Judgment

SHAH, J. :

Two questions fall to be determined in this appeal:

1. whether the suit instituted by the respondent G. V. Suryanarayana Garu against the State of Madras was liable to be dismissed because of absence of identity between the persons who served the notice under S. 80 Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 and the person who sued; and

2. whether the lands in dispute covered by title deed No. 279 in Mallinadhapuram constitute an "estate" within the meaning of S. 3(2)(d) of the Madras Estates Land Act, 1908.

2. By order dated January 11, 1950 the Government of Madras applied the provisions of the Madras Estates Rent Reduction Act 30 of 1947 to the lands in the village Mallinadhapuram on the footing that the grant was of the whole village, and hence an estate within the meaning of S.3(2)(d) of the Madras Estates Land Act, 1908, and thereby sought to prevent the Inamdars from collecting contractual or customary rent from the tenants who held the lands under the Inamdars.

3. G. V. Suryanarayana Garu and Prabha Yegneswara Sastri who collectively held 2-3/4 out of the 8 virttis constituting the inam thereupon served a notice under S. 80 Code of Civil Procedure upon the Government of the