ANOOP KAUR Vs. ANUP SINGH GREWAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This judgment will dispose of two Regular Second Appeals, bearing Nos. 2437 of 1984, titled as Anoop Kaur and another v. Anup Singh Grewal and 2894 of 1984, titled as Anup Singh Grewal v. Anoop Kaur and another, as these have been filed against the judgment and decree dated 30-4-1984, passed by the learned Additional District Judge, Ludhiana, vide which the appeal filed by Anoop Kaur and Saroop Kaur (defendants herein) was partly allowed and the judgment and decree passed by the learned trial Court in favour of Anup Singh Grewal (plaintiff herein) regarding the whole property in question has been partly modified and parties to the suit have been held to be entitled to the property in question in equal shares i.e. one third share each.

(2.) The brief facts of the case are that one Mehtab Singh was owner in possession of the property in question, mentioned in detail in para No. 1 of the plaint, which comprises of land measuring 1 bigha 8 biswas 41.2 biswasis and one plot. He was having his wife Partap Kaur, one son Anup Singh Grewal, plaintiff, and two daughters Anoop Kaur and Saroop Kaur, defendants. On 20-7-1939, he executed a registered Will in favour of his wife Partap Kaur, bequeathing his entire property to her as limited estate with a specific condition that she will not have any right to alienate the same and with a further condition that after her death, his son Anup Singh, who was minor at that time, will become the absolute owner of the entire property. When the said Will was executed, all the three children of Mehtab Singh were minor. He died on 13-4-1967. By that time, he had married all of his children. After his death, his wife Partap Kaur remained alive for about ten years and died on 9-6-1977. After her death, the mutation of the property in question was got sanctioned by her two daughters in their favour on the basis of a Will dated 21-5-1976, alleged to have been executed by her in their favour. Thereupon, Anup Singh Grewal, the only son of Mehtab Singh, filed the present suit for declaration to the effect that he is owner in possession of the property in question, which was ancestral property in the hands of his father Mehtab Singh. He alleged that his father executed a registered Will in favour of his mother Partap Kaur, vide which she acquired only limited ownership in the property with a specific condition that she will not alienate the same in any manner and after her death, he will become absolute owner of the same. The plaintiff further alleged that after the death of his mother, he became absolute owner of the property and she did not execute any Will in favour of the defendants. She was not even competent to execute any such Will, because she was not the absolute owner of the property in question and she was having only limited right in the same.

(3.) This suit was contested by the defendants. They alleged that their mother Partap Kaur became absolute owner of the property after the death of their father on 13-4-1967 and was fully competent to alienate the same. They denied that the nature of the property was ancestral. They also alleged that the Will dated 20-7-1939 is illegal and invalid. Their mother executed a Will in their favour on 21-5-1976. Because of the services rendered by them, she bequeathed the entire property in their favour. Therefore, it was pleaded that the suit filed by the plaintiff is liable to be dismissed.