SWAMINATHAN Vs. KOONAVALLI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The unsuccessful plaintiffs in O. S. No. 308 of 1970 on the file of the District Munsif, Palam, are the appellants herein. They filed the said suit for partition and separate possession of their 1/4th share in the suit property with past and future mesne profits. Their case was that the suit property formed part of the Joint family properties, that 1/4th share of the suit property was allotted under a family arrangement, dated 19-9-1953, to their father, that in pursuance of the said family arrangement, their father was receiving his share of the rent till his death in 1967, and that as it is no longer possible to enjoy the property in common, it should be divided by metes and bounds and their share allotted to them.

(2.) Defendants 1 to 4 were the lessees and they merely filed a written statement setting out the terms of the lease in their favour. Defendants 5 and 6 alone contested the suit. Their case was that their father Palanimalai Pandaram and the plaintiffs, father Kandasami Pandaram divided their properties by metes and bounds on 6-3-1933, by a registered instrument and from that Lime onwards Palanimalai Pandaram and Kandasami Pandaram became divided in status. The said Palanimalai Pandaram subsequently acquired the suit property under a sale deed dated 27-3-1940 and as such Kandasami Pandaram, the plaintiffs' father, had no interest or right in the suit property. They also denied the truth and the validity of the family arrangement dated 19-9-1953 and stated that the family arrangement, Ex A. I dated 19-9-1953 being unregistered cannot confer on the plaintiffs any rights, as they had no pre-existing title in the suit property.

(3.) Thus the main question to be decided by the trial court was whether the family arrangement, Ex A. 1, dated 19-9-1953 on the basis of which the plaintiffs claim title to 1/4th share in the suit property was true and whether the said document being unregistered is admissible in evidence.