TMI Blog2010 (5) TMI 796X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ying the share to the respondent Nos. 2 to 5 or their predecessor-in-interest. 2. The facts and circumstances giving rise to the present case are that the predecessor-in-interest of the present appellants, Peria Mariammal instituted a suit, being O.S. No. 269 of 1975 against the respondents and their predecessor-in- interest claiming the share of her brother Muthu Reddiar, on the ground that he died unmarried and intestate and that Smt. Rengammal, the defendant No. 1 in the suit was a legally wedded wife of one Alagarsami Reddiar, who was still alive, therefore, her claim that she had live-in-relationship with plaintiff's brother Muthu Reddiar and had two children from him, had to be ignored. The defendants/respondents contested the suit denying the marriage between defendant No. 1 and the said Alagarsami Reddiar. The Trial Court decreed the suit vide Judgment and decree dated 7th March, 1977 recording the finding that Rengammal, defendant No.1 in the suit was wife of Alagarsami Reddiar who was alive at the time of filing the suit. There had been no legal separation between them. Therefore, the question of live-in-relationship of Smt. Rengammal with Muthu Reddiar could not a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... submissions of the learned counsel for the parties and perused the record. 7. The Trial Court as well as the First Appellate Court have recorded a categorical finding of fact that Smt. Rengammal, defendant No.1 had been married to Alagarsami Reddiar who was alive on the date of institution of the suit and, therefore, the question of marriage by presumption between Smt. Rengammal and Muthu Reddiar would not arise and for determining the same all the material on record had been taken into consideration including the statement of Seethammal, DW1 along with all other defence witnesses and the documents, particularly, Exts.B14, B18, B19 and B2. 8. However, the High Court framed two substantial questions of law, namely: (a) Whether on the admitted long cohabitation of the First defendant and Muthu Reddiar, a legal presumption of a lawful wedlock is not established; and (b) Whether the specific case of prior and subsisting marriage between defendant and Alagarsami Reddiar set up by Plaintiff is established as required by law and she could have a preferential claim over defendants 1 to 3? 9. While determining the substantial question (b) the High Court only considered th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... t evidence has not been considered or that certain inadmissible material has been taken into consideration or where it can be said that the findings of the authorities are based on no evidence or that they are so perverse that no reasonable person would have arrived at those findings. In Kuldeep Singh Vs. Commissioner of Police Ors. (1999) 2 SCC 10, this Court held that if a decision is arrived at on no evidence or evidence which is thoroughly unreliable and no reasonable person would act upon it, the order would be perverse. But if there is some evidence on record which is acceptable and which cannot be relied upon, howsoever compendious it may be, the conclusions would not be treated as perverse and the findings would not be interfered with. In Gaya Din (dead) thr. Lrs. Ors. Vs. Hanuman Prasad (dead) thr. Lrs. Ors. AIR 2001 SC 386, it has been held that order of an authority is perverse in the sense that the order is not supported by the evidence brought on record or it is against the law or it suffers from the vice of procedural irregularity. In Rajinder Kumar Kindra Vs. Delhi Administration, thr. Secretary (Labour) Ors. AIR 1984 SC 1805, this Court while dealing with a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ajan Singh and Anr. (2003) 10 SCC 228; Sobha Hymavathi Devi Vs. Setti Gangadhara Swamy and Ors. AIR 2005 SC 800; and Shri Banarsi Dass Vs. Teeku Dutta (Mrs.) and Anr. (2005) 4 SCC 449] 17. The High Court has decided the issue regarding the factum of marriage between Alagarsami and Rengammal only placing reliance upon the statement of Smt. Seethammal, DW1, step mother of Muthu Reddiar who had been disbelieved by the Courts below by giving cogent reasons and taking note of the fact that she had arranged their marriage spending a sum of ₹ 10 only. The High Court has also reappreciated the documentary evidence and took a view contrary to the view taken by the court's below. It was not appropriate for the High Court to re-appreciate the evidence in Second Appeal as no substantial question of law involved therein. Both the Courts below found that Rengammal was legally wedded wife of Alagarsami. The Courts below had placed very heavy reliance upon the witnesses examined by the appellant/plaintiff particularly, Kumarasamy- PW 2 and Kandasamy- PW 5. 18. In view of the fact that the High Court did not even take note of the deposition of the plaintiff's witnesses, findings ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... held that live-in-relationship is permissible only in unmarried major persons of heterogeneous sex. In case, one of the said persons is married, man may be guilty of offence of adultery and it would amount to an offence under Section 497 IPC. 23. In Smt. P.E.K. Kalliani Amma Ors. Vs. K. Devi Ors. AIR 1996 SC 1963, this Court held that Section 16 of the Act is not ultra vires of the Constitution of India. In view of the legal fiction contained in Section 16, the illegitimate children, for all practical purposes, including succession to the properties of their parents, have to be treated as legitimate. They cannot, however, succeed to the properties of any other relation on the basis of this rule, which in its operation, is limited to the properties of the parents. 24. In Rameshwari Devi Vs. State of Bihar Ors. AIR 2000 SC 735, this Court dealt with a case wherein after the death of a Government employee, children born illegitimately by the woman, who had been living with the said employee, claimed the share in pension/gratuity and other death-cum-retiral benefits along with children born out of a legal wedlock. This Court held that under Section 16 of the Act, children ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... void or which is annulled by a decree of nullity under Section 12, `any rights in or to the property of any person, other than the parents, in any case where, but for the passing of this Act, such child would have been incapable of possessing or acquiring any such rights by reason of this not being the legitimate child of his parents'. In the light of such an express mandate of the legislature itself there is no room for according upon such children who but for Section 16 would have been branded as illegitimate any further rights than envisaged therein by resorting to any presumptive or inferential process of reasoning, having recourse to the mere object or purpose of enacting Section 16 of the Act. Any attempt to do so would amount to doing not only violence to the provision specifically engrafted in Sub-section (3) of Section 16 of the Act but also would attempt to court relegislating on the subject under the guise of interpretation, against even the will expressed in the enactment itself. Consequently, we are unable to countenance the submissions on behalf of the appellants....... 26. This view has been approved and followed by this Court in Neelamma and others Vs. Saroj ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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