MINOR SANGILIVEERAPPA BALASUBRAMANIAN PANDIAN ALIAS KUTTIRAJA AND ORS. Vs. KANNUTHAYI ALIAS MUTHATHAL NACHIYAR AND ORS.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) These appeals under Sec. 51 of the Madras Estates (Abolition and Conversion into Ryotwari) Act, 1948(hereinafter referred to as the Act) relate to the Sivagiri Zamin in Tirunelveli District which was notified and taken over by the Government under the Act on 3rd January, 1961.

(2.) Sivagiri Zamin is an ancient ancestral impartible Estate, impartible by custom and included in the Schedule to the Madras Estates Act of 1904. On the date of the notification of the Estate under the Act, one Varaguna Rama Pandia Chinnathambiar was the zamindar or proprietor of the estate and, therefore, the principal landholder of the Estate under the Act. He had then two sons by his first wife and one son by his second wife. He had also two illegitimate sons by his concubine. Long after the notification, by his second wife, he had another son called Kuttiraja and he is the first appellant in these appeals, his mother being the second appellant. The principal landholder, Varaguna Rama Pandian died on 16th August, 1955, after the notification and vesting of the estate in the Government, and the question that arises of consideration in these appeals is the right of the creditors of the deceased in respect of debts incurred by him personally prior to the notification of the Estate, to proceed against his share in the compensation and other amounts under the Act in the hands of his heirs and representatives. The genealogy given will be helpful in following the Controversy.

(3.) It will be evident from the genealogy that the principal landholder, that is, the deceased and his three sons born prior to the notification, are the sharers under the Act, each being entitled to 1/4 of the 4/5 share in the compensation available to the sharers under Sec. 45 of the Act. By the decision of this Court in Subramania v/s. : (1960)2MLJ102 , it was held that the 1/5 share of the deceased was divided property in his lands, vis -a -vis the pre -notification -born sons, and the persons entitled to take his share on his death were, his son born after the notification, his two widows and two illegitimate sons, that is, individuals, Nos. 5 to 9 in the pedigree. The two widows were held entitled each to 3/16 share in the 1/5 share of the deceased. The after -born son Kutti Raja was held entitled to a 6/16 share therein and the two illegitimate sons were found entitled the remainder therein, each to 2/16 share. Special Tribunal Appeal Nos. 42 to 45 are directed against Original Petition Nos. 88, 89, 97 and 103 of 1963. by some of the creditors of the principal landholder claiming payment out under Sec. 46 of the Act of the amounts due to them from the principal landholder's1/5 share in the first installment of the balance of compensation which was deposited on 29th June, 1962. The claims of these creditors had been recognised under Sec. 46 of the Act in earlier proceedings during the lifetime of the principal landholder himself. Special Tribunal Appeal No. 27 of 1964 is directed against the order in Original Petition No. 90 of 1963, application preferred by the appellants herein, claiming their shares as declared in Subramania v/s. : (1960)2MLJ102 , in the 1/5 share of the principal land -holder in full, denying the claims of the creditors under Sec. 46. The contention of the appellants is that the claims of the personal creditors of the Zamindar got extinguished on his death, the debts not being enforceable under Sec. 4 of the Madras Impartible Estates Act. This contention was overruled by the Tribunal and hence the appeals.