Judgment

GAJENDRAGADKAR, C.J.I.: The appellant Prabhu is the owner of agricultural land bearing Khasra Nos. 224,215, 244, 299, 320, 506,617 and 687 situated in village Milakpur, Tehsil Behror, District Alwar, in the State of Rajasthan. The appellant s father Jora had executed a usufructuary mortgage of the said land in about 1936 for a period of twenty years in favour of one Ganga Din,. After the expiry of the period prescribed by the said mortgage, the appellant obtained a decree for redemption on July 16, 1956. This decree declared that the mortgage and all encumbrances created by the mortgagee or any person claiming under him were extinguished and directed the mortgagee to deliver possession of the mortgaged property to the appellant.

2. It appears that during the continuance of the mortgage, the mortgagee Ganga Din had let out the aforesaid land to respondents 1 to 3 Ramdev. Yadram and Nathu, respectively

3. Meanwhile, on October 15, 1955 the Rajastan Tenancy Act, 1955 (No. 3 of 1955) (hereinafter called the Act ) had come into force. On July 28, 1956, the appellant instituted the present suit for possession of the land in question against the three respondents. This suit was tried by the Sub-divisional Officer. In this suit the appellant had alleged that after the redemption decree had been passed in favour of the appellant, the respondents had in fact delivered possession of the property to the appellant, but a few days thereafter they had trespassed into the property and obtained its possession wrongfully. This plea was resisted by the respondents on the ground that they had not surrendered possession of the property to the appellant as alleged by him and that under the relevant provisions of the Act they were entitled to remain in possession of this property. On these pleadings the learned Sub-Divisional Officer framed two issues. They were:

No. 1. Whether the respondents are trespassers in respect of the fields and are liable for ejectment; and

No. 2. to what relief, if any, the appellant is entitled to ?

He found that the respondents were not trespassers as alleged by the appellant and as such the appellant was not entitled to any relief. In the result, the appellant s suit was dismissed.

3a. Against this decision the appellant preferred an appeal before the Additional Commissioner, Ajmer. The appellate authority reversed the finding of the trial Court and held that the appellant was entitled to eject the respondents. The respondents challenged the correctness of this order by preferring a second appeal before the Board of Revenue for Rajasthan, Ajmer. Their appeal succeeded and in consequence, the order passed by the appellate authority was set aside and that passed by the trial Judge was restored. The Board has held that by virtue of the provisions of S. 15 of the Act, the possession of the respondents was unassailable and they could be ejected only in accordance with the relevant section of the said Act. Since none of the ground available to the appellant under the Act had been proved, he was not entitled to a claim for ejectment.

4. The validity of the Board s decision was challenged by the appellant by moving the Rajasthan High Court in its writ jurisdiction under Art. 226 of the Constitution. It was urged by the appellant before the High Court that the order passed by the Board was plainly erroneous in law and as such should be set aside. This petition, however, failed and was dismissed by the High Court. It is against this decision that the appellant has come to this Court by special leave.

5. The relevant facts, in the light of which the question of law raised before us by Mr. Misra on behalf of the appellant has to be considered, are no longer in dispute. The appellant s father created a usufructuary mortgage of the land and during the continuance of the said mortgage the respondents were admitted as tenants. The mortgage was eventually redeemed and in spite of the redemption decree the respondents continued in poss