Judgment

HEGDE, J.:- This is a plaintiffs appeal by certificate. The plaintiffs sued for possession of the properties described in Schs. I and IV of the plaint as reversioners of one V. Rm. Shanmugam Pillai who admittedly was the last male holder of those properties as well as several other properties. They also claimed past and future mesne profits in respect of those properties. Properties detailed in Sch. I were said to have been endowed for a charity by name Annadhana Chatram Charity. The plaintiffs claimed possession of those properties as "Huqdars". They claimed possession of Sch. IV properties as reversioners. The trial court decreed the plaintiffs claim in part. It gave a decree in favour of the plaintiffs in respect of plaint Sch. I properties but dismissed their claim regarding Plaint-Sch. IV properties. Both the parties appealed against the judgment and decree of the trail court. The High Court allowed the appeal of the defendants and dismissed that of the plaintiffs. In the result the entire suit was dismissed.

2. In order to examine the various contentions advanced at the hearing, it is necessary to state in brief various events that took place prior to the institution of the suit. One Ramalingam Pillai was the owner of a substantial part of the suit properties. He had a brother by name Kuppan Pilliai. Ramalingam Pillai s wife pre-deceased him. He had no children. Ramalingam Pillai and Kuppan Pillai had married sisters. Ramalingam Pillai died in 1898 but Kuppan Pillai had predeceased him. He had died in 1894, leaving behind him his two daughters Palani Achi Ammal and Pichai Ammal. Kuppan Pillai s wife had also predeceased Ramalingam Pillai. Ramalingam Pillai had brought up his brother s daughters Palani Achi Ammal and Pichai Ammal as his foster daughters. Before his death, Ramalingam Pillai had got married Palani Achi Ammal to V. Rm. Shanmugam Pillai, his maternal uncle s son by his first wife. The said Shanmugam Pillai was associated with Ramalingam Pillai in his business. On September 29, 1898 Ramalingam Pillai executed a settlement deed (Ex. A-2) settling his properties principally on Palani Achi Ammal, Pichai Ammal and Shanmugam Pillai. Under that deed, he gave some properties to his deceased wife s sister s son, Subramania Pillai. Subramania Pillai was the son of Chitravadavammal, sister of the wives of Ramalingam Pillai and Kuppan Pillai. Under Ex. A-2 Plaint-Sch. I properties except item No. 4, were set apart for charities which Ramalingam Pillai was carrying on. Under that document Shanmugam Pillai was declared "Huqdars" of the aforementioned Annadhana charity. The Huqdarship was to be hereditary in the family of Shanmugam Pillai. Ramalingam died very soon after executing Ex. A-2. After the death of Ramalingam Pillai, Shanmugam Pillai took as his second wife Pichai Ammal, the sister of his first wife Palani Acchi Ammal. While managing the Annadhana Charities, Shanmugam Pillai acquired item No. 4 of Sch. I. and treated that property as that of the Charity. Shanmugam Pillai had no issues. He had executed a will on December 19, 1926. It was a registered will. That will he revoked on December 29, 1926. He died on December 31, 1926. After his death, his widows put forward another will said to have been executed by him on December 30, 1926 under which substantial bequests were made to Shanmugam Pillai known as Vendor Shanmugam Pillai, the step brother of V. Rm. Shanmugam Pillai as well as to his step sisters Irulammai and her husband Subramania Pillai.

3. On September 29, 1898, the widows of V. Rm. Shanmugam Pillai and Vendor Shanmugam Pillai, his sister Irulammai and her husband Subramania Pillai entered into a registered agreement styled as "agreement of peaceful settlement". This document is marked as Ex. B-2. To that document Vendor Shanmugam Pillai s sons, the present plaintiffs 1 and 2 were also parties. At that time, they were minors. They were represented by their father Vendor Shanmugam Pillai. Ex. A-2 p