JUDGMENT

Lord Radcliffe, J. - This appeal is concerned with the legal status of two parcels of land comprising 3.90 acres in all in he village of Byree, Killa Darpan, District Cuttack, Orissa. These two parcels, which may conveniently be referred to as "the disputed area," are themselves part of a Plot No.1990-2401 in the same village, the plot lying to the west of the Bengal - Nagpur Railway line which intersects the village. The documents in this case, not excluding the judgments, do not make it always an easy task to determine whether the whole Plot No. 1990-2401 is not more properly the subject of dispute than that portion of it which is described as the disputed area. In fact all the relevant evidence bears as much upon the status of the larger as of the smaller area. However, that may be, the Appellants' case is that the disputed area must be recognised in law as a cremation ground of the village and that, it being so, no part of the site can be made available for the purpose of private industry. The Respondents Rangalal, Lachminarayan and Balu Ram, on the other hand, maintain that the disputed area has been validly granted to them or some of them by the Zamindar of the Killa