NATVARLAL PUNJABHAI Vs. DADUBHAI MANUBHAI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) We may mention one further contention which was urged by Mr. Shah at one stage which seemed to us to make it possible to dispose of this appeal. Mr. Shah's contention was that the Deputy Nazir as the guardian of Punjabhai was appointed on 29th November 1924, and he went into possession of the property in 1925. In 1929 Punjabhai attained majority. When Punjabhai died in 1931 the Deputy Nazir was appointed as the guardian of the property of defendants 1 and 2. The learned Judge has held, in our opinion rightly held, that from 1925 the Deputy Nazir for Punjabhai was in possession of half the share of the property claimed by the plaintiffs adversely to Kashibai. There can be no doubt that the possession of the Deputy Nazir for Punjabhai was adverse, because in the order made on 29th November 1924, in face of Bai Kashi's contention that Punjabhai was not entitled to the whole of the estate left by Mathurbhai, the Court appointed the Deputy Nazir the guardian of Punjabhai of the whole property left by Mathurbhai. Apart from that in Suit No. 183 of 1926 in the written statement filed by the Deputy Nazir he denied the right of Kashibai except to the extent of maintenance as the widow of the joint family. Therefore there can be no doubt that the possession of the Deputy Nazir both on behalf of Punjabhai and on behalf of defendants 1 and 2 was in assertion of a title hostile to that of Kashibai and was a clear denial of Kashibai's title. Therefore, as we said, we agree with the learned Judge that it has been established in this case that Punjabhai and defendants 1 and 2 were in possession of the property adversely to Kashibai. Therefore, it is clear that the defendants can set up adverse possession against Kashibai. If Kashibai was claiming possession of the property as a limited owner, undoubtedly her claim would be defeated by the defendants having perfected their title at least against the widow. But the question is whether in view of the deed of surrender the succession has been accelerated and whether plaintiffs 1 and 2 are entitled to recover possession of the property from defendants 1 and 2 prior to the death of Kashibai. Mr. Shah contends that so long as Kashibai is alive, adverse possession is as much a defence against Kashibai as against the plaintiffs. Mr. Shah says that on 30th January 1941, the title of the defendants having been perfected Kashibai had no property which she inherited as Shankarbhai's widow which she could surrender to plaintiffs 1 and 2, and therefore the deed of surrender had no operation whatever. It is also contended that, even assuming that the deed of surrender is read as such, it is not open to plaintiffs 1 and 2 to get possession from defendants 1 and 2 so long as Bai Kashi is alive, and this contention is based on the principle that an alienation made by a widow prior to the deed of surrender cannot be challenged by the surrenderee during the life-time of the widow. On the other hand, Mr. Patel contends that the deed of surrender, inasmuch as Kashibai has divested herself of all the interest she had in her husband's estate, is a good and valid deed of surrender which results in the effacement of Kashibai and in the acceleration of succession to her husband's estate, and Mr. Patel says that if that be the correct position in law, then the plaintiffs are as much entitled to challenge an alienation by Bai Kashi as they would have been if Kashibai had died a natural death and therefore adverse possession which might have been available to defendants 1 and 2 against Kashibai is no longer available to defendants 1 and 2 on the civil death of Bai Kashi on executing the deed of surrender on 30th January 1941. The view put forward by Mr. Patel seems to be in conflict with the decision of the Division Bench of this Court in Sakharam Bala v. Thama, 51 Bom. 1019 : (A. I. R. (15) 1928 Bom. 26) which has been approved of in a later decision in Jeka v. Jivi, 39 Bom. L. R. 1072 : (A. I. R. (25) 1938 Bom. 37). It may be necessary to constitute a Full Bench to consider whether these two decisions are correct especially in view of the contrary view taken by the Calcutta High Court. But the whole question becomes academic if the plaintiffs fail to prove the execution of the deed of surrender and therefore we have allowed this particular question to stand over till after the trial Court has sent us the findings on the two issues which we have framed. We, therefore, send back the two issues for decision and we ask the trial Court to expedite its decision on these two issues. Both the parties will be at liberty to lead evidence on these two issues. The findings to be returned within two months.)

(2.) After the findings of the trial Court were received by the High Court, the appeal was heard by a Full Bench consisting of Chagla C. J. and Weston and Dixit JJ. Judgment of Full Bench.

(3.) Mr. Thakor has relied in support of his argument on a decision of this Court in Sakharam Bala, v. Thama, 51 Bom. 1019 : (A.I.R. (15) 1928 Bom. 26). A Division Bench consisting of Sir Amberson Marten C. J. and Crump J. considered the effect of two deeds of gift executed by a Hindu widow, one in favour of her nephew and a later one in favour of her daughter and reversioner. Subsequently she adopted the plaintiff and the plaintiff sued to recover possession of the property from the widow and her daughter, and the question that arose for determination was whether there was a proper renunciation by the widow in favour of the reversioner, and the Court held that the plaintiff was entitled to succeed inasmuch as, by executing the earlier deed in favour of the nephew, the widow had put it out of her power to surrender her whole interest in the estate in favour of her daughter, the nearest reversioner. With very great respect to the learned Judges who decided this case, although they attempted to guard themselves against importing the principles of English law of property in deciding questions under Hindu law, when we turn to the judgment of the learned Chief Justice we find that he has ultimately based his judgment on an analogy which he draws with English law, because at p. 1023 this is what the learned Chief Justice says: "But in so tar as one follows the analogy of life estates, it would be perfectly clear that if a tenant for life assigns his life interest to A, then he would be unable to surrender that life interest to the next remainderman. There could be, as far as the English law is concerned, no merger either in law or equity." Therefore, the basis of this judgment is that the widow having transferred her life interest to an outsider, she could not surrender that life interest to the reversioner who was the remainderman. So long as the life interest was outstanding, the remainderman could not take advantage of the life interest. But what the learned Chief Justice overlooked was that the result of the surrender was the destruction of the life estate itself and the effacement of the widow as the holder of that life estate, and therefore, although in terms of English law there could be no assignment or no conveyance of the life interest, that life interest having already been conveyed to the nephew, there could certainly be under Hindu law the very destruction of that life interest; and after this judgment the Privy Council, as I have already pointed out in Vytla Sitana v. Marivada Viranna, 61 I. A. 200 : (A. I. R. (21) 1934 P. C. 105), has emphasised the fact that the basic notion of a surrender is not the ex facie transfer but the effacement of the widow. Therefore, in our opinion, the judgment delivered by that Bench did not correctly represent the law, and in any case, after the recent decision of the Privy Council it is clear that that case was wrongly decided. Therefore, the mere fact that antecedent to the deed of surrender the widow has alienated the property does not preclude her from surrendering her life estate to the nest reversioners, nor does it prevent the reversioners from being entitled to succeed as the heirs of the last full owner. I should again like to emphasise that a surrender by a Hindu widow according to Hindu law is not so much a transfer or an assignment of her life interest to the next reversioners as a renunciation in favour of the next reversioners. The significance of renunciation is very different from the significance that attaches to the conception of a transfer or an assignment.