9911796707
TMI Blog1965 (2) TMI 106X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... other, defendant No. 3, who had come from Nepal about 26 years earlier. It was further alleged that the property in suit and the dairy business were acquired by the family in the name of Tek Bahadur, the eldest brother. Two other businesses were subsequently started. They were the Indian Sweet-meat House and the Dilkhosh Cabin, at Police Bazaar, Shillong. These businesses were in the name of Dhanbir Bhujil. It was stated that on December 31, 1942, the brothers decided with the consent of the mother to enjoy the properties and the businesses in a certain specified manner. The plaintiff and Tek Bahadur were to enjoy half and half the landed property and the dairy business, while Dhanbir was to enjoy the other two businesses. The mother was to enjoy the house property in Shillong Cantonment which had been purchased in her name. It may be mentioned that Dhanbir Bhujil and Beli Bhujilini were pro forma defendants and the real relief was claimed against Tek Bahadur, appellant. 3. The appellant contested the suit on various grounds, including the one that all the properties were self-acquired properties of his and that nobody else had any right, title or claim in them. The allegatio ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... a member of their family. There could not be a family arrangement between members of the family and a non-member. The landed property, according to the evidence, was purchased from the money of their mother. There was therefore no dispute about the title to this property. Similarly, there was no dispute that the two businesses belonged to respondent No. 2. It is urged that it is essential for the validity of a family arrangement that the parties to it amicably arranged some existing dispute. When there was no dispute there could be no family arrangement. Another attack on the validity of the family arrangement is that the mother was not party to it. It is urged that all the members of the family should join in a family arrangement. 8. The first contention that respondent No. 1 was not a member of the family was not raised in the Courts below. There was no such plea in the written statement filed by the appellant, and consequently, there was no such issue. The appellant, his brother and mother migrated to this country from Nepal. We do not know whether Hindu law, as recognized in this country, obtains in Nepal. It appears that some differences do exist. The plaintiff alleged in t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... en the appellant and respondents Nos. 1 and 2 on December 31, 1942 and that the agreement Exhibit 3 is a record of that family arrangement. 11. The next contention for the appellant is that the agreement Exhibit 3 required registration and is of no effect as it was not registered under the Indian Registration Act. The trial Court and the first appellate Court held that the Registration Act was not in force in the area where the agreement was executed at the time of its execution in 1942. The High Court, on the basis of fresh evidence, was of opinion that the matter required further elucidation and that it was not necessary to remand the case for a finding on the point as in its opinion this agreement did not require registration even if the Registration Act was in force in that area at the time of its execution. We need not say therefore anything further about the applicability of the Registration Act in that area, but we have, however, still to consider the contention for the appellant that the agreement Exhibit 3 did require registration. If we agree with him on this point, it would be necessary for the final disposal of the case that a clear-cut finding on the question of the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... hat this Court said in Sahu Madho Das v. Mukhand Ram, . Reliance is placed on the following in support of the contention that the brothers, having no right in the property purchased by the mother's money, could not have legally entered into a family arrangement. The observations are: It is well settled that a compromise or family arrangement is based on the assumption that there is an antecedent title of some sort in the parties and the agreement acknowledges and defines what that title is, each party relinquishing all claims to property other than that falling to his share and recognizing the right of the others, as they had previously asserted it, to the portions allotted to them respectively. That explains why no conveyance is required in these cases to pass the title from the one in whom it resides to the person receiving it under the family arrangement. It is assumed that the title claimed by the person receiving the property under the arrangement had always resided in him or her so far as the property falling to his or her share is concerned and therefore no conveyance is necessary. These observations do not mean that some title must exist as a fact in the persons ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... under the title derived from A. But in that event, the formalities of law about the passing of title by transfer would have to be observed, and now either registration or twelve years adverse possession would be necessary. This Court extended the principle behind the family arrangement to other cases which were not covered by the earlier observations. It is urged, on the basis of these further observations, that registration is necessary for a document recording a family arrangement regarding properties to which the parties had no prior title. These observations apply to a case where one of the parties claimed the entire property and such claim was admitted by the others and the others obtained property from that recognized owner by way of gift or by way of conveyance. In the context of the document stating these facts this Court held the real position to be that the persons obtaining the property from the sole owner derived title to the property from the recognized sole owner and such a document would have to satisfy the various formalities of law about the passing of title by transfer. The facts of the present case arc different. The agreement, Ex. 3, does not recognize that ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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