[The suit was by the widow of a coparcener who died in 1938 under the Hindu Woman’s Right to Property Act for a partition of the properties alleged to belong to the joint family and for incidental reliefs. On appeal from the preliminary decree the High Court held that the plaintiff was entitled to a share in the non-agricultural properties of the joint family. In pursuance of the preliminary decree as thus modified by the High Court there were further proceedings by way of division of immoveables and taking of accounts and a final decree was eventually passed. On appeal against that decree the defendants attacked certain items which formed part of the account taking. The judgment of the High Court dealt with those items seriatim. Surcharge item 5 alone is relevant for the purposes of this report and the portion of the judgment dealing with it is as follows:

Surcharge item No. 5:

The next item relates to insurance policies taken in the name of the members of the family. They are as follows:

(1) a policy in the name of Venkataratnam for Rs. 6,000,

(2) A policy in the name of Venkatappiah for Rs. 5,000,

(3) and (4) Policies in the name of the first defendant for Rs. 2,000