GNANAMBAL AMMAL v. T. RAJU AYYAR AND OTHERS.
Citation: [1950] 1 S.C.R. 949; 1950 INSC 40
Court: Supreme Court of India
Bench: BIJAN KUMAR MUKHERJEA , SIR SYED FAZL ALI, N. CHANDRASEKHARA AIYAR
Judgment date:
Case summary
1950 INSC 40. Supreme Court of India judgment dated 1950-12-21. GNANAMBAL AMMAL v. T. RAJU AYYAR AND OTHERS. Read the judgment and case details on LawSphereX.
Judgment text
S. C. R. SUPREME COURT REPORTS 949 render any assistance to them. An omission to pro- 1950 vide for such relief in the Constitution cannot be d . d b h S C d · fJanardan Reddy reme 1e y t e upreme ourt an assumption o d Oth jurisdiction which is not warranted by the clear words an v. "' ! O' of articles 134, 135 or 136 will be tantamount to mak- Tile Stat•· ing legislation by the Supreme Court which it is never its function to do. Kania o. J. The petitions, under the circumstances, are rejected. Petitions dismissed. Agent for the petitioners : I. N. Shroff. Agent for the respondent: P. A. Mehta. GNANAMBAL AMMAL v. T. RAJU AYYAR AND OTHERS. [SAIYID FAZL ALI, MuKHERJEA and CHANDRASEKHARA AIYAR JJ. ] Hindu law- Will-Construction-General pinciples-Presunw tion ag iinst intestacy. The cardinal maxim to be observea by courts in construing a will is to endeavour to ascertain the intentions of the testi:i. tor.
This intention has to be gathered primarily from the language of the document which is to be read as a whole without indulging in any conjecture or speculation as to what the testator would have done if he had been better informed or better advised. ~ The courts are however entitled and bound to bear in mind other matters than merely the words used. They must consider ~-, the surrounding circumstances, the position of the testator, his family relationship, the probability that he would use words in a particular sense, and many other things which are often summed up in the somewhat picturesque figure 'the court is entitled to put itself into the testator's armch&ir '. But all this is solely ae an aid to arriving at a right construc- tion of the will, and to ascertain the meaning of the language - when used by that particular testator in that document. As soon as the construction is settled, the duty of the court is to carry out the intentions as expressed.
The court is in no c•se justified in adding to testarnentary dispositions. In all cases it musb loyally carry out the will as properly construed, &nd thi~ duty is 1950 Dec. 21. • • 1950 GnanambaZ Ammal v. 'l', Raju Ayyar and Others. 950 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [ 1950) universal, and is true alike of wills of every nationality and every religion or ra. nk of life. A presumption against intestacy may be ra! sed if it is justified by the context of the document or the surrounding circumstances; but it can be invoked only when tbe"e is undoubted ambiguity in ascertainment of the intentions of the testator. It cannot be that merely with a view to avoiding intestacy you are to do otherwise than construe plain words a. ccording to their plain mea. ning. A Hindu died leaving a widow, a widowed daughter N, and a married daughter G, after he had ma. de a will giving authority to bis widow to adopt a son of G should she beget one, or in tbe alternative a. son of One of his nephews. Para.
4 of the will provided that if his widow adopted G's son all bis properties except the village of K and the house at I and other properties disposed of by the will shall pass to the adopted son ; and par&. 5 provided as follows: "The whole of the village of Kand tho house al I, my daughter N shall enjoy with life interest and after her the said properly shall pass to my daughter G and her children on p•yment by the latter of Rs. 5,000 to A, the daughter of N. " Later on, amongst the provisions which he wished to ma. ke if a. son of a nephew was adopted, there was a provision which ran as follows: " Para. 13. The village of K shall Le enjoyed by N as stated in para. 5. '' A nephew's son was arlopted and he insti· luted a suit against G after N's death for recovery of the village K contending that under para.
13 of the will there was no dis- position of the village after the life interest of N and on her death the village vested in him as the testatof's heir: Held, on a construction of the will as a whole, thal the testa- tor did not intend that in the contingency of the adoption of a nephew's son, \he village K should pass, on N's death, to the adopted son; on ohe other hand, the provisions of para. 5 of the will were intended to apply even in the case of such a contin· gency and the village passed to G on N's death under para. 5 of the will. Judgment of the High Court of Madras reversed. Venkatanarasimha v. Parthasarathy (HI. A. 51) and Re Edward; Jones v. Jones [1906, 1 Ob. 570], referred to. APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Civil Appeal No. XIII of 1950. Appeal from a judgment and decree of a Divi- sion Bench of the Madras High Court (Wadsworth and Rajamannar JJ. ) dated 27th November, 1945, in Appeal No.
