Judgment

MAHAJAN J. : These appeals are directed against the judgment and decrees of the High Court of Judicature at Calcutta, dated 23rd February 1945 reversing the judgment and decrees passed by the District Judge of Birbhum dated 16th December 1936. The principal questions for determination are the same in all of them and can be conveniently disposed of by one judgment.

2. It is necessary to set out briefly the history of this half a century old litigation. The seven suits out of which arise Appeals Nos. 68 to 74 were filed in September 1904 by Maharaja Bahadur Singh, in the Court of the different Munsifs at Rampurhat, against Raja Ranjit Singh Bahadur, deceased, and others, for a declaration of his title to the lands mentioned in the different suits and for mesne profits from the year 1899 till recovery of possession. It was alleged that the lands in the several suits were chowkidari Chakran lands within the plaintiff s patnidari, granted to his predecessors in interest on 14th November 1853 by the ancestors of the defendant, that as the lands were in possession of village watchmen, on service tenures, they were excluded from assessment of land revenue and no rent was paid on the