SRI SETHURAMASWAMIAR Vs. SRI MERUSWAMIAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Plaintiff sues for partition and delivery to him of one third of the properties annexed to the plaint which are claimed to be the properties of the joint family consisting of himself and of the 1 and 2nd defendants. He also prays for the settlement of a scheme for the management of the charitable and religious endowments mentioned in Part II of the 2nd Schedule.

(2.) The defence of the 1 defendant is that the properties are impartible. His contention is that he and his ancestors were the hereditary Gurus of the family of the Maharajahs of Tanjore, and these properties appertain to the office of Guru as such. He further contends that his ancestor who was brought to Tanjore as his Guru by the then Maharajah was also the head of a Mutt and that these properties appertain to that Mutt. The Subordinate Judge has found that the parties formed an ordinary Hindu family and has decreed partition. This is an appeal against that decision.

(3.) Most of the properties specified in parts I and II of Schedule II were given by the then Maharajah of Tanjore to one Sri Sethu Bahva Swami stated to be a disciple of the Meruswami Mutt in Mannargudi. He had an only son, Sri Rama Sethu Swami, who left an adopted son, Sri Sethu Ramaswami, who died in 1854. His adopted son, Sri Rama Sethu Swami, died in April 1886, leaving three sons, the plaintiff and the 1 and 2nd defendants, and 2 daughters. From, the date of the gift there was 110 occasion for partition. That gift seems to have been made by the Maharajah to Sethu Bhava Swami as the latter was accepted by the Rajah as his Guru. Till the extinction of the Raj the ancestors of the 1 defendant continued to be the Gurus, and after the resumption of the Raj by the British Government, the 1 defendant's father, and after him the 1 defendant, continued to be recognized as Guru of the Royal family. It is the case of the 1st defendant-appellant that the gift was made to his ancestor on account of his being the Rajah's Guru and those properties together with the rest which form an accretion to that estate are attached to that office of Raja-Guru, cannot be separated therefrom and are therefore impartible.