LAKHMI CHAND Vs. MT ANANDI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) On the 5 June 1915, two brothers, Baldeo Sahai and Seth Lakshmi Chand, who constituted a joint Hindu family governed by the Mitakshara school of Hindu law, executed a document providing for the disposal of their estate. It was presented for registration, on the 8 June, at the office of the sub-registrar, and was duly registered on the 9 June. This document, which has been variously described as an agreement or a joint will of the two brothers, stated, inter alia, that, in the event of one broner dying without leaving a male issue, his widow's name should be substituted for that of the deceased husband in the public records relating to the estate. Her interest in the estate was defined in the eighth paragraph of the instrument, and, as there is a controversy between the parties about the interpretation to be placed upon it, it is necessary to set it out in extenso: (8) We, both the parties, have, up to this time been jointly managing all the estate affairs and shall continue to manage it in the same way, provided no partition takes place. After the death of one party all managements relating to the estate shall be made by the surviving party. The wife of a deceased party shall have no right to get the property partitioned in the life of the other party, but shall continue to get her share of the profit from the other party after deducting the expenses relating to the estate. If the other party evades the payment of the profits, she shall be entitled to seek remedy in Court only for recovery of profit.

(2.) Before discussing the question raised on this appeal, it is desirable to state the circumstances which have led to the present litigation. It is common ground that Baldeo Sahai died on 10 June 1915, without leaving male issue; and that the name of his widow, Mt. Anandi, was entered, instead of the name of the deceased, in the relevant revenue records. Lakshmi Chand did not however give her the profits to which she was entitled under the paragraph quoted above, and brought, in 1918, an action for a declaration that the transaction embodied in the document amounted to a testamentary disposition of the co-parcenary estate and could not take effect, as on the death of Baldeo Sahai, his brother became the sole owner of the entire joint estate by the rule of survivorship. This claim was rejected, not only by the trial Court, but also by the High Court. The plaintiff then preferred an appeal to His Majesty in Council, but that appeal too was dismissed on 15 March 1926. The judgment of the Privy Council dismissing the appeal is reported in Lakshmi Chand V/s. Mt. Anandi, 1926 PC 54 at pages 126-133 and will be referred to presently. In the meanwhile, Mt. Anandi, who had not received any profits from her brother-in-law, had commenced, in 1920, a suit to .recover her share of the profits for the period of five years, from 11 June 1915, to 10 June 1920. The progress of the suit was considerably delayed, and it was not until March 1928, that the trial Court granted her a decree for Rs. 81,423-12-0, The appeal brought by Lakshmi Chand against this decree was dismissed by the High Court in February 1929.

(3.) Though defeated in his suit to impeach the validity of the deed of 5 June 1915, Lakshmi Chand made no payment of the profits even after the judgment pronounced by the Privy Council, with the result that Mt. Anandi had to bring, in August 1926, another suit for profits for the period from 15 June 1920 to 30 July 1926. In this suit she obtained a decree for a sum exceeding one lakh of rupees. The above narrative does not however exhaust the list of the cases between Lakshmi Chand and his sister-in-law. In May 1929, he instituted the present suit to defeat her right to recover profits, and the ground of attack put forward this time was that she had forfeited her right by reason of her re-marriage and unchastity with one Tara Chand. The trial Court and the High Court have concurred in holding that there was no re-marriage, and that point cannot be, and has not been, re-agitated before their Lordships.