Starting point of right to sue for possession of estate from alienee.

Ramaswami Gounder, J. - A.S. No. 444 of 1951 arises out of a suit O.S. No. 48 of 1950 filed in the Additional Sub-Court, South Kanara, and the other appeal A.S. No. 144 of 1952, arises out of another suit, O.S. No. 172 of 1947, filed in the same Court. Both the appeals are preferred by the plaintiffs. The first three of the six plaintiffs in O.S. No. 172 of 1947 were the plaintiffs in O.S. No. 48 of 1950. Both the suits were filed to recover possession of the plaint-schedule properties together with mesne profits. The suit properties and other properties originally belonged to the family of one Somayya Karnika who had two wives. By the first wife, he had four sons, of whom the youngest was one Bhavani Rao, and who died, leaving a son by name Somayya. That son Somayya also died in January, 1892, leaving a widow, by name Lakshmi Amma. By the second wife, the said Somayya Karnika had three sons, one of whom was Ranga Rao. He died, leaving a son, by name Subba Rao, and the latter died, leaving five sons, Krishna Rao, Ranga Rao and plaintiffs 1 to 3 in both the suits; and Krishna Rao’s sons are plaintiffs 4, 5 and 6 in O.S. No. 172 of 1947. When this family remained joint, Bhavani Rao’s son, Somayya, who was then entitled to ¼th share in the family properties, conveyed his share under the sale deed, Exhibit A-1, in favour of his father-in-law, another Somayya Karnika, for Rs. 9,750. On the basis of that sale deed, the said Somayya Karnika as well as his son-in-law, Somayya, filed a suit O.S. No. 16 of 1887, for partition and separate possession of that share, as against the other members of the family; and that suit resulted in a compromise decree, Exhibit A-2, dated 4th October, 1887. In accordance with the final decree passed in that suit, the ¼th share was allocated and delivered possession of to Somayya Karnika. Subsequently, in 1891 and 1893, under two sale-deeds Exhibits A-3 and A-4, Somayya Karnika conveyed in favour of his daughter, Lakshmi Amma, all the properties which he got under the partition decree. Subsequently, Somayya Karnika died in 1893, leaving a will, by which he bequeathed all his properties to his daughter, Lakshmi Amma. She was thus in possession of these properties which pertained to the share of her husband, Somayya, but which he sold in favour of his father-in-law, Somayya Karnika who obtained possession thereof under the partition decree in O.S. No. 16 of 1887.

While Lakshmi Amma was thus in possession of the properties pertaining to her husband’s 1/4th share, but which she got from her father under the sale deeds, Exhibits A-3 and A-4, she alienated the properties comprised in both the present suits. Under Exhibit B-6, dated 12th July, 1906, she alienated all the 26 items comprised in O.S. No. 172 of 1947 for Rs. 1,150, in favour of one Subbayya Shetty as the Yajaman of an aliyasanthana kutumba. The members of that family, on his death, are now represented by defendants 1 to 9 in that suit, and defendants 10 to 17 are persons said to be in possession of those properties as the mulgeni tenants of defendants 1 to 9. As regards the properties comprised in O.S. No. 48 of 1950 Lakshmi Amma sold item 1 to one Devappa for Rs. 260, under the sale deed, Exhibit A-5, dated 20th November, 1903, and the first defendant in that suit is said to be the auction-purchaser of that item. As regards item 2, the said Lakshmi Amma conveyed the mulgeni rights therein under Exhibit A-8, dated 15th August, 1913, to one Damodara Bhatta, the father of defendants 6 and 7 in that suit, defendants 2 to 4 being alienees of that item. As regards item 3 of that suit, the mulgeni rights therein were conveyed by Lakshmi Amma in favour of defendant 5 in that suit. It is common ground that all those alienees are in possession of the various suit items as purchasers since the date of their respective purchases.

Subba Rao the son of Ranga Rao and the father of the present plaintiffs 1 to 3, as one of the reversioners to the estate of Lakshmi A

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