KANDIYIL GOPALAN AND OTHERS Vs. KANDIYIL CHANDRAMATHI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Bharat Hotel, Kuttipuram, is the subject matter of the second appeal. Those who have arrayed on the opposite side are near relatives: the widow and sons of Kuttayi on the one side; and his brother and sons on the other. The courts below have upheld the claim of the widow and her children. The defeated defendants had carried the fight to this Court in second appeal.

(2.) Kuttayi who was the son of Imbuchitty of Calicut, belonged to a lower middle-class family. Kuttipuram was a sleepy little village in the 1950s. A small shop selling soda or vending tea, could be a small adventure. Kuttayi set on such an adventure and venture. A place where the tea shop was originally conducted, was acquired by the Government. A new place had to be sought for. One was available with four brothers of the area. Kunhumarakkar Haji was the person actually attending to the management of the properties. He was prepared to let it out. There is controversy between the parties as to who took on the building on rent from Kunhumarakkar Haji-whether it was Kuttayi or Gopalan, the first defendant. That Kuttayi was the elder of the two is not in dispute. The plaintiffs have a simple and inherently natural case. Kuttayi did business. He took the first defendant to Kuttipuram to assist him and in turn to be of some assistance to his brother. Kuttayi was conducting the trade. When Kuttayi married, the first plaintiff, naturally enough, started staying with him. Plaintiffs 2 and 3 were born to them. Prosperity in the trade and the happiness of the marriage, however, did not continue for long. Kuttayi fell sick and to the sickness, he later succumbed in 1962. The first plain- tiff, became a widow with the great responsibility of nursing and nurturing the two children, then aged 4 and 2. Her anguish was immensurable; her agony unfathomable. Like any other Indian woman,with the tap root cut off at the time of marriage, learning to lean on the adventitious root of her matrimonial home, she stuck on to the environ of Kuttipuram. The school going son continued his education there. The conduct of the tea trade was taken on by her. The first defendant, it would appear, was sympathetic towards her sorrow and attended to the trading activity.

(3.) Kuttipuram had a fast pace of development. (To those who have been passing through that way, it has turned to be a mesmerising change. The Railway Station with its incessant shunting operation and the Travellers Bungalow built by the British, kept then cutely and cleanly, but in a dirty and dilapidated condition now, remain as reminders of the past times). The trade prospered; additional space was necessary to cater to the needs of the increasing customers and that was sought for and obtained. New gadgets like grinder installed in the kitchen; and new attractions like the radio, appeared in the front. There was enough income even for the purchase of a car. The children grew up even as the first plaintiff was eagerly watching their coming of years.