(1.) Respondents are absent and this appeal is heard ex parte. A widow obtained a decree in Original Suit No. 463 of 1914 on the file of the Court of the District Munsif of Kavali for arrears of rent and died before executing it. Her son's daughter claimed to execute it as succeeding to the estate of the widow's husband under a Will. Her daughter's daughter claimed to execute it as heir to her private estate arguing that the money if collected would be part of the income and the widow could treat it as her stridhanam. The District Munsif accepted this plea, and the son's daughter appeals. In Nabakishore Mandal V/s. Upendrakishore Mandal 66 Ind. Cas. 305 : 42 M.L.J. 253 : 20 A.L.J. 22 : (1922) M.W.N. 95 : 26 C.W.N. 322 : 85 C.L.J. 116 : 24 Bom. L.R. 346 : 15 L.W. 417 : 30 M.L.T. 234 : 3 P.L.T. 311 : (1922) A.I.R. (P.C.) 39 (P.C.) it has been held by the Privy Council that if the stridhanam was due to accumulated savings from the income of the property received from her husband's estate, the widow might so deal with it that it would remain her own, yet it must be shown to have been so dealt with. It was held in Madras that the onus lay the other way; Akkanna V/s. Venkayya 25 M. 351 : 12 M.L.J. 5 and this ruling was upheld in Subramanian Chetti V/s. Arunachelam Chetti 28 M. 1 (F.B.) where the ruling in Nabhakishore Mandal V/s. Upendrakishore Mandal 66 Ind. Cas. 305 : 42 M.L.J. 253 : 20 A.L.J. 22 : (1922) M.W.N. 95 : 26 C.W.N. 322 : 85 C.L.J. 116 : 24 Bom. L.R. 346 : 15 L.W. 417 : 30 M.L.T. 234 : 3 P.L.T. 311 : (1922) A.I.R. (P.C.) 39 (P.C.) seems to have been overlooked. In Raja of Ramnad V/s. Sundaram Pandyasamy Tevar 49 Ind. Cas. 704 : 42 M. 581 : 17 A.L.J. 153 : 36 M.L.J. 164 : 23 C.W.N. 549 : 29 C.L.J. 551 : 25 M.L.T. 400 : 21 Bom. L.R. 885 : (1919) M.W.N. 511 : 10 L.W. 322 (P.C.) occurs this passage at page 588. a widow may so deal with the income of her husband's estate as to make it an accretion to the corpus. It may be that the presumption is the other way. A case has been cited to their Lordships which seems so to say. But at the outside it is a presumption and it is a question of fact to be determined if there is any dispute whether a widow has or has not so dealt with her property.
(2.) I do not think that this last ruling detracts from the clear ruling in Nabhakishore Mandal v. Upendrakishore Mandal 66 Ind. Cas. 305 : 42 M.L.J. 253 : 20 A.L.J. 22 : (1922) M.W.N. 95 : 26 C.W.N. 322 : 85 C.L.J. 116 : 24 Bom. L.R. 346 : 15 L.W. 417 : 30 M.L.T. 234 : 3 P.L.T. 311 : (1922) A.I.R. (P.C.) 39 (P.C.) and so it is held in Mayne's Hindu Law, page 915, 9th Edition. This view (Akkanna V/s. Venkayya 25 M. 351 : 12 M.L.J. 5 and Subramania Chetty V/s. Arunachalam Chetti) 28 M. 1 (F.B.) is no longer tenable.
(3.) The bare fact that a widow has obtained a decree for arrears of rent is not proof that she so dealt with the property as to make it remain her own.