RAGHO TOTARAM Vs. ZAGA EKOBA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) In this case the plaintiff, a minor, brought a suit for a declaration that the sale-deed, Exhibit 31, passed by his father Totaram to defendant No. 1 for Rs. 1,500 on November 22, 1918, was not binding on him and for possession of the property together with mesne profits.

(2.) The property in suit situate at Shelave in the Parola Taluka originally belonged to the plaintiff's maternal grandfather Daga Ekoba. On his death his widow, the plaintiff's grandmother, inherited the property and subsequently it devolved on her daughter Vedibai the plaintiff's mother. On Vedibai's death in 1918, the plaintiff inherited it as her son. Totaram, the plaintiff's father, was managing the plaintiffs property which fetched a rent of Rs. 40 a year. The plaintiff and his father are residents of Datana in Shindkheda Taluka at some distance from Shelave. The plaintiff's father found it inconvenient to manage the property. He, therefore, sold it for Rs. 1,500 to defendant No. 1, and his house for Rs. 500 to defendant No. 2, and paid Rs. 2,000 to one Zipru who owned a land at Datana measuring thirteen acres and yielding an annual income of Rs. 225. No sale-deed was passed by Zipru in favour of the plaintiff's father, but as Rs. 2,000 were paid to him out of the total consideration of Rs. 2,800, the possession of the land at Datana was transferred to the plaintiff's father.

(3.) Both the lower Courts held that the sale in favour of defendant No. 1 by the plaintiff's father was for the benefit of the minor, and therefore, binding upon him, as the plaint lands were yielding an income of not more than Rs. 40 and by virtue of the arrangement made by the plaintiff's father an income of Rs. 225 from the field purchased from Zipru was secured for the minor plaintiff and his father. It was alleged on behalf of the plaintiff that the sale was effected by the plaintiff's father for meeting the expenses of his second marriage, but the allegation was held not proved by both the lower Courts.