MOTHI MONDI AMBALAM Vs. ALAGAMMAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Mothimondi Ambalam is a rich Ambalagar in Madurai Dt. He married twice, one of the wives being Alagammal, and the other being Murugayee. The marriage between Mothimondi Ambalam and Alagammal is not in dispute. Alagammal has two children out of the wedlock, one being a son Mothirajan, the plaintiff in O.S. No. 273 of 1966, and another, a daughter Karuppayee, being the 7th defendant in the same suit. Though the marital life was pleasant for some time, Alagammal's case is that after her husband took a fancy to one Pandiammal a teacher employed in the local elementary school at Mathoor, he was not treating Alagammal properly and that there were misunderstandings between herself and her husband Mothimondi Ambalam. As there was no possibility petition reconciliation Alagammal had to file a of a under S. 488, Crl. P.C. in the Additional First Class Magistrate court, Madurai, for the grant of Independent maintenance to her and to her children. She succeeded therein. The husband took up the position that though Alagammal was his lawfully wedded wife and was entitled normally to maintenance, the marriage was dissolved in a caste Panchayat on 7th November 1965, as evidenced by Ex. B -10 and that therefore she was not entitled to such maintenance. The learned Additional First Class Magistrate discountenanced the plea and granted maintenance to Alagammal and her son. Whilst this was the position, the wife Alagammal, in order to obtain a more comprehensive relief, filed O.S. 233 of 1967 on the file of the Sub Court, Madurai, for her maintenance at the rate of Rs. 250 per month towards past maintenance and of Rs. 400 per month towards future maintenance. She Set out in detail as to how misunderstandings arose between herself and her husband and how she was subjected to physical and legal cruelly and how, in the circumstances, she was entitled to separate maintenance under the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act.

(2.) The husband again came forward with the same defence that the marriage was dissolved in a caste panchayat and that, therefore, the suit was not maintainable.

(3.) Probably, Alagammal was perforce compelled to institute this independent action for maintenance, as, by then, Mothimondi Ambalam filed O.S. 87 of 1967, seeking for an order to set aside the order of the Additional First Class Magistrate granting maintenance to the child of Alagammal, on the ground that the marriage was dissolved under Ex. B -10, in a caste panchayat. He also sought for a declaration that Alagammal was not his legally wedded wife. We shall presently refer to the pleadings in O.S. 273 of 1966, which was a suit for partition filed by Mothirajan, as son of Mothimondi Ambalam, asking for separate possession of his one -third share in the coparcenary in which Mothirajan claimed that he was a member along with his father Mothimondi Ambalam and step -brother, minor Neethipathi.