JANAMMA PILLAI Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) These two appeals arise out of Land Acquisition Reference No. 85 of 1965 on the file of the Second Additional Sub Court, Trivandrum. Plaintiffs 12 to 18 are the appellants in A. S. No. 596 of 1969, and plaintiffs 4 to 6 are the appellants in A. S. No. 607 of 1969. The reference before the learned Subordinate Judge was under S.20 and 32 of the Land Acquisition Act for enhancement and apportionment of the compensation awarded by the Land Acquisition Officer in respect of land, 5.51 acres in extent, comprised in Sy. No. 2621/62 of Kadakompally Village, acquired for the purpose of Rocket Launching Station. The appeals, however, are confined to that part of the judgment which relates to the apportionment of the compensation amount.

(2.) These appeals happened to be placed before us on a reference by Gopalan Nambiyar and George Vadakkel JJ., who expressed a doubt whether the legal position in regard to the incidents of a Makkathayam gift in the erstwhile Travancore is as stated in Ext. P3 judgment relied on by the court below. The observation on this point in Ext. P3 judgment of a Division Bench of this Court, in the constitution of which Bench one among us (Govindan Nair J. as he then was) was a party, reads as follows:

(3.) The law in Travancore appears to have always been that there arises a presumption that a ' Makkathayam gift made by a Marumakkathayee father is for the benefit of all his children. In Mariamma Rachel v. Narayana Pillai 2 TLJ 15 the observation is: