THE HON’BLE SMT. JUSTICE TIRUMALA DEVI EADA CITY CIVIL COURT APPEAL No.27 OF 2019

JUDGMENT:

This is an appeal filed by the appellants, being aggrieved by the judgment and decree, dated 28.11.2018 passed in O.S.No.201 of 2013 by the learned XII Additional Chief Judge, City Civil Court, Secunderabad (for short “the trial Court”).

2. The appellants herein are the defendants 2 and 3, the respondent No.1 is the plaintiff and respondent Nos.2 and 3 are the defendant Nos.1 and 4 before the trial Court. The parties herein are referred to as they were arrayed in the suit before the trial Court for the sake of convenience and clarity.

3. The case of the plaintiff before the trial Court is that the suit schedule property bearing No.5365/A (old) corresponding to Municipal No.9-3-562 (new), situated at Regimental Bazar, Secunderabad, belongs to Kundan Bai W/o. Sitaram and that plaintiff’s elder sister by name Kovvuri Saraswathi Bai was the tenant of the said house for a long time and she developed a close friendship with Kundan Bai. It is further averred that in 1966, when Kundan Bai intended to sell the suit schedule property, the plaintiff agreed to purchase the same. It is his case that as Kundan Bai expressed doubt that the plaintiff may dislodge her friend Sarawathi Bai from the house after purchasing the house, the plaintiff has consented to purchase the property in the name of Kovvuri Saraswati Bai as 1^st purchaser and Butchamma (mother of the plaintiff) as 2^nd purchaser. Accordingly, a registered sale deed was executed on 12.09.1966 for which the sale consideration was paid by the plaintiff. It is his case that he paid an advance sale consideration of Rs.500/- to Kundan Bai and the balance amount of Rs.1500/- was paid by the plaintiff to Kundan Bai in the presence of Sub-Registrar, Secunderabad and that subsequently, on 29.11.1966 Kovvuri Saraswati executed a release deed in favour of Butchamma and recorded that she is a benami and that she did not pay the sale consideration for purchase of the suit house. Kovvuri Saraswati and her husband Shankaraiah had been the tenants of Butchamma as per the Rental Agreement dated 08.05.1972. It is his case that in the year 1986, the younger brother of plaintiff namely U.Prahalad filed a suit in O.S.No.319 of 1986 on the file of III Senior Civil Judge, City Civil Court, Secunderabad for partition of properties including the suit schedule property herein and that Kovvuri Saraswati was also impleaded as 7^th defendant in the said suit. In the said suit also, K.Saraswati has claimed her half share as a legal heir of Butchamma but has never raised a contention that she was the purchaser under the sale deed and in the judgment delivered in O.S.No.319 of 1986 it was observed that the suit schedule property herein was purchased by him. Item No.1 of the said suit is a subject matter of the present suit. It is further averred that Kovvuri Saraswati Bai never had any title over the suit schedule property and that she passed away on 01.02.2006 leaving her daughter Kasturi and her son Eshwar Rao (1st defendant) and that her husband pre-deceased her. It is his case that Saraswati Bai was paying rent to the plaintiff @ Rs.50/- per month initially and that plaintiff got issued notices to Saraswati Bai on three occasions i.e. on 02.03.1988, 20.07.1988 and 22.08.1988 demanding her to clear the arrears of rent. The plaintiff also has not taken any harsh steps against her for non-payment of rents on regular basis. After the death of Saraswati Bai, the 1^st defendant who is the son of Saraswati Bai has locked the house and when the plaintiff protested, he inducted Jayasree who is the daughter of his sister Kasturi. It is his case that a preliminary decree was passed in O.S.No.319 of 1986 holding that the plaintiff was the sole and absolute owner of the suit house and that before filing a final decree petition, his brother U.Prahalad died on 10.02.2009. Another younger brother U.Venkateshwar Prahlad has unlawfully sol