ARUNACHALATHAMMAL Vs. ESAKKI AMMAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The plaintiff is the daughter of one Shanmukham Pillai by his first wife. The defendant is his second wife. Shanmukham Pillai seems to have died in or about the e February, or the beginning of March 1925, and on 17 March 1925, the plaintiff presented Ex. A for registration, claiming that it was the will executed by her deceased father. In the course of April a May, several witnesses were examined before the Registering Officer and the case had been adjourned for further enquiry to 6 June. Before the Registering Officer the defendant was contending that the will was not genuine and in this she was admittedly supported by P.W. 3, who was the next male reversioner. At this juncture, the plaintiff and the defendant entered into an agreement, marked Ex. B in the case, dated 5 June 1925. The defendant disputed the genuineness of Ex. B, but both the Courts below have found it to be genuine. To understand the provisions of Ex. B, it is necessary very briefly to refer to the terms of the alleged will of Shanmukham Pillai. He seems to have had large outstandings to collect as well as debts to pay and the alleged will accordingly provided for the collection of outstandings and payment of debts by an agnatic relation, Sudalaimuthu Pillai, whom he appointed executor. The will also provided that transactions so carried out by the executor should be checked by Subramania Pillai, the plaintiff's husband. It made certain bequests including one for charity and a provision by way of life interest in a house to the widow. It finally directed that the balance of cash, which may remain after the various provisions in the will have been carried out, should be taken in equal shares by the plaintiff and by one Parameswari Ammal, his minor daughter by his second wife, and that immoveable properties shall be purchased in their names out of this amount.

(2.) As the defendant had been disputing the will, it is nothing strange that the settlement Ex. B does not expressly refer to the will. But the oral evidence in the case, which has been in substance-accepted by both the lower Courts, leaves no room for doubt as to the origin and purpose of Ex. B, namely that it was intended to settle the disputes between the step-mother and the stepdaughter with reference to the latter's claims under Ex. A. Two provisions in Ex. B are however significant : (1) that the plaintiff should admit without dispute the right of the individual No. 2, that is, the second wife, to collect the outstandings due to the said Shanmukham Pillai, and (2) that the amount of Rs. 850, which is to be paid to the plaintiff under Ex. B, should be utilized for the purchase of immoveable property in the name of the plaintiff. The first provision has obvious reference to the clause in the will which vests in another person as executor the right to collect the outstandings. The second provision in effect carried out the suggestion of the testator that whatever cash should come to the plaintiff should be invested in the purchase of immoveable property. Ex. B contains a further clause for payment of another sum of Rs. 300 to the plaintiff in certain contingencies; but the claim under this head is not pressed in second appeal and I need not say more about it.

(3.) The District Munsif gave a decree to the plaintiff for the sum of Rs. 850 payable to her in the first instance under the terms of Ex. B. The evidence shows that as contemplated by Ex. B this amount was, in fact, invested in a bank, but when disputes arose between the parties the amount was withdrawn, by the defendant. The learned Subordinate Judge, after referring to certain features in the evidence, expresses his agreement with the District Munsif so far as the genuineness of Ex. B is concerned, and he seems substantially to accept the first Court's conclusion as to its origin and purpose. But he holds that the arrangement is invalid in law as a part of the consideration, for Ex. B is the relinquishment by the plaintiff of her reversionary right and this is illegal as being merely a transfer of a apes successions.