UMADE RAJAH RAJI DAMARA KUMARA CHINNA VENKATAPPA NAYANIM BAHADURVARU Vs. UMADE RAJAH RAJI DAMARA KUMARA THIMMA NAYANIM BAHADUR VARU

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The first defendant in these suits is the present Zamindar of Kalahasti, an impartible estate. The 1st plaintiff in O.S. No. 9 of 1910 and the sole plaintiff in O.S. No. 17 of 1910 are brothers of the 1st defendant. The 2nd plaintiff in O.S. No. 9 of 1910, is the minor adopted son of the 1st plaintiff. They brought these suits for a declaration of their rights to maintenance at the rate of Rs. 650 per mensem and for recovery of the same with arrears and interest as a charge upon the estate. They also claimed priority over the mortgage rights of certain mortgagees who were made parties to the suit and thus raised questions which need not now be considered as they are not pressed in these appeals. The 1st defendant acknowledged that the plaintiffs were entitled to be maintained out of the estate but pleaded that the financial condition of the estate was such that he could not afford to give his brothers more than Rs. 400 per mensem which was in fact the amount that they were receiving during the period when the estate was under the management of the Court of Wards. The lower Court gave the plaintiffs a decree for Rs. 400 per mensem during their joint and several lives for the maintenance of their branches of the family and directed that the sums due on account of past and future maintenance at this rate should be recoverable as a charge upon the estate. From this. plaintiffs appeal on the ground that the amount awarded should not have been less than Rs. 650.

(2.) The position taken for the appellants is this. The present 1st defendant brought a suit O.S. No. 12 of 1890 for partition against the then Zamindar Muthu Venkatappa to which all the brothers were made parties. It ended in a compromise in which the estate was declared to be impartible and the succession to it was declared to be governed by rules of primogeniture, simultaneously it was agreed that the Zemin dar s brothers, mcluding the present plaintiffs and the 1st defendant and their male descendants should be entitled to a maintenance allowance from the income of the estate of Rs. 600 per mensem for the first ten years and of Rs. 700 per mensem thereafter. The District Court passed a decree in terms of the compromise but on appeal the High Court held in Venkatappa Nayanim v. Thimma Nayanim (1894) I.L.R. 18 M. 410 that the stipulations which were outside the scope of the suit should not have been embodied in the decree and these included the stipulations as to allowances, so they were excluded.

(3.) After the death of Muthu Venkatappa, Akkappa succeeded to the Zemindari, and during his time two of the brothers of Muthu Venkatappa viz., the present 4th defendant and the father of the 6th defendant brought suits against Akkappa in respect of their maintenance allowances and obtained consent decrees for Rs. 650 per mensem.: The other brothers, viz., the 1st plaintiff in O.S. No. 9 of 1910 and the plaintiff in O.S. No. 17 of 1910 and the present Zamindar got registered agreements executed (Exhibits A.C. and I) with Akkappa in similar terms of, Rs. 650 per mensem. On the death of Akkappa the 1st defendant became Zamindar.