KONDAMURI AKKAMMA Vs. BHUVANAVAIDIYALA PICHAMMA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellant was the plaintiff in a suit for partition and mesne profits. The following genealogical tree will help to elucidate the contentions of the parties :

(2.) The last maleholder, Venkayya, died about 50 years ago, leaving a widow and two daughters. On 8 October, 1908, the widow, Venkamma, made two gift deeds, comprising the whole of the properties which she had got from her husband, in favour of her two daughters, the first defendant under Ex. D-1 getting the larger share and the plaintiff under Ex, D-2 getting the smaller share. In 1912 Venkamma filed a suit against the nephews of Pichamma the deceased widow of her brother-in-law claiming possession of 3.80 acres alleged to have been given by the late Venkayya to the late Pichamma with a stipulation that she should enjoy the land during her lifetime and that thereafter it should pass to the plaintiff's family. The nephews of Pichamma contended that Pichamma was absolutely entitled to the land and had conveyed it to one of them by a deed of gift. A compromise was effected on the advice of mediators after hearing the contentions of both parties. The compromise (Ex. D-10) recites these facts and provides that the defendants shall deliver to the plaintiff Venkamma 1.56 acres out of the land in dispute and shall themselves be absolute owners of the remaining land.

(3.) On the death of Venkamma, the appellant filed the present suit claiming partition not only of the lands covered by the two gift deeds of 1908, but also of the land got under the compromise decree, which Venkamma had in 1932 conveyed to her grandson the second defendant by a gift deed which is Ex. D-3. Both the Courts below have held that the two gift deeds of 1908 amounted to a complete surrender of the whole estate in favour of the nearest reversioners and it seems to me that this decision is undoubtedly right. An attempt has been made to argue that there was no surrender of the whole estate because the gift deeds did not comprise the properties held for life by Pichamma, the sister-in-law of the last male-holder. But in 1908 the most that Venkamma could be said to have with reference to these lands was an expectancy. It cannot therefore be said that these lands formed part of the estate of the last maleholder which was vested in her.