Dorairaj Vs Doraisamy (Dead) Through Lrs & Ors. (Supreme Court of India)
The Supreme Court of India dismissed long-pending civil appeals arising from a partition suit involving 79 items of agricultural properties, affirming concurrent findings of the Trial Court, First Appellate Court and the Madras High Court that most of the suit properties constituted joint Hindu family properties.
The Court reiterated settled law that mere existence of a joint family is not enough, but once ancestral properties yielding income are established and acquisitions are made during the subsistence of the joint family, the burden shifts to the person asserting self-acquisition. In the present case, ancestral lands (Items 14 & 15) were proved to be income-yielding through revenue records, wells and irrigation facilities. The plea that later acquisitions in the name of the father (Karta) or one coparcener were self-acquired was held not proved by cogent evidence.
On alienations by the Karta, the Court approved the item-wise scrutiny adopted by courts below—upholding sales supported by proved legal necessity (such as debts and medical expenses) and invalidating others where necessity was not established, particularly alienations in favour of one coparcener on vague recitals.
The Supreme Court also upheld rejection of an unregistered Will allegedly executed three days prior to death, noting suspicious circumstances (thumb impression despite habit of signing, execution close to death, doubtful scribe/attestors) and holding that the finding had attained finality.
Limited relief granted by the High Court—excluding a few items shown to be purchased from third parties as self-acquisitions—was affirmed. Finding no perversity or legal infirmity, the Court dismissed the appeals, confirming the plaintiff’s share as declared by the High Court
FULL TEXT OF THE SUPREME COURT JUDGMENT/ORDER
