Goutami Devi Sitamony vs Madhavan Sivarajan on 10 February, 1976
It is this view that was attacked in the appeal before the Division Bench of the Madras High Court. The Court took the view that a widow's suit with respect to her husband's estate, though filed by the widow as owner, can very well be deemed to have been instituted as a representative of the estate. Therefore when she died during the pendency of the suit the reversioner who succeeds to the property can step in and prosecute the suit as a person entitled to the estate which was till then represented by the widow. It would be Order XXII, Rule 10 of the Civil P. C. that would operate and not Rule 3 and it would be optional for the party seeking to continue the suit to come on record and prosecute the suit. It will be a matter of discretion for the court to permit him to come on record. Therefore the failure to come in under Order XXII, Rule 10 will not attract the consequences contemplated in Rule 9 (1) of Order XXII. We find no principle stated in this decision which goes against the view expressed by the Calcutta High Court in the decision in Kedarnath Kanoria v. Khaitan Sons & Co., AIR 1959 Cal 368.