GUMMALAPURA TAGGINA MATADA KOTTURUSWAMI Vs. SETRA VEERAWA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal is before us on a certificate granted by the High Court as according to that Court a substantial question of law arose in the case which was stated by it to be

(2.) Kari Veerappa was the last male owner of the estate mentioned in his will Ext. P-2 (a), which he executed on October 10, 1920. Under this will he authorized his wife Setra Veeravva, first defendant to adopt a son for the purpose of continuation of his family as he had no issue. The authority to adopt was in the following terms:

(3.) The suit filed by the appellant was heard by the District Judge of Bellary who dismissed it. The appellant appealed to the High Court of Madras. His appeal was dismissed and the decision of the District Judge was substantially affirmed. The High Court did not allow compensatory costs granted by the District Judge, nor did it agree with his finding that the appellant had failed to prove the relationship he had propounded and that he was not a reversioner at all, far less the nearest reversioner. In the opinion of the High Court, the appellant was a relative and a reversioner, though he had not proved that he was the nearest reversioner alive at the time the appeal was heard and that he need not prove this until he actually sought to recover possession of the property after Veeravva's death.