KRISHNA PILLAI RAGHAVAN PILLAI Vs. KARTHIAYANI AMMA SARASAMMA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) We think that the first Court was right in dismissing the respondent plaintiff's suit in the view that it was barred by res judicata and that the lower appellate Court was wrong in decreeing it in the view that it was not so barred,

(2.) The five items of property in suit admittedly belonged to a Nayar joint family (governed by the Travancore Nayar Act) known as the Akkaravaram family and were, along with the other properties of the family, in the possession of its Karanavan, Velayudhan, until his death in 1103 M. E. (1927-28 A. D.). Plaintiffs 1 and 2 are the daughters of the 18th defendant, Karthiayani by name; plaintiffs 3 to 6 are the minor children of the 1st plaintiff; and the 7th plaintiff is the minor daughter of the 2nd plaintiff. It is their case that the 18th defendant's mother, Lakshmi, was a sister of Velayudhan. Velayudhan had another sister by name Narayani, and he and the Vazhees of these two sisters constituted the Akkaravaram joint family to which the suit properties belonged. Soon after Velayudhan's death, there was a partition in this joint family by means of Ext. IV dated 10-11-1103 (23-6-1928) and, in this partition, the suit properties were allotted to the 18th defendant's thavazhee, then consisting of herself and her minor daughter, the 1st plaintiff. Velayudhan's son, the 1st defendant, however, managed to obtain possession of the properties and hence this suit for a declaration of the plaintiffs' title, for possession and for other reliefs.

(3.) According to defendants 1, and 2, the appellants herein, Velayudhan was the sole surviving member of the Akkaravaram joint family. The Narayani and Lakshmi, to whose thavazhees the plaintiffs and defendants 10 to 21 claim to belong, were not sisters of Velayudhan (who had no sisters but had two distant cousins by name Narayani and Lakshmi whose thavazhees have become, long since, extinct) hut utter strangers, and the plaintiffs and these defendants are mere pretenders. The properties of the Akkaravaram joint family belonged exclusively to Velayudhan as its last surviving member, and, on his death, his children, defendants 1 and 2, succeeded to them as his heirs.