GUDIYATTAM LUNGI COMPANY Vs. P.G.EKAMBARA MUDALIAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The defendants 1 to 6 and 8 to 13, and the legal heirs of the deceased 7th defendant - P.N.Sundaramurthy in O.S.No.48 of 2006, on the file of the learned Subordinate Judge, Gudiyatham, are the appellants herein. The respondents herein filed the suit for (i) declaration of title in respect of suit A-schedule property and for the consequential relief of recovery of possession of A schedule property; (ii) division of B Schedule properties into 4 equal shares and allotment of one such share jointly to the plaintiffs; and (iii) dissolution of partnership and accounting by appointing a receiver. The learned Subordinate Judge, by judgement dated 28.04.2016 decreed the suit in part and thereby declared the title of the plaintiffs in respect of Item Nos.1 and 2 of suit A-Schedule property and consequently directed the defendants to hand over the vacant possession of the same within two months; granted preliminary decree in respect of suit B-Schedule property, dividing the B-Schedule property into four equal shares and allotting 1/4th share to the plaintiffs; also granted a decree for dissolution of 1st and 2nd defendant partnership firms and permitted the plaintiffs to take out a separate proceedings as per order 40 Rule 1 of CPC in respecting of accounting of the firms. 4 Insofar as the other items of suit A-Schedule property is concerned, the learned Subordinate Judge dismissed the suit. Aggrieved by the same, the defendants 1 to 13 preferred an appeal in A.S.No.34 of 2016 before the District Judge, Vellore. The learned District Judge by judgement dated 19.06.2018, dismissed the appeal thereby confirming the judgement and decree passed by the trial court. After the dismissal of the appeal suit, 7th defendant in the suit namely, P.N.Sundaramoorthy died. Challenging the same, the defendants 1 to 6 and 8 to 13 and the legal heirs of the 7th defendant in the suit are before this court with this second appeal.

(2.) For the sake of convenience, the parties will hereinafter be referred to as per their rank in the suit.

(3.) The case of the plaintiffs in brief is that, one P.G.Ekambara Mudaliar was the founder and one of the partners of the 1st and 2nd defendant partnership firms. The 1st defendant firm is a marketing unit and the 2nd defendant firm is a manufacturing unit. Both the firms were established in the year 1942, with five partners namely, (i) P.G.Subramania Mudaliar, (ii) P.G.Ekambara Mudaliar, (iii) P.G.Murugesa Mudaliar, (iv) P.G.Narayana Mudaliar and (v) 5 P.G.Murugesa Mudaliar. All of them are sons of one Govindappa Mudaliar. The manufacturing unit is engaged in manufacturing of lungies with the trade mark "Top Brand", with a special design keeping the Top in a white triangle space with striped red colors and the rest of the portion colored in Red. In the year 1963, one of the partners namely, P.G.Narayanasamy Mudaliar died and the defendants 4, 5 and 6 being legal heirs of P.G.Narayanasamy Mudaliar had taken 1/3rd share of the partnership firm. One P.G.Sivagnanam Mudaliar, the eldest son of P.G.Narayanasamy Mudaliar, was adopted by one P.K.Gangadhara Mudaliar, brother of P.K.Govindappa Mudaliar, subsequently, the said P.G.Sivagnana Mudaliar was also added as one of the partners in both the firms.