YEKNATH NARAYAN KULKARNI Vs. LAXMIBAI KESHO GOPAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The plaintiff claiming to be the heir of one Ramchandra sued for declarations (1) that defendant No. 3 was not adopted by defendant No. 1 and that if he was adopted, the adoption was invalid, (2) that the sale-deed passed to defendant No. 4 by defendants Nos. 1 to 3 was not binding on the plaintiff.

(2.) The following pedigree will explain the relationship of the parties:-

(3.) Annaji died in the first half of 1899 leaving him surviving his eon Ramchandra, his grandson Narayan by a predeceased son Balkrishna and Bhagirthibai the widow of a predeceased son Ganapati. Ramchandra and Narayan died on the 1 of November 1899. If Narayan survived Ramchandra then he would be the last male holder of the family property, and his widow Lakshmibai would have taken a widow's estate. In 1915, she adopted the present defendant No 3. The plaintiff who was a separated nephew of Annaji filed this suit in 1919 against Lakshmibai, Bhagirthibai, the third defendant and the fourth defendant, an assignee from the third defendant. He contended that the property belonged to his cousin Ramchandra; that on Ramchandra's death Bhagirathi as the widow of Ganapati, a gotraja sapinda, succeeded, while Lakshmi had only a right to maintenance, and had therefore, no right to adopt the third defendant.