MOTTAIYAN ALIAS MURUGA KOUNDAR AND ORS. Vs. ANJALAI AMMAL AND ANR.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Aggrieved by the concurrent judgments of the Courts below, the defendants have come up by way of Second Appeal to this Court.

(2.) The plaint allegations, inter alia, are that the first defendant and the deceased Annasami Gounder are the sons of one Alaga Goundar who died about twenty years before suit. Annasami died on 20th January, 1966. The first plaintiff is the second wife and the second plaintiff is the minor daughter of Annasami and the first plaintiff. The second defendant is the daughter of Annasami through his wife Chinnammal, who pre-deceased him. The third defendant is Marimuthammal, the widow of Alaga Goundar. Annasami executed the settlement deed Exhibit A-1, dated 4th April, 1964 in respect of 55 1/2 cents in item 1 and 45 1/4 cents in item 2 in Part II of the plaint schedule in favour of the first plaintiff in consideration of a pre-nuptial agreement. The settlement deed was acted upon and the first plaintiff by marrying Annasami fulfilled her obligations. The second plaintiff was born to them through that marriage. The deceased Annasami and the first defendant became divided in status and were living separately. On the death of Annasami, the first plaintiff, the second plaintiff, the second defendant and the third defendant were each entitled to a share in his properties. But since the defendants denied the right of the plaintiffs to claim a share, the necessity for the suit arose.

(3.) The defendants in their written statement contended that the first plaintiff was not the legally wedded wife of Annasami, that she was the wife of one Tulasi and that she was leading an immoral life and happened to live with Annasami for some time and that the second plaintiff was not born to Annasami. The settlement deed Exhibit A-1 was not valid as it related to the joint family properties. The joint family owned an one-fourth share in item 15 of the suit properties.