GOPALAKRISHNAN NAIR, J.

( 1 ) THIS is an appeal from the judgment of the Subordinate Judge, Eluru, who, on appeal, upheld the decision of the District Munsif, Tanuku, dismissing the plaintiffs application for a final decree in a suit for recovery of a sum of money by sale of a certain parcel of land which had been offered as security to the plaintiff by the defendants. The property which was offered as security for the debt had been admittedly held by the defendants-respondents as washer man service inam. It is also common ground that this land being a service inam, falls within the mischief of Section 5 of the Madras Hereditary Village-offices Act, III of 1895 which prohibits its alienation. This prohibition is founded on public policy which, aims at preventing dissociation from the office if the emoluments attached thereto, for such dissociation would impair the efficiency of the service to be rendered and thereby injuriously affect the interest of the sections of the community intended to be benefited by the service. In spite of the statutory prohibition against alienation of the land in question, an ex parte preliminary decree for its sale was passed in favour of the plaintiff

Click Here to Read the rest of this document