DORAIRAJ Vs. DORAISAMY THROUGH LRS

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The present Civil Appeals arise out of a long-drawn family dispute concerning partition, and alienation of agricultural properties situated primarily in and around Perambalur Taluk, Tiruchirappalli District. The dispute pertain to 79 items of immovable properties, all of which are set out with survey numbers, extents, and boundaries in the plaint schedule consisting mainly of agricultural lands. At each stage of adjudication, the concerns have primarily pertained to the nature and character of the suit properties; the extent to which certain alienations are binding on the coparcenary; and the legal effect of an alleged testamentary disposition purported to have been executed shortly before the demise of the family patriarch. The litigation has resulted in concurrent findings of fact, subject to limited and item-specific modifications at the appellate stages.

(2.) The genealogy of the parties is admitted and forms the foundational backdrop of the lis. One Pallikoodathan was the common ancestor. He had three sons, namely Chidambaram, Sengan, and Natesan.

(3.) The suit for partition being O.S. No. 99 of 1987 was instituted by Duraisamy, seeking partition and possession of his one-fourth share in the suit schedule properties. The case was founded on the premise that the suit properties constituted joint Hindu family properties, either by reason of being ancestral in origin or by reason of having been acquired from the income derived from ancestral properties during the subsistence of the joint family. It was pleaded that the family remained joint in residence, cultivation, enjoyment, and management, and that there had never been any partition, either oral or written. As per the plaint, Sengan, being the senior-most male member, acted as the Karta of the Hindu joint family, and properties purchased in his name or in the names of other family members were, in substance, acquisitions made for and on behalf of the family.