This is a first appeal and relates to a fishery known as Heingangpat, situated at village Heingang within the jurisdiction of the Police Station at Imphal, in Manipur. The area of the land covered by it is about 120 paris (about 300 acres).

2 In 1938 the plaintiffs