S. H. SHETH, T. U. MEHTA, J.

( 1 ) THESE appeals arise under the following circumstances. The plaintiff in First Appeal No. 459 of 1964 is a forest contractor here in after referred to as the Contractor. One Arvindkumar Ambalal Purohit was the Dumaldar of Kosum and Chimli villages in the former Chhota Udepur State. He will be referred to hereinafter in this judgment as the Jagirdar. He held those villages as his proprietory Jagir. On 10th June 1948 Chhota Udepur State merged with the Province of Bombay. After merger the Government of Bombay recognized the Jagirdars rights to his Jagir. On 11th June 1954 the Jagirdar agreed to sell all the trees of Kosum and Chimli villages to the contractor. On 1st August 1954 the Bombay Merged Territories and Areas (Jagirs Abolition) Act 1953 (hereinafter referred to as the Jagir Abolition Act for the sake of brevity) came into force as a result of which the Jagirdars Jagir was abolished. On 28th August 1961 the Jagirdar executed in favour of the contractor a document by which he ratified the earlier agreement of 11th June 1954. It is the contractors contention that upon the abolition of the Jagirdars Jagir the latter became the occupant of all lan

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