BAPPUTTY Vs. CHERIAKUTTY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) A suit, merely for fixation of boundaries, was decreed by the Trial Court and the decision was confirmed in appeal. That is how the additional defendants came up in second appeal.

(2.) THERE are altogether 25 items in plaint A schedule and 19 items in B schedule. These and other items belonged in Kanam to Nooral Rawther, deceased father of plaintiff and first defendant. First defendant was the sole defendant when the suit was instituted. Rawther gifted A schedule and other items to plaintiff under Ext. A1 and B schedule and other items to the first defendant under Ext. A2 on the same day. A and B schedule items are the properties left after transfers in discharge of the debts mentioned in Exts.A1 and A2. Since there are ever so many pending litigations between the parties in respect of individual items included in Ext. A1 and A2, this suit for fixation of boundaries was filed solely to avoid future disputes and not because there is any existing boundary dispute. Additional defendants 2 to 7 are the children of the first defendant. They were impleaded on the contention of the first respondent that he gifted the properties to them. Maintainability of the suit was also questioned.

(3.) THERE is no oral evidence. Parties themselves were not examined. The suit was decided solely on the pleadings, Exts. A1 and A2 and the plan submitted by the Commissioner. The pleas of non joinder of necessary parties and maintainability of the suit were not at all considered by the Trial Court. Appellate Judge said that fixation of boundary has nothing to do with title or possession of the properties and the wider question of title or possession of strangers and themselves pleaded by the appellants are matters to be agitated in appropriate proceedings, He confirmed the decree and dismissed the appeal observing that fixation of boundaries is intended to serve only one purpose namely, demarcating the boundaries with reference to the measurements in Exts. A1 and A2 fixed by the Commissioner and the correctness of the boundaries and measurements and other physical features shown in Exts. A1 and A2 are not decided in the suit. So also, the Appellate Judge reserved the rights of the appellants to file separate suits to establish their rights in spite of fixation of boundaries. If the fixation of boundaries is not intended to be binding on anybody interested in the properties, I fail to understand its purpose. A decree is the formal expression of an adjudication conclusively determining the rights of parties in dispute and judgment is the statement of grounds of a decree or order.