Judgement

Appeal (No. 11 of 1926) from a decree of the High Court (August 4, 1924) reversing a decree of the District Judge of Murshidabad (December 9, 1921) which reversed a decree of the Subordinate Judge of Murshidabad.

The suit was brought by the appellants on June 29, 1917, for declarations (a) that the company was an occupancy raiyat not a tenure-holder of Char Narainpur, and (b) that the entry in the record-of-rights prepared under the Bengal Tenancy Act, 1885, that the company was a tenure-holder of the lands was a nullity. The record-of-rights in question had been published in 1915, and the land in suit was about 800 bighas in area.

In addition to the respondent, who alone contested the suit, there were joined as defendants the zamindar and all persons claiming to hold as tenants of the land in suit.

The facts of the case and the issues framed appear from the judgment of the Judicial Committee.

The Subordinate Judge dismissed the suit. He was of opinion that the plaintiffs predecessors, the Menasakkans, had first acquired the land in 1841 under an ijara from Government as rent collectors, and that consequently, having regard to s. 5 of the Act, they were tenure-holders eve