BASANGOUDA GIRIYEPPAGOUDA PATIL Vs. BASALINGAPPA MALLANGOUDA PATIL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This litigation is concerned with the rights of the parties in the patilki watan of the village Masuti in the Bagewadi taluka of the Bijapur district. The plaintiff, whose suit has been dismissed by the trial Court and who now appeals, is the adopted son of one Giriyeppagauda, and as such claims to be entitled to the right of service as patil, and also to the lands in the possession of the defendants which form part of the watan. The last undisputed holder of the rights and lands in question was Ningangauda, the adopted son of Irappa Ningappa. He died in 1891, leaving no one in that particular branch of the family except a sister Ningava. The parties to the present litigation belong to collateral branches of the family. Their exact relationship to propositus is a matter of much dispute, but it is common ground that, apart from certain difficulties arising from the fact that Parutagauda, the ancestor of defendants Nos. 1 and 2, was given in adoption, to another family, their branch, i.e., the branch of defendants Nos. 1 and 2,, is more closely connected with Ningangauda's branch than that to which Giriyeppa, the plaintiff's adopted father, belonged. There is no dispute also as to the immediate pedigree of defendants Nos. 1 and 2 which is as follows :-

(2.) Basalingappa died in 1877 without issue, but his widow Nagava adopted Rudragauda defendant No. 2, son of Mallangauda defendant No. 1, in 1900. It. may be mentioned, though it does not affect the case materially, that the propositus Ningangauda was also the natural son of defendant No. 1 given by him in adoption to Irappa Ningappa and his wife Rudrava in 1887.

(3.) After Ningangauda's death there was a dispute as to the heirship between Giriyeppa and San Irappa, the father of defendant No. 1. In Miscellaneous No. 50 of 1891 it was held that Giriyeppa was the heir of Ningangauda and he was given a certificate of heirship. His name was also entered by the revenue authorities in the watan register. San Irappa then filed a suit, No. 225 of 1893, for a declaration that he was the heir, and for cancellation of the heirship certificate granted to Giriyeppagauda, This suit was dismissed and appeals to the District Court and to the High Court were unsuccessful. The date of the final decree of the High Court was in February, 1900. The grounds of the decision against San Irappa in these proceedings were that it was found that Parutagauda had been given in adoption to a different watan family altogether, that of Shirol in the Dharwar District. San Irappa tried by various expedients to get out of this. The adoption was denied, alleged to be invalid and finally alleged to have been in the dwyamushyana form, i.e. with rights in both families. An attempt was also made to show that the Shirol family was connected with the Masuti family, so that even if San Irappa belonged to the former, he might still claim as an heir to the Masuti watan. But all these pleas were negatived. There was no hint so far of the point subsequently raised that San Irappa's brother Basalingappa had been born before Parutagauda's adoption, and therefore had remained in the Masuti family. Then came the adoption of Rudragauda by Baslingappa's widow Nagava on March 31, 1900, and soon after Rudragauda through his maternal uncle Subbangauda as next friend filed suit No. 943 of 1900 for a declaration that he was Ningangauda's heir. It was not necessary for him to pray for possession of the lands, because it appears that Giriyeppa in spite of his success in the previous litigation had never got possession of any of the lands in dispute. It was alleged in the plaint of that suit that the minor Rudragauda was in possession and that his uncle and next friend was managing on his behalf. In actual fact Mallangauda defendant No. 1 appears to have been in possession. He is, as I have said, the natural father both of Ningangauda and Rudragauda. A different pedigree of the family was produced by Rudragauda on this occasion, now exhibit 136, which showed a different common ancestor, and also purported to show that one Irappa Ghullappa was a nearer heir than Giriyeppa in Giriyeppa's own branch. This Irappa, who is defendant No. 3 in the present suit, had given his consent to the adoption of Rudragauda and had also made an assignment of his own rights in his favour. This suit was settled by a consent decree under which two fields were assigned to Irappa Ghullappa, and the rest of the land was divided roughly half and half between Giriyeppa and Rudragauda. These two were also held entitled to the right of service in equal shares. In the joint application for recording the compromise, Giriyeppa admitted the correctness of the pedigree and the validity of the adoption of defendant No. 2. As the result of the compromise Giriyeppa and defendant No. 3 got possession of the lands assigned to them.