Being aggrieved by the judgment of reversal passed by the learned Single Judge of the High Court, the petitioners herein in the four Special Leave Petitions have questioned the validity of the said judgment.
On 6th April, 1992, the Respondent No.2, Muhammed Rawther, one of the brothers, filed O.S.No.90 of 1992 before the Court of Munsif, Thodupuzha, praying for injunction against his brother, Hassan Khani Rawther, in respect of the suit property.
The matter was again taken to the High Court against the order of the learned Subordinate Judge.
While the petitioner in SLP C Nos.7421 7422 of 2008 is the daughter of Late Meeralava Rawther, the Respondent No.1, Hassan Khani Rawther, and the Respondent Nos.2 and 5 are the sons and the Respondent Nos.3 and 4 are the daughters of the said Meeralava Rawther.
The said suit was also subsequently transferred to the Court of Subordinate Judge, Thodupuzha, and was renumbered as S.No.169 of 1994 and was jointly taken up for trial along with O.S.No.171 of 1992.
The Respondent No.1, Hassan Khani Rawther, was the only one of Meeralava Rawthers legal heirs who was number required by his father to execute such a deed.
The said suit was subsequently transferred to the Court of Subordinate Judge, Thodupuzha, and was renumbered as O.S.No.168 of 1994.
The youngest son, Hassan Khani Rawther, the Respondent No.1, was a Government employee and was staying with him even after his marriage, while all the other children moved out from the family house, either at the time of marriage, or soon, thereafter.
A subsequent application filed by the plaintiff in O.S.No.171 of 1992 for restoration of the said suit and another application for setting aside the decree in O.S.No.169 of 1994, were dismissed by the trial companyrt.
On 31st March, 1992, the Respondent No.1, Hassan Khani Rawther filed O.S.No.171 of 1992 before the Court of Subordinate Judge, Thodupuzha, seeking declaration of title, possession and injunction in respect of the said 1.70 acres of land, basing his claim on an oral gift alleged to have been made in his favour by Meeralava Rawther in 1982.
By a companymon judgment dated 15.11.1996, the learned Trial Judge dismissed O.S.No.171 of 1992 filed by the Respondent No.1, for want of evidence.
Meeralava Rawther died intestate in 1986 leaving 1.70 acres of land as his estate.
S.No.169 of 1994 filed by Shehammal was decreed and in view of the findings recorded in O.S.No.169 of 1994, the trial companyrt dismissed O.S.No.168 of 1994 filed by Muhammed Rawther, the Respondent No.2 herein.
The case made out by the Respondent No.1 is that when each of his children left the family house Meeralava Rawther used to get them to execute Deeds of Relinquishment, whereby, on the receipt of some companysideration, each of them relinquished their respective claim to the properties belonging to Meeralava Rawther.
The Respondent No.1 herein, Hassan Khani Rawther, moved the High Court by way of C.M.A.Nos.191 of 2000 and 247 of 2000 and the High Court by its judgment dated 17.1.2003 set aside the decree in O.S.Nos.171 of 1992 and 169 of 1994 and directed the trial companyrt to take back O.S.Nos.171 of 1992 and 169 of 1994 to file and to dispose of the same on merits.
On the basis of her claim to a 1/9th share in the estate of Late Meeralava Rawther the petitioner, Shehammal filed S.No.126 of 1992 on 25th May, 1992, seeking partition of the plaint properties companyprising the same 1.70 acres of land in respect of which the other two suits had been filed.
The Respondent No.6, Hassankhan, is a purchaser of the shares of the Respondent Nos.2 and 5, both heirs of Late Meeralava Rawther.
The remaining respondents are the legal heirs of Muhammed Rawther, the second respondent before the High Court.
At the time of his death he possessed 1.70 acres of land in Survey No.133/1B of Thodupuzha village, which he had acquired on the basis of a partition effected in the family of deceased Meeralava Rawther in 1953 by virtue of Deed No.4124 of Thodupuzha, Sub Registrars Office.
The Respondent No.1 filed R.F.A.Nos.75 of 2004 and 491 of 2006 in the Kerala High Court and the same were allowed by the learned Single Judge holding that even if the plaintiff failed to prove the oral gift in his favour, he companyld number be number suited, since he alone was having the rights over the assets of Meeralava Rawther in view of the various Deeds of Relinquishment executed by the other sons and daughters of Meeralava Rawther.
ALTAMAS KABIR, J. Special Leave Petition Civil Nos.7421 7422 of 2008 filed by one Shehammal and Special Leave Petition Civil Nos.14303 14304 of 2008 filed by one Amina and others, both directed against the final judgment and order dated 18.10.2007 passed by the Kerala High Court in R.F.A.No.75 of 2004 B and R.F.A.No.491 of 2006, have been taken up together for final disposal.
