Joint Hindu family property after partial partition turns on overall evidence, not record descriptions, where separation in interest is indicated.

After a partial partition in a joint Hindu family, the continued joint or separate character of the remaining property depends on the whole evidence, and survivorship cannot be inferred merely from joint descriptions in records. The court considered the Record of Rights, the widow's later entry, Krishnarao's separate savings and money-lending business, and the surrounding conduct, and found the circumstances pointed away from survivorship and towards separation in interest. Narayan and Krishnarao were therefore not joint tenants in the suit property, survivorship did not apply, and the lower appellate court's decree was upheld.

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Issues: Whether Narayan and Krishnarao continued to hold the suit property as joint tenants so that, on Krishnarao's death, the property devolved by survivorship on Narayan.

Analysis: The suit lands were ancestral and the family had earlier effected a partial partition of the jahagir income, after which some brothers separated in respect of the remaining property. The question whether the surviving brothers retained joint status had to be decided on the evidence of each case. The entries in the Record of Rights, the widow's subsequent entry, the separate savings and money-lending business of Krishnarao, and the surrounding conduct were all considered. On the whole evidence, the indication was against survivorship and in favour of separation in interest.

Conclusion: Narayan and Krishnarao were not joint tenants in the suit property, and survivorship did not apply.

Final Conclusion: The decree of the lower appellate court was upheld and the appeal failed.

Ratio Decidendi: After a partial partition in a joint Hindu family, the continued joint or separate character of the remaining property depends on the evidence as a whole, and survivorship cannot be inferred merely from joint descriptions in records where the surrounding circumstances point to separation.

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