APTE, J. :- This is an appeal by the original plaintiff whose suit for declara­tion that a certain order passed by the Government was illegal and void and for certain other reliefs has been dis­missed by the trial Court on preliminary grounds that the jurisdiction of the Civil Court to entertain the suit was barred under the provisions of S. 4 of the Reve­nue Jurisdiction Act and the suit was also barred by res judicata in view of the decision of the High Court in Special Civil Application No. 1426 of 1962, D/- 8-12-1964 (Bom).

2. The facts giving rise to this litiga­tion may now be summarised.

3. The suit property consists of 13 different pieces of agricultural land situate at Mamurabad in the District and Taluka Jalgaon. These lands altoge­ther measure 18 acres 15 gunthas. One of these 13 lands bears Survey Ho. 491. It is not necessary to give the numbers of the other twelve lands.

4. It is common ground that these 13 lands were formerly held as ' Gao Hal' (inam land). Accordingly, the grantee of these lands was under an obligation to supply water to the villagers of Mamu­rabad which is a service useful to the village community.

5. It appears from the record that on September 29, 1881, a ' Sanad' was grant­ed in the name of the Secretary of State in Council in respect of these lands and from the register of alienation it ap­pears that the same was granted in fa­vour of one Keshav Devji Bhola.

6. It appears that in course of time the lands changed hands and ultimately they came into possession of the present defendant No. 2, Laxman Shama Dhake, since 1936, pursuant to an order passed toy the Prant Officer and these lands were also entered in the revenue records in the name of defendant No. 2. It appears that in 1947, a dispute arose between the villagers on one side and the present defendant No. 2 on the other. Ultimately, however, an agreement was reached between the Gram Panchayat as representing the villagers and defen­dant No. 2 on November 10, 1948. Under this arrangement, defendant No. 2 agreed to retain possession of Survey No. 491 while the remaining 12 pieces of land were surrendered by defendant No. 2 to the Gram Panchayat. Accordingly these lands were also entered in their respec­tive names in the Record of Rights.

7. In 1953 the then Government of Bombay by an Act, called Bombay Service Inams (Useful to Community) Abolition Act, 1953 (Bombay Act No. LXX of 1953), (hereinafter called ' Bombay Inams Abolition Act' ), abolished all service inams with effect from 1-4-1954 on which date the said Act came into force.

8. Section 4 (1) of the said Bombay Inams Abolition Act made all service inam villages and service inam lands which had been adjudicated under R. 8 of Sch. B to the Bombay Rent-free Es­tates Act, 1852, liable to payment of land revenue in accordance with the provi­sions of the Code (the Land Revenue Code of 1879) and the rules made there­under and at the same time the provi­sions of that Code and the rules relating to unalienated lands were made applic­able to such villages and lands.

9. It is common ground that the lands with which we are concerned in the pre­sent case do not fall in the category of lands to which S. 4 applies and, there­fore, we need not dwell at great length on this section.

10. Under S. 5 (1) of the said Bom­bay Inams Abolition Act, all service inam lands which had not been adjudi­cated under R. 8 of Sch. B to the Bom­bay Rent-free Estates Act, 1852, were by that section resumed and were made liable to the payment of land revenue under the provisions of the aforesaid Code and the rules made thereunder and the provisions of the Code and the rules relating to the unalienated lands were made applicable to such lands. Sub-sec. (2) of that section provides that a service inam land resumed under the provisions of sub-s. (1) shall be regranted to the holder on payment of the oc­cupancy price equal to six times the amount of the full assessment of such land within 5 years from the appointed