SC settles case filed before Independence!

The original suit was first decreed (ruled) on October 10, 1947 in favour of Gounder. Challenging the decree, Mudaliar filed an appeal in the Madras High Court the same year.

The High Court stayed the decree subject to the defendants (Mudaliar) depositing the decretal amount in the court. The High Court permitted Gounder to withdraw the said decretal amount after furnishing security to the satisfaction of the court.

One Ramaswami Gounder became the surety and gave his agricultural lands as security for the amount permitted to be withdrawn by Ammasai.

However, on an appeal from Mudaliar, the Madras High Court set aside the decree, but by that time Ammasai Gounder is said to have absconded with the decretal amount.

Consequently, Mudaliar filed a suit for recovery of the amount by sale of the lands offered as security by Ramaswami Gounder. The lands offered as security were sold by auction on November 16,1960 and and September 6,1991.

During the pendency of the said execution proceedings, the surety Ramaswami Gounder died and his widow Rajammal was impleaded as his legal representative.

On December 14, 1960, Rajammal moved an application in the civil court for setting aside the auction sale, but it was rejected on September 17, 1966.

She challenged the said dismissal before the High Court in 1966 which also dismissed her application on August 26, 1971.

Rajammal challenged the the High Court order in a special leave before the apex court in 1973. During the pendency of the said appeal, Rajammal also moved an application for scaling down the debt and setting aside the auction sale under the provisions of the Tamil Nadu Agriculturists Relief Act, 1938.

The apex court on November 7, 1986 dismissed Rajammal’s appeal, but however, referred the application for scaling down the debt and setting aside the sale under the Act, to the Subordinate Court, Coimbatore, for disposal.

During the pendency of the suit, Rajammal sold the lands which had been offered as security, as also some other properties in favour of one Chinna Pappu Gounder, brother of her husband Ramasami Gounder under registered settlement dated June 3, 1960.

As Rajammal and the legal heirs of Pappu Gounder filed several applications in the civil and high court, the matter kept pending for all these years before it came to the Supreme Court.

It was only on October 24, a bench of Justices R V Raveendran and Aftab Alam finally dismissed the petitions filed by Rajamma and upheld the auctioning of the property.