an unnecessary party and her rights should be adjudicated in a properly framed suit.
Final Decision: The court set aside the findings on defendant 19's contentions and left the questions arising on her rights for adjudication in a properly framed suit. It also directed that the sale of the property in execution of the decree would not affect defendant 19's rights. The lower court's decree was confirmed except as regards costs.
1. This Appeal arises out of a suit for money due under four simple mortgages or hypothecation bonds. There were ten items of properties in the plaint schedule, and the suit has been decreed as regards all of them. The appeal relates only to plaint schedule item 1, and the question raised by the appellant, defendant 19, who claims the said item by title paramount, is whether it is liable at all for the plaint claim.
Defendants 4 to 27 were impleaded in the suit on the allegation that they were living in the plaint properties and it was therefore necessary to have them on the party array in order to enable the plaintiff to get an effective decree.
2. According to the plaint allegations, plaint schedule items 1 to 10 were the ancestral properties of two brothers, Subramonia Pillai and Ponnuswami Pillai, both of whom are now dead. Ponnuswami Pillai was the elder of the two brothers and defendant 3 is his son. Defendants 1 and 2 are the widow and son of Subramonia Pillai. Two of the plaint mortgages, Exts. D and A, were executed by Subramonia Pillai, Ext. D on 10-4-1109 and Ext. A on 23-4-1110, and the remaining two, Exts. B and C, were executed after his death by defendants 1 and 2, Ext. B on 2-11-1113 and Ext. C on 16-8-1118. After the execution of Ext. A Subramonia Pillai filed a suit, O. S.81 of 1110 of the Trivandrum District Court, for partition and recovery of possession of his one-half share in plaint schedule items 1 to 10. While that suit was pending trial Subramonia Pillai died, and defendants 1 and 2 were impleaded therein as his legal representatives. By the decree Ext. E dated 21-6-1116 O. S.81 of 1110 was dismissed so far as plaint schedule items 2 to 10 were concerned and one-half of plaint schedule item 1 was given to defendants 1 and 2 (additional plaintiffs therein) on account of Subramonia Pillai's share in the ancestral properties. It was while an appeal against Ext. E decree filed by defendants 1 and 2 was pending in the High Court that the plaintiff brought the present suit, and he had mentioned in the plaint that the appeal of defendants 1 and 2 was pending in the High Court.
3. Defendant 19 disputed the plaintiff's right to get a decree charged on plaint schedule item 1. She contended that the said item belonged to her and that defendants 1, 2 and 3 and Subramonia Pillai and Ponnuswami Pillai had no right to it, and so the mortgages executed by Subramonia Pillai and defendants 1 and 2 were not binding and could not create any charge on it. According to her, her grand-mother Ama Parvathi, mother Parvathi Lakshmi, and herself had successively been in possession of the property for over 60 years and even if Subramonia Pillai and others had any right to it their rights have been extinguished by the long adverse possession of herself and her predecessors in interest. She also contended that the decree in O. S.81 of 1110 was a collusive one and that it was not binding on her as she was not a party thereto. In the plaint defendant 19 was described as a Vellala lady. She denied she was a Vellala and contended that she was a Nair. In a suit, O. S.1498 of 1093 of the Trivandrum District Munsiff's Court, filed by defendant 3's sister against defendant 3 and one Muniswami Mudaliar for recovery of possession of Ponnuswami Pillai's share in plaint schedule item 1 on the allegation that he had sold his share to defendant 3's sister and that Muniswami Mudaliar was in possession of the property under a lease from Ponnuswami Pillai, it had been found that Ponnuswami Pillai had leased the property to Muniswami Pillai and his wife Parvathi Lakshmi. Ext. F is the copy of the judgment in that suit. The suit itself was dismissed by Ext. F on the finding that the sale deed executed by Ponnuswami Pillai in favour of defendant 3's sister who was his daughter, was a sham document brought into existence for defeating his creditors and had not taken effect; and although in view of this finding and the dismissal of the suit it
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