Judgement

SUBBA RAO, J. : This appeal by special leave raises mainly the question whether a civil Court had jurisdiction to entertain the suit filed by the respondents for the recovery of possession of the plaint-schedule land and mesne profits.

2. The relevant facts may be briefly stated: The respondents, claiming to be the khatedars of an extent of 57.07 acres of land in Mauza Bhanpur, Tahsil Huzur, Western District Bhopal filed a suit against the appellant on the ground that the latter was in illegal possession thereof. The appellant contested the suit mainly on the ground that he was the khatedar of the said land and that he was in possession thereof in that capacity. He also pleaded that his title to the property was declared by the Tahsildar in an application for ejectment filed by him against the respondents under the Bhopal State Land Revenue Act, 1932 (Act, No. IV of 1932), hereinafter called the Act, and that the said decision would be a bar to the maintainability of the suit in a civil Court.

3. The learned Subordinate Judge, Bhopal, held that the respondents were the khatedars of the suit land and that they had been in possession thereof in that capacity. He held that the