VAKIL CHAND JAIN Vs. PRAKASH CHAND JAIN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) BY this judgment some of the preliminary issues framed in the present suit are dealt with.

(2.) THE Plaintiff and the Defendant are brothers. Their father late Shri Badri Nath Jain, along with their eldest brother Shri Tilak Chand Jain migrated to Delhi from Rawalpindi in 1947. It is stated that late Shri Badri Nath Jain deposited the valuables brought by him in a bank locker in the Charter Bank situated below Jain Sthanak in Chandni Chowk, Delhi in the name of the eldest brother Tilak Chand Jain. Thereafter the other members of the family, including the mother of the Plaintiff and the Defendant, the other brother Shri Nathu Ram Jain and their sister Satya Jain came to Delhi. According to the Plaintiff, he was the first member of the family to start earning. Subsequently, Tilak Chand Jain and Nathu Ram Jain also started earning. According to the Plaintiff, all the sons handed over to their respective incomes to their father because the family was a joint Hindu family.

(3.) IT is stated that in 1953 the eldest brother Tilak Chand lain was made a member of the Vardhman Co-Operative House Building Society ('Society') by the father of the parties for the purposes of obtaining a residential plot. The father late Shri Badri Nath Jain also paid for another plot in the Society. This amount was credited to the account of Tilak Chand Jain. It is stated that Badri Nath lain died of heart attack in February 1957 and till then the payments for the two plots in the Society were made by him. The family of the Plaintiff remained a joint one till the year 1962 when the Plaintiffs only sister got married. By then all the brothers were married. Since a three-room rented flat in which they were living was not considered adequate for all of them, a part of the family decided to move to a government flat and the mother of the parties i.e. wife of late Shri Badri Nath Jain, decided to effect an oral partition of the family properties. It is stated that she divided the household goods amongst the four sons and permitted them to keep their incomes with themselves after starting their separate kitchens. While Nathu Ram Jain along with Prakash Chand Jain (Defendant) moved to a government flat, Shri Tilak Chand Jain and Shri Vakil Chand Jain (Plaintiff) along with their mother remained in the old rented flat aid started two kitchens. It is claimed that the sister Satya Jain did not wish to take any share from the family assets. It is stated that in September 1963, the mother distributed the joint family assets except jewellery, among her four sons and also paid cash to the Defendant for his marriage expenditures.