Judgement

VENKATARAMA AYYAR, J. : This appeal raises a question of considerable importance as to the rights of holders of darmila or post-settlement inams of portions of a village under the Madras Estates (Abolition and Conversion into Ryotwari) Act, 1948 (Madras Act 26 of 1948), hereinafter referred to as the Act. The subject matter of this appeal is an one-sixteenth share in the village of Karuppur situated within the ambit of the Zamindari of Ramanathapuram.

The holders of this anicent Zamindari were, during the 18th Century, the vitual rulers of that part of South India, and were known as Sethupathis or the Lords of Rameswaram and the adjacent isles and seas. In 1757 Muthu Vijaya Raghunatha, the then Rajah of Ramanathapuram, made a grant of the whole of the village of Karuppur to a number of persons for various charitable purposes. In 1802, the estate was permanently settled, and an istimrari sanand was issued in favour of the Rajah.

Before that date, the donees under the grant of 175 representing an one-sixteenth share had abandoned the village, and in consequence, the inam had eo extanti been resumed. At the permanent settlement, this one-sixteenth part was included in the a