Somasundara Mudaliar v. K.S. Rajappa Mudaliar

This Second Appeal arises out of a suit for enforcing the registration of a portion of a certain document. The Subordinate Judge dismissed the suit. The District Judge decreed it. The defendants appeal.

The document in question is a partition deed between the plaintiff and the 1st defendant who are brothers. The whole document except paragraph 8 was registered. The suit relates only to paragraph 8. Defendants 2 and 3 are the sons of the first defendant. Paragraph 8 of the document runs thus:

“Since we have allowed our aunt, Kuppanni to enjoy for her maintenance 41 acres 37 cents of land purchased by our natural guardian and grandmother Muthanni in her name in Shingalanthi, Pandi and other villages in the Tiruthuraipundi Taluk, we shall divide the said property between ourselves in moieties after her death.”

Before I discuss the question of law I will clear up the further facts necessary for deciding this case. The plaint after alleging that the grandmother of the parties purchased certain lands, has got a schedule annexed to it in which the lands are specifically described. In the schedule survey numbers are given, the villages are mentioned and they are Singalanthi and Pandi and no other, and the total extent is given which slightly differs from the extent in the partition deed and the extent in the sale deeds. But whatever variation there may be in the extent, this amounts to an allegation on the part of the plaintiff that the lands purchased by the grandmother and described as 41 acres 37 cents in the partition deed are the lands which are given in the schedule to the plaintiff though described as a slightly different area and no other. The defendants in their written statement do not allege that the grandmother purchased lands in other villages than Singalanthi and Pandi nor do they plead that there are other lands besides the lands mentioned in the plaint schedule so purchased by her. We must take it therefore that the defendants admit that the lands mentioned in the plaint schedule are the lands purchased by their grandmother. It would appear that the sale deeds taken by the grandmother were filed in the first Court but were not formally exhibited. This is what the District Judge says about them. “The documents under which the lands were purchased were filed in the lower Court. But as there was no dispute about it the documents were not formally exhibited. They were also produced in this Court though no special petition was put in to exhibit them in the case here. As even in this Court there is no dispute about the documents I do not exhibit them.” The statement of the District Judge that there was no dispute about the purchase either in the first Court or in the appellate Court has not been contradicted before me by affidavit and I must take it that there is really no dispute that these are the three documents under which the grandmother purchased the properties. The three documents which were looked into by the District Judge are now formally exhibited by me as Ex. B, B-1 and B-2. A reference to these three sale deeds supports all the statements made by the District Judge, that is, they show that the lands purchased were all situate in Singalanthi and Pandi and no other. Their extent omitting one number 201 (e) as given in the sale deed is 39 acres 54 cents. The extent of the survey No. 201 (e) was not given in the sale deed. It is a threshing floor. The parties possess only certain rights in it along with others. Its extent is now given in the plaint as 1 acre 17 cents. The total would. then be 40 acres 71 cents, but in respect of one of the plots there is a discrepancy between the extent given in the plaint schedule and the extent given in the tale deeds, i.e, 201 (e) whereas Ex. B. 1 gives it as 4 acres 27 cents, the plaint gives it as 4 acres 97 cents. Adding this difference of 70 cents the extent as given in the plaint schedule comes to 41 acres 41 cents the variation as compared with the partition deed being only 4 cents. If once it is conceded that these are the lands purchased by the grandmother and their survey numbers are all known from the sale deeds and the plaint schedules? the variation of the extent seems to be an absolutely immaterial factor in this case, for it is absolutely clear from the document Ex. A that all the lands purchased by the grandmother in these two villages under these 3 sale deeds were intended to be settled as maintenance for the aunt. It does not matter what their extent really is. It might not have been known to the parties. It might have been incorrectly stated by them. This does not matter.

The above being the facts of the case as found by the District Judge and as restated by me for being more intelligible, what is the law that is applicable to the case? First it seems to me under Sect. 21 (1) of the Registration Act the description of the properties should be sufficient to identify the same. To carry out the policy of Sect. 21 (1), Cls. 2 and 3 are also enacted. Cl. 3 says whenever it is practicable survey numbers are to be given. It is clear that the word “practicable” was used with reference to the parties. Here the parties thought it was not practicable. Therefore the clause loses its apparently compulsory nature by the use of the words “whenever it is practicable.” But to remedy this defect and to add to the degree of compulsoriness the Local Government has made rules under Sect. 22 (1) saying that survey numbers are to be given where the lands are surveyed. Pausing here, the question arises what is the effect of this rule. Sect. 22 (2) deals with the effect of such a rule made by the Local Government under Sect. 22 (i). It says non-compliance with such rules shall not disentitle a document to be registered if the description of the property to which it relates is sufficient to identify that property unless otherwise provided by R. 26. I understand this exception to mean the rule itself while saying the property shall be described in a particular way should also say if it is not so described it should not be registered and while the latter part is not in the rule, the document may still be registered provided the description is sufficient to identify the property notwithstanding the particular direction in the rule. This is the view which the Judges who decided the case in Appalacharyulu v. Ramachendracharyulu were inclined to take though it was not necessary to decide in that particular case. Notwithstanding the breach of the direction to give the survey numbers, that the description is sufficient to identify the property is clear not only from the facts as given above but also from the view of the Local Government from E. 17, Ch. 6 of its rules which says “if property is described in a document by a specific reference to an instrument which has been already registered……..and if that instrument contains the particulars required by R. 16, and such a description of the property as is required by the rules in force, the description need not be repeated in the document.” This rule says that where a reference to other registered document is given not only the description is sufficient to identify the property but it is a compliance with rules in force making a certain kind of description necessary. This is the view taken by me and Spencer, J, in the decision reported in Krishna Aiyar v. Ponnappa Nadar. Mr. Bhashyam Aiyangar contends that the meaning of Sect. 22 (2) is wherever there is a rule making a particular description necessary without any further statement as to the breach of the rule, that itself disentitles the registration of the document. I do not agree with this view. I come to this conclusion even without relying on the R. 17 which further enforces my conclusion. The result is the District Judge's decision is right and the Second Appeal is dismissed with costs.

W.S.SAppeal dismissed.