518 of 1941, reversing the judgment of the Subordinate Judge of Mayuram dated 10th July, 1944, in Original Suit No. 34 of 1943. B. Somayya (R. Ramamurti, with him) for the ap~ellant. • S. C. R .. SUPREME COURT REPORTS 951 K. S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar (K. Narasimha rnso Aiyangar, with him) for respondent No. 1. GnanambaZ 1950. December 21. The Judgment of the Court Ammal was delivered by v. T. Raju Ayyar M UKHERJEA J. -This appeal is directed against an and Others. appellate judgment of a Division Bench of the Madras High Court dated November 27, 1945, reversing the Muklieriea J, decision of the Subordinate Judge of Mayuram made in Original $uit No. 34 of 1943. There is no dispute about the material facts of the case which lie within a short compass and the con- troversy centers round one point only which turns · upon the construction of a will left by one· Kothanda- rama Ayyar to whom the properties in suit admittedly belonged.
Kothandarama, who was a Hindu inhabit- ant of the District of Tanjore and owned considerable properties, died on 25th April 1905, leaving behind him as his near relations his adoptive mother Valu Ammal, his widow Parbati and two daughters Nagammal and Gnanambal, of whom Nagammal, who became a widow during the testator's life time had an infant daughter named Alamelu. Kothanda- rama executed his last will on 13th March, 1905, and by this will, the genuineness of which is not disputed in the present litigation, he gave an authority to his widow to adopt unto him a son of his second daughter Gnanambal, should she beget one before January, 1908, or in the alternative any of the sons of his two nephews, if the widow so chose.
The suit, out of which the appeal arises, was com- menced by Raju Ayyar, who was a son of the testator's nephews and was taken in adoption by the widow in terms of the will; and it was for recovery of possession of certain properties, known as Kothangudi properties whicl;l formed part of the testator's estate on the alle- gation that under the will mentioned above, these properties were given to Nagammal, the widowed daughter of the testator for her life-time, but as there was no disposition of the remaining interest after the death of the life tenant, the properties vested in the 1950 Gnan. atnbai Ammal v. T. Raju Ayyar a'ld Oth1rs. Jfukherjea J. • 952 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1950] plaintiff as the adopted son and heir of the deceased on the death of Nagammal which took place on 3rd of ] anuary, 1943.
Gnanambal, the second daughter of the testator, was the first and main defendant in the suit, and she resisted the plaintiff's claim primarily on the ground that there was no intestacy as regards the suit properties after the termination of the life interest of Nagammal, and that under the terms of the will itself she was entitled to get these properties in absolute right after the death of Nagammal, subject to payment of a sum of Rs. 5,000 to Alamelu, the daughter of Nagam- mal. Alamelu was made the second defendant in the suit and as she died when the snit was pending in the trial court, her heirs were impleaded as defendants 3 to 9. The first court accepted the contention of the defend- ant No. 1 and dismissed the plaintiff's suit. On appeal to the High Court, the judgment was reversed and the plaintiff's claim was allowed. The defendant No. 1 has now come up appeal to this court.
To appreciate the contentions that have been raised by the parties to this appeal, it would be convenient first of all to refer briefly to the relevant provisions of the will: After cancelling his previous wills. the testa- tor in the third paragraph of his will, gave his widow authority to adopt a son. She was to adopt the son of Gnanambal, if the latter got a son previous to January 1908, or she could adopt any of the sons of the testa- tor's nephews. Paragraph 4 provides that if the first course is followed, that is, if the son of Gnanambal is adopted by the widow, then all the properties, movable and immovable, belonging to the testator excepting the village of Kothangudi, the house at Injigudi and the other properties which were disposed of by the will would go to such adopted son.
