Judgment

SUBBA RAO, J. : These six appeals by special leave were filed against the judgment of the Board of Revenue dated July 28, 1954.

2. The respondent was a Zamindar of Gadhi, Baghu and Santokpore Villages in Uttar Pradesh. He claimed that the plaint schedule lands were his Sir. The appellants set up a dispute claiming that they were admitted by the respondent as hereditary tenants and that they were in possession of the said lands. As the dispute was likely to cause breach of the peace, the Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Baghpat, took proceedings under S. 145 Code of Criminal Procedure, and attached the disputed lands on October 8, 1948 and directed them to be placed in possession of a superdgidar pending disposal of those proceedings. After making the necessary enquiry, by an order dated March 20, 1950, he found that the appellants were in possession of the said lands and declared that they were entitled to be in possession thereof until evicted therefrom in due course of law.

3. On June 30, 1950, the respondent filed six suits in the Revenue Court (Additional Collector, Meerut) against the appellants under S. 180 of the U. P. Tenancy Act (U. P. 17 of 1939), hereinafter called the Act, for evicting them from the said lands and for damages. He alleged therein that the disputed lands were his Sir lands and that the appellants trespassed on the same on the basis of a wrong order of the Criminal Court. The appellants pleaded, inter alia, that they had been admitted as hereditary tenants by the respondent after receiving from them a sum of Rs. 40,000 towards premium. The suits were consolidated, but were stayed on August 14, 1951 under R. 4 of the Rules made under the U. P. Ordinance No. III of 1951.On 22-9-1952, on an application made by the respondent, the Revenue Court ordered under Rule 5 for restarting the trial of the suits. After the said order, the Revenue Court transferred the suits to the Civil Court for retrial, but the first Additional Munsif, Ghaziabad, to whom the suits were transferred, held that the said suits were triable only by the Revenue Court and retransferred the same to that Court. The Additional Collector, Meerut, held, on evidence, that the said lands were Sir and Khudkasht of the respondent and that the appellants were not admitted thereto as hereditary tenants. The appellants preferred six appeals against the decrees of the Additional Collector in the six suits to the Court of the Commissioner at Meerut. The Additional Commissioner, who heard the appeals, held that one of the appeals filed by the legal representatives of Jahana, the plaintiff in the suit which gave rise to that appeal, had not been properly presented on the ground that Shri Brahmanand Sharma, Vakil, did not file in the suit any vakalat given to him by the legal representatives of the deceased and therefore the appeal had abated, and that as all the suits were consolidated with the consent of the parties, the decision in the suit became final and operated as res judicata in the other appeals. On the merits, he agreed with the trial court in holding that the lands in dispute were Sir and that the appellants were not hereditary tenants. Thereafter, the appellant preferred six second appeals against the said order of the Additional Commissioner to the Board of Revenue at Allahabad. The Board of Revenue accepted the findings of the two Courts, and also it negatived the plea raised by the appellants for the first time to the effect that the suits were not maintainable in the Revenue Court. In the result, the appeals were dismissed. The present appeals were filed against the order of the Board of Revenue.

4. The learned Counsel for the appellants raised before us the following contentions: (1) The appeal by the legal representatives of Jahana against the order of the Additional Collector, Meerut, was properly presented to the Court of the Commissioner; (2) assuming that the said appeal had abated, the decision of the Additional Collector in the