KAMALA DEVI Vs. BACHU LAL GUPTA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS is an appeal by special leave from the judgment and decree of the High Court of Calcutta, dated April 6, 1950, by which the said High Court affirmed the judgment and decree of the Subordinate Judge of Asansol dated June 30, 1943, in Title Suit No. 2 of 1942. The suit was instituted by the four sons of one Ram Kishori Lal Sao, a resident of Asansol in Bengal, who died in September 1927. One of the plaintiffs, Kalicharan, died during the pendency of the suit and his heirs were brought on the record as plaintiffs in his stead. The defendants were Sumitra Devi, widow of the late Ram Kishori Lal, (defendant No. 1) and Kamala Devi, daughter of the late Ram Kishori Lal (defendant No. 2). The said defendants, 1 and 2, are the appellants before us.

(2.) THE suit was instituted for a declaration that a deed of gift dated March 10, 1940, executed by Sumitra Devi in favour of her daughter Kamala Devi, was void and inoperative beyond the lifetime of Sumitra Devi and was not binding on the reversion. The following genealogical table shows the relation inter se between the parties : <FRM>JUDGEMENT_12_LAWS(SC)1_1957.htm</FRM>

(3.) THE marriage of Kamala Devi was settled with one Bijoy Kumar Sao, son of Nand Lal Sao, a retired Deputy Postmaster, Patna General Post Office. The case of the appellants was that the marriage was settled at Deoghar on Shivratri day in 1938 and the plaintiffs, respondents before us, had no concern with the negotiation; it was alleged that the terms of the marriage settlement included a promise by Sumitra Devi of a gift of four houses at Asansol, worth about Rs. 20,000 as marriage dowry for Kamala. The further case of the appellants was that at the time of the marriage itself, which was performed on May 10, 1938, Sumitra Devi made a "sankalpa" of the gift of four houses at Asansol, which was accepted by Nand Lal Sao on behalf of Kamala, and the gift was later confirmed on the occasion of the Dwiragaman (Gowna) ceremony which took place in December, 1938, and possession of the houses was also given to her; soon after the marriage, however, Sumitra Devi feel ill and the deed of gift was actually executed and registered on March 10, 1940, some two years after the marriage. This was the deed of gift which was impugned by the plaintiffs-respondents.