SARASWATHI RAITHI Vs. DUGGAMMA SHEDTHI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The plffs, here appellants, claim maintenance at a rate higher than that decreed to them by the trial court. The parties are members of an Alayasanthana family of which deft. 1 is the ejamanthJ. Plffs. 2 to 7 are the children of plff. 1 & plff. 1 & defts. 2 to 8 are the daughters & sons of deft. 1. There were 28 members of the branch of deft. 1 on the date of suit, & the properties out of which maintenance is now claimed by the plffs. were allotted to the branch of deft. 1 under an award, Ex. D. 39, dated 12-2-1932 Though the suit was laid for the recovery of Rs. 10,000 as arrears of maintenance for the period from 1-5-1934 till 25-10-1945, the court below granted a decree only for Rs. 2668-8-0, for the period from July 1941 to 25-10-1945. On appeal an additional sum of Rs. 2881-4-0 is claimed as maintenance for this period, the claim for the earlier years having been given up. Mr. Adiga for the appellants contends that the court below has grossly under-estimated the available income of the family & has not applied the correct legal principles in determining the rate at which maintenance should be paid to the different plffs.

(2.) The following is common ground : The family house is at Kotadadi & the income of the family consists of rents, both cash & kind, received from its landed properties. The deft. 1's husband, Subbayya Shettl of Marakada, was himself an affluent member of his family with considerable income of his own, which he spent on himself & his children. He died in February 1844. He purchased a town-house in Mangalore for the occupation of himself & his family. In 1934 deft. 1 set up an establishment at Mangalore referred to in the evidence & in this judgment as the Mangalore bidar, intended mainly for the education of the children of her prolific family. Supplies of rice, straw, firewood, coconuts, vegetables, jaggery & fuel were sent from Kotadadi to Mangalore whenever necessary, & a mess was run at the Mangalore bidar. Day to day cash expenses incurred in the purchase of groceries & the like were also met, sometimes out of the family funds & sometimes from contributions made by or on behalf of the members of the family. The youngsters of the family who were receiving education at Mangalore were housed & fed at the Mangalore bidar, & their parents, whenever they happened to go to Mangalore, stayed with them. There was a residential family house & an establishment maintained at Kotadadi for the members of the family. Accounts of the receipts & disbursements of the family were kept by or on behalf of deft. 1 but these accounts are not now available, the sons of deft. 1 charging one another with the responsibility for their non-production. The deft. 1 being an old lady depended on one or other of her sons for the management of the properties, is not wholly to blame for the non-production of the accounts. There is, however, available a rough account of receipts & expenses maintained by deft. 8 for the period beginning from January 1944. On 22-10-1941 the plffs. through their advocate, gave notice to deft. 1 claiming arrears as well as future maintenance separately for themselves. Plff. 1's husband, Ranianna Rai, has been in Govt. service, & plff. 1 & some of their children were staying with him wherever he happened to be employed & also in the Mangalore bidar for various periods of time. During the period from July 1941 till April 1944 there was a working arrangement under Saraswathi Raithi and Ors. vs. Duggamma Shedthi and Ors. (22.11.1950 -MADHC) Page 3 of 5 ggamma Shedthi and Ors. (22.11.1950 -MADHC) Page 3 of 5 which the members of the family who lived at the Mangalore bidar agreed to share the expenses, though some of them paid & the others did not pay regularly. Plaintiff 1's husband paid the charges incurred for the upkeep of his wife & children whenever they or any of them stayed in the Managalore bidar during this period. This arrangement, however, ceased to be in force after April 1944.

(3.) All the plffs. lived in the Mangalore bidar from July to December 1942. From January 1943 till the end of March 1944 plffs. 2 & 3, & from April 1944 till April 1945 plffs. 2 to 6 lived in the Mangalore bidar. None of the plffs. lived there after April 1945. The bulk of the family income consists of the rice rents received from tenants. Since the price of rice varies from time to time its conversion value also varies, & the maintenance awardable to the members of the family after deduction of the common family expenses, would also vary from year to year. The learned Judge has granted a decree at varying rates for the different periods for which maintenance was awarded.