Paragraph 5, which is material for our present purposes runs as follows :- " The whole village of Kothangudi and the house at lnjigudi, both of Nannilam Taluk, my daughter Nagammal, shall enjoy with life interest and after her the said property shall pass to my daughter Gnanambal and her children on payment by the latter of Rs. 5,000 to Alamelu, Nagammal's daughter. " S. C. R. SUPREME COURT REPORTS 953 , ' By the sixth paragraph the Nallathukudi and 1950 Pungavur villages together with certain house pro- t M · h , d Gnana~bal per y at ayavaram are given tot e testators a op- Ammal tive mother and wife in equal shares to be enjoyed v. by both of them during their life-time and after ·r. Raiu Ayyar their death they are to pass on to the adopted son. and Othm. Paragraph 7 gives a small house absolutely to Nagam. MukherJ•• J mal for her residence and paragraph 8 makes certain provisions for management of the properties. In para.
graph 9 direction is given to collect the money due on the insurance policy on the life of the testator an. d to. pay off his debts. Paragraph IO mentions cer- tain charities, the expense;; of which are to be defrayed from the income of the Nallathukudi properties. Para. graph 11 then says that in the event of the widow adopting any of the nephew's sons of the testator, such son shall inherit the entire property at Kokkur and also the lands of Nallathukudi after the death of the testa- tor's wife and mother. By paragraph 12, the village of Maruthanthanallur is given to Gnanambal and paragraph 13 provides that "the village of Kothangudi shall be enjoyed by Nagammal as stated in paragraph · 5 ". By paragraphs IS and 16 the remainder in the house at Mayavaram situated in the east row of Vella- larkovil Street is given to Gnanambal after the death of the testator's wife and mother. Paragraph 18 provides for certain other charities.
In paragraph 20 it is stated that if the wife of the testator should die before January, 1908, without making any adoption, then the eldest or any son of Gnanarnbal would be his adopted son without any formality and inherit all the properties subject to the conditions mentionecj in the will. Para- graph 21, which is the penultimate paragraph in the will, further lays down that if all the three contingencies fail and no adoption is taken, the male chilci or children born to Gnanambal shall inherit as grandsons all the properties of the testator, subject to the conditions specified in the will. These, in brief, are the dispositions made in the will. The plaintiff founds him claim upon paragraph 13 of. the will which, according to him, contams the et1tlre disposition so far as the Kothangudi U2 954 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1950) ' 1950 property is concerned. That village is given to Nagammal for her life with no disposition of the Gnanamba. l b Ammal remaining interest.
If the remain es not show that he wanted to make separate and self-contained provisions with regard to each of the . contingencies that might arise and that each set of provisions were . to be read as exclusive of the other set or sets. That does not appear to be the scheme of the will. The testator's main desire undoubtedly was that his widow should adopt the son of his daugllter Gnanam bal, and in the first part of his will after making provisions for his two daugh- ters, his wife and adoptive mother and also for certain charities, he left the rest of his properties to the son of Gnanambal that was to be adopted by his widow. ln the second part of the will, which is comprised in paragraphs II to 16, the testator sets out the modifi- cations which he desires to make in the earlier disposi- tions in case a son of one of his nephews was adopted by the widow. It was not the intention of the testator that on the happening of the second contingency, all 1950 Gnanambal Ammal v. T.
RaJu Ayyar and Others. M11,kherjea J. 958 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1950] the earlier provisions of the will would stand cancelled and the entire dispositions of the testator's property would have to be found within the four corners of paragraphs 11 to 16 of the will. In our opinion, the provisions made for the two daughters, the widow and the adoptive mother as made in paragraphs 5, 6 and 7 of the will and also the provisions for charities and payment of debts contained in paragraphs 9 and 10 were meant to be applicable under all the three contin- gencies referred to above. This is clear from the fact that provisions of paragraphs 7, 9 and 10 have not been repeated or incorporated in paragraphs 11 to 16, although it cannot be suggested that they were not to take effect on the happening of the second contingency.
