Judgement

BOSE J: This judgment will also govern Petitions Nos. 287, 288, 289 and 304 of 1955.We will set out the facts in petition No. 286 of 1955. The others follow the same pattern.

2. The dispute is about fishery rights in the Chilka lake which is situated in what was once the estate of the Raja of Parikud. This estate vested in the State of Orissa under the Orissa Estates Abolition Act, 1951 (Orissa Act 1 of 1952) on 24-9-1953 and has now ceased to exist in its original from. The Act came into force on 9-2-1952.

3. The further facts are set out in paras 2 and 3 of the petition in the following terms :

"That the petitioners carry on the business of catching and selling fish particularly form fisheries within the said lake.

That long before the vesting of the estate the petitioners had entered into contracts with the ex-proprietor and had obtained from the latter, on payment of heavy sums, licenses for catching and appropriating all the fish from the fisheries detailed in the schedule given in the accompanying affidavit and had obtained receipts on payment in accordance with the prevailing practice.

4. The lake is divided into sections and this petition is concerned with four of them.