A village held under a permanent under-tenure is not a zamindari estate but an under-tenure estate under the Madras Estates Land Act.

Judgement

SUBBA RAO, J. : This appeal by certificate raises the question whether the village of Mothirambedu is a zamindari estate under the Madras Estates (Abolition and Conversion into Ryotwari) Act, 1948 (Madras Act XXVI of 1948), hereinafter called the Act.

2. The facts may be briefly stated. Mothirambedu village is one of the shrotriem villages in the Chingleput district in the State of Madras. The respondent purchased the same from one P. Anathapadma-nabacharlu under a sale deed, dated July 10, 1946, for a sum of Rs. 26,000, and was in possession and enjoyment thereof. On December 12, 1950, the Government of Madras issued a notification under Section 3 of the Act taking over the said village as a zamin estate. The Government took possession of the same on January 3, 1951. On March 15, 1954, the respondent filed O. S. No. 22 of 1954 in the Court of the Subordinate Judge, Chingleput, againt the State of Madras for a declaration that the said notification of his village as zamindari estate under the said Act was illegal and void. In the plaint he claimed that the said village was not an "estate" within the meaning of the Madras Estates Land Act and, therefore it did not vest in the State. But that plea was subsequently given up and nothing need be said in that regard. The State filed a written-statement asserting that the said village formed part of Tirumazhy Zamindari, that it was separately registered in the office of the Collector and that, therefore, it was a zamin estate within the meaning of the said Act.

3. The learned Subordinate Judge, Chingleput, held that the suit village was a zamin estate and that, therefore, the said notification was legal and binding on the respondent. On appeal, the High Court of Judicature at Madras held that it was not proved that the said village was a zamin village, but it was a whole inam village. On that finding it granted the plaintiff a declaration that the notification of the said village as a zamin estate under the Act was illegal and void, as the said village was a whole inam village. Hence the appeal.

4. Learned counsel for the State contended that the said village was included in the assets of the zamindari at the time of the permanent settlement, that it continued to be a part of the said estate till it was abolished under the Act.

5. Mr. T. V. R. Tatachary, learned counsel for the respondent, on the other hand, argued that the said village was granted as a shrotriem before the permanent settlement to a person holding the office of a Nattuvar, that though the said village was included in the assets of the zamindari, the pre-existing tenure was not disturbed, and that the grantee and his successors continued to hold the village as an under-tenure from zamindar, as by reason of the permanent settlement the zamindar became an intermediary. In short, his contention was that the said village was an undertenure estate falling under S. 3(2)(e) of the Madras Estates Land Act and that in any view, it had not been established that it was a zamin village.

6. Before we advert to the facts of the case it will be convenient to notice some of the aspects of law relevant to the said facts.

The Madras Estates Land Act, 1908 Section 3(2) "Estate" means-

(a) any permanently settled estate or temporarily settled zamindari;

(b) any portion of such permanently settled estate or temporarily settled zamindari which is separately registered in the office of the Collector;

(c) xx xx xx xx

(d) (As it stood before the Amending Act XVIII of 1936)

any village of which the land revenue alone has been granted in inam to a person not owning the kudiwaram thereof, provided that the grant has been made, confirmed or recognized by the British Government of any separated part of a village.

(After the Amending Act XVIII of 1936)

any inam village of which the grant has been made, confirmed or recognized by the British Government, notwithstanding that subsequent of the grant, the village has been partitioned among the grantees or