Again in the third contiugency contemplated by the testator, which is described in paragraph 20, it is expressly stated that if no adoption is made, the eldest or any son of Gnanambal would inherit the properties and he shall take the properties subject to the conditions mentioned in the will. The conditions spoken of here undoubtedly refer to the provisions made for the mother, wife and the two daughters of the testator as well as in respect to payment of debts and carrying out of the charities specified in paragraph 10. The changes that are to take effect on the happening of the second event are in regard to the beq nests in favour of the adopted son. Under paragraph 4 of the will, the adopted son was to get all the properties of the testator with the exception of those given to the two daughters, the mother and the wife. Under para.
graph 11, if the adoption is of a nephew's son of the testator, the adopted son gets only the Kokkur pro- perties and the reversionary interest in Nallatlmkudi village after the death of the testator's wife and mother. The village Maruthanthanallur which would go to the adopted son under paragraph 4 is taken away under paragraph 11 and is given to Gnanambal. She is also given the remaining interest in the Mayavaram house which was given to the adopted son under paragraph 6. Subject to the changes thus made, the provisions -,.. S. C. R. SUPREME COURT REPORTS 959 of paragraphs 5. 6 and 7 would, in our opinion, still remain operative even if the person adopted was a nephew's son of the testator. No change is made in paragraphs 11 to 16 with regard to the provision in paragraph 5 of the will. In paragraph 13 it is only stated that the village Kothangudi shall be enjoyed by Nagammal as stated in paragraph 5.
It may be con- ceded that this statement by itself does not let in the entire provision of paragraph. 5, but that is not material for our present purpose. It is enough that paragraph 5 has not been changed . or altered in any way. The statement in paragraph 13 may, after all, be a loose expression which the testator used only for the purpose of emphasising that the Kothangudi village would be enjoyed by Nagammal even if Gnanambal's son was not adopted. This is not by way of making any new disposition, but only to affirm what has been already done. The affirmation of a portion of the provision which is perfectly superfluous cannot exclude the rest. It is somewhat difficult to say why the rest of the pro- visions in paragraph 5, particularly the benefit that was meant to be given to Alamelu, was not repeated in paragraph 13. It may be that the testator did not consider it necessary or it may be that it was due to inadvertance.
It is to be noted here that the testator did not mention anywhere in paragraphs 11 to 16 the small house that was given absolutely to Nagam- mal under paragraph 7. It was certainly not the intention of the testator that Nagammal would not have that house on the happening of the second con- tingency. If paragraph 5 itself is held to be app Ji. cable-and in our opinion it should be so held-there is no question of adding to or altering any ofthe words made use of by the testator. It is not a question of making a new will for the testator or inventing a bequest for certain persons simply because the will shows that they were the objects of the testator's affection. The provision is in the will itself and it is only a. question of interpretation as to whether it is applicable in the circumstances which have happened in the present case. The position, therefOie, seems 1950 . Gnanambal Animal v. 1'. Raju Ayyar and Others.
Mukherjea J, ' 1950 960 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1950] to be that the disposition made in paragraphs 5, 6 and 7, which were in favour of the mother, the wife and the Gnanamb:tl Ammal two daughters of the testator were meant to take effect v. immediately on the testator's death. They were not T. Raju Ayyar contingent gifts in the sense of being made dependent and Othors upon the adoption of Gnanambal's son by the wife of the testator. Only the reversionary interest in the Mukherjea J. Mayavaram house, which was to vest in the adopted son under the provision of paragraph 6 after the death of the widow and the mother was taken away from the adopted son and given to Gnanambal in case the person adopted was not her own son. If the whole of paragraph 5 remains operative the Injigudi house must also be deemed to have been given to Nagammal for her life and in fact the evidence is that she enjoyed it so long as she was alive. No difficulty also arises regarding the payment of Rs.
5,000 to Alamelu as has been stated by the High Court in its judgment. Having regard to the meticulous care with which the testator seems to have attempted to provide for the different contingencies that might arise and the anxiety displayed by him in making an effective disposition of all the properties he owned, it is not probable that he would omit to make any provision regarding the future devolution of the Kothangudi village if he really thought that such direction had to be repeated in the latter part of the will. The omission of the gift of Rs. 5,000 to Alame\u also cannot be explained on any other hypothesis. It is not necessary for the purpose of the present case to invoke any rule of . presumption against intestacy, but if the presumption exists at all, it certainly fortifies the conclusion which we have arrived at.. The result is that the appeal is allowed, the judgment and decree of the of the High Court are set aside and those of the Subordinate Judge restored.
The appel- lant will have costs of all the courts. Appeal allowed. Agent for the appellant : M. S. K. Aiyangar. M. S. Krishnamoorthi Sastri,. Agent for respondent No. I:
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