Legal representative substitution turns on statutory succession to the deceased's estate, not obsolete customary law.
A legal representative for substitution under Section 2(11) CPC includes heirs who represent the deceased's estate, not merely executors or administrators. The deceased's interest in the suit property was treated as a proprietary estate capable of devolution, so the petitioners could be impleaded in place of the deceased plaintiff. Succession was governed by the Hindu Succession Act, 1956, and not by the discarded Marumakkathayam customary rules; the petitioners, as relatives within the statutory line of succession, were recognised as heirs. The revisional court accordingly directed substitution of the petitioners as legal representatives.
Issues: (i) Whether the petitioners were the legal representatives of the deceased plaintiff within the meaning of Section 2(11) of the Code of Civil Procedure. (ii) Whether the deceased's interest in the suit property constituted an estate that devolved on the petitioners under the Hindu Succession Act, 1956 rather than under the discarded Marumakkathayam rule.
Issue (i): Whether the petitioners were the legal representatives of the deceased plaintiff within the meaning of Section 2(11) of the Code of Civil Procedure.
Analysis: A legal representative is one who represents the estate of a deceased person, and the expression extends beyond executors and administrators to heirs on whom the estate devolves. The deceased had an interest not merely in a right of worship but in the land surrounding the temple and the structures on it. Since the suit decree protected and regulated proprietary interests in that property, the deceased's interest was capable of representation in proceedings.
Conclusion: The petitioners were the legal representatives of the deceased plaintiff.
Issue (ii): Whether the deceased's interest in the suit property constituted an estate that devolved on the petitioners under the Hindu Succession Act, 1956 rather than under the discarded Marumakkathayam rule.
Analysis: The earlier Marumakkathayam concepts of tarwad, thavazhi, and succession through the female line had been abrogated by legislation. Succession to a Hindu's property was therefore governed by the Hindu Succession Act, 1956. Under its scheme, the deceased's relatives in the relevant line of succession were heirs, and the petitioners, being the daughters of the deceased's sister, fell within the class of heirs recognized by the Act. The objection based on the old customary law could not be accepted.
Conclusion: The deceased's interest constituted an estate, and it devolved on the petitioners under the Hindu Succession Act, 1956.
Final Conclusion: The revisional court interfered with the order refusing substitution, held that the petitioners were entitled to be impleaded as legal representatives, and directed their substitution in place of the deceased plaintiff.
Ratio Decidendi: For substitution, the decisive question is whether the applicant represents an interest in property that devolves as the deceased's estate under the governing succession law, and obsolete customary-law categories cannot defeat statutory succession.
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