JUDGMENT

The plaintiff in O.S.No.1055 of 1985 on the file of the second Additional District Munsif, Nagercoil filed this second appeal.

2. The suit was one for partition. The suit schedule comprises two items. Item No.1 originally belonged to Rama Lakshmi and devolved on her daughter Deivanai and then on her daughter Saraswathi. The suit item No.2 originally belonged to Sivarama Krishnan and later devolved on his son Palaniyandi. Saraswathy and Palaniyandi got married to each other and through the said wedlock, one Kulalamani was born. Kulalamani got married to Sivasooriyan. The genealogy is as under:-

Ramalakshmi (daughter)

Deivanai Sivaramakrishnan (daughter) Son Saraswathy - Palaniyandi (daughter)

Kulalamani – Sivasooriyan Vairavan D1/R2(dead) Nagarammal D2 (dead) Saraswathy D3(dead) Shankaran Vairavan D1/R2 (dead)

Gomathi R13-Subramanian Valliammal R14-Ramachandran Kamalam Nagendran R12 (died)

D9 (D.W.3) / R1 D8 (D.W.2)/R7 R15 -(P.W.1)Anna Poorani (Plaintiff)

Nagalatha -R20(died) Arul Chandar(R21) -Rajaram (originally R22) Now Appellant(transposed)

Now R21 Karthick (originally R23)

Now R22 Nagarammal D2 (died)

Subramanian D9 (D.W.3)/R1 Vaidyalingam (dead)R8 - Krishnammal R16 Shankari R17 Saraswathy D3 (died)

Annapoorani (P1)-Nagendran (died)

Shankaran Valliammal 1st Wife Kulalamani D4/R3 no issues Nagarajan Rajamani Gandhibai D5 (died) D6(died) R5 D7/R6 -Kamala R18 - Kalavathi (R9)

Shankar R19 Vasanthi R10 Sathish Kumar R11

3. It can be seen from the genealogy that Kulalamani and Sivasooriyan had two sons and two daughters. The plaintiff Annapoorani was born to Saraswathy. Her case was that Kulalamani died in the year 1959 intestate. Therefore, each of the four branches got 1/4th undivided share in both the suit items. But elder son Vairavan had sold the entire suit item No.2 in favour of his son-in-law Ramachandran/D8. In the same manner, the legal representatives of Shankaran who had pre-deceased Kulalamani wrongly sold the suit item No.1 in favour of the 9th defendant Subramaniam. Therefore, apart from seeking partition of her 1/4th share in these two suit items, the plaintiff Annapoorani also sought declaration that both the sale deeds namely Ex.A7 and Ex.A8 should be declared as null and void. Saraswathy one of the daughters of Kulalamani executed settlement deed Ex.A1 dated 07.03.1985 in favour of the plaintiff. Based on the said deed of settlement, the plaintiff filed the said suit seeking the relief of partition and for nullifying the aforesaid two sale deeds. Most of the defendants filed written statements controverting the plaint averments. D8 Ramachandran in his written statement took the stand that Saraswathy died on 25.01.1956 and not in the year 1959 as claimed by the plaintiff. Based on the divergent pleadings, the trial court framed as many as 12 issues. One of the issues was whether Kulalamani died in the year 1959. The plaintiff's husband Nagendran was examined as P.W.1. Ex.A1 to Ex.A53 were marked. On the side of the defendants, D6, D8 and D9 examined themselves as D.W.1 to D.W.3. Ex.B1 to Ex.B14 were marked. After a consideration of the evidence on record, the trial court declared that the offending sale deeds namely Ex.A7 and Ex.A8 are null and void. Preliminary decree was passed granting 1/4th share in the plaint schedule properties in favour of the plaintiff. Aggrieved by the same, the 9th defendant Subramanian filed A.S.No.91 of 2000 before the first Additional Sub Court, Nagercoil. It is seen that Vairavan, legal heirs of Shankaran and Ramachandran jointly filed A.S(SR)No.5604 of 2000 before the District Court. It appears that the said appeal was filed with delay. To condone the delay, I.A.No.81 of 2000 was filed. During its pendency, Vairavan had passed away and proper steps were not taken and the said proceedings got abated in due course. In the result, only the first appeal filed by Subramanian was there. The said first appeal was allowed by the impugned judgment and decree dated 28.03.2003 by the first appe