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IN THE HIGH COURT OF MADRAS
R. Mahadevan, J.
B.K. Rangachari and others – Appellants
Versus
L.V. Mohan – Respondent
S.A. No. 1072 of 2006
Decided On : 03-03-2015

Advocates Appeared:
For the Appellant :Ragavachari, Advocate.
For the Respondent:R. Bharanidhasan for T. Shanmugam, Advocates.

Headnote:

Code Of Civil Procedure, 1908 - Section 100 - Transfer of Property Act, 1882 - Section 127 - Section 156 - Section 6 - Section 126 - Property - Settlement Deed - Sold Property - Possession Of Property - Suit was filed by plaintiffs contending that suit property was originally purchased by 3rd plaintiff in name of his son, defendant to make a responsible person and to improve his marriage prospects - Subsequently, an irrevocable settlement deed was executed by defendant in favour of 3rd plaintiff - 3rd plaintiff claimed to be in possession from date of settlement and commenced construction - Instigated by his wife and in-laws, defendant has cancelled settlement deed without consent and knowledge of 3rd plaintiff - Fact of cancellation came to knowledge of 3rd plaintiff only through notice sent by defendants lawyer - Subsequently, 3rd plaintiff has sold suit property in favour of 1st and 2nd plaintiffs and they were put in possession of suit property - Plaintiffs also contended that defendant and his henchmen tried to dispossess plaintiffs from suit property and hence suit was filed for bare injunction – Held, Only other property mentioned in settlement deed is subject matter - It has also been admitted by DW1, wife of defendant that suit property in this case was not included in suit for partition - Hence plea of defendant that sale is hit by lispendens cannot be accepted - It is also pertinent to point out that only half share in suit property was settled by defendant in favour of his wife - Despite, re-settlement, he has chosen to include one item of property in suit for partition - Be that as it may, defendant himself has in written statement and in plaint admitted that settlement was executed by him as 3rd plaintiff accepted to partition all joint family properties later - But no such condition is mentioned in settlement deed - No evidence to that effect was also produced before courts - As held above, defendant has in neither of suits pleaded that settlement deed was executed under any one of conditions and therefore title has passed on to 3rd plaintiff - Therefore, in view of decision of this court that cancellation deed is void and not binding on plaintiffs and failure to deliver possession would not invalidate settlement or validate cancellation deed, courts below erred in holding that 3rd plaintiff had no valid title – Appeal Allowed.

JUDGMENT :

R. Mahadevan, J.

This Appeal has been filed by the plaintiffs against the concurrent findings of the courts below rejecting the claim of the plaintiffs.

2. The brief facts of the case are as follows:

The suit was filed by the plaintiffs contending that the suit property was originally purchased by the 3rd plaintiff in the name of his son, the defendant in 1976 to make a responsible person and to improve his marriage prospects. Subsequently, an irrevocable settlement deed dated 09.09.1981 was executed by the defendant in favour of the 3rd plaintiff. The 3rd plaintiff claimed to be in possession from the date of settlement and commenced the construction. Instigated by his wife and in-laws, the defendant has cancelled the settlement deed on 21.01.1982 without the consent and knowledge of the 3rd plaintiff. The fact of cancellation came to the knowledge of the 3rd plaintiff only through the notice dated 30.12.1992 sent by the defendants lawyer. Subsequently on.19.01.1996, the 3rd plaintiff has sold the suit property in favour of the 1st and 2nd plaintiffs and they were put in possession of the suit property. The plaintiffs also contended that the defendant and his henchmen tried to dispossess the plaintiffs from the suit property and hence the suit was filed for bare injunction.

3. The defendant resisted the suit contending that the property was purchased out of his own funds and was always under his possession. The settlement deed was only sham and was never acted upon. Subsequent to the cancellation, the defendant had executed a settlement deed in favour of his wife and put up construction in the suit property. The defendant also contending that the suit property along with other properties were purchased and enjoyed as joint family properties filed a suit for partition in O.S No 225/1993. The defendant also contended that the sale deed executed in favour of the plaintiffs 1 and 2 was sham as the property worth more than Rs.1,00,000/- was alienated for just Rs.15,000/- and the same has been impounded by the registration authorities for insufficient stamps and the same is hit by the doctrine of lispendens and sought the dismissal of the suit.

4. Considering the oral as well as the documentary evidence, the suit was dismissed on 30.07.1998. As against the same, an appeal was filed by the plaintiffs before the Principal Subordinate court, Salem. Two interim applications for amending the plaint and letting in additional evidence were filed by the plaintiffs during the appeal. Both the applications were dismissed. As against the rejection of permission to amend the plaint, CRP No 2002/2001 was filed. The CRP was allowed by this Court without going into the merits granting liberty to the defendant to raise all the defence. Subsequently, the 3rd plaintiff passed away during the pendency of the appeal and his daughters were impleaded as appellants/plaintiffs 4 to 6 in the appeal. Again another application seems to have been filed by the plaintiffs seeking permission to adduce oral as well as documentary evidence after amendment and it was also rejected. After hearing the parties, the first appeal was also dismissed. Aggrieved the same, the present second appeal has been filed.

5. At the time of admission of this second appeal, the following substantial questions of law have been framed:

"(i) Whether the Courts below are right in upholding the cancellation of the settlement deed under Ex.B-3, when the power to revoke is not available to the defendant? and

(ii) When the defendant had admitted the title of the plaintiff and had instituted a suit for partition, whether the Courts below are right in holding that plaintiff No.3 has not title to the property?"

6. The counsel for the appellants assailing the judgment and decrees of the courts below contended that it is well settled preposition that a settlement deed cannot be revoked except with the intervention of the court and relied upon the judgments in 2004 (3) CTC 9 (Govindaraju v. Rath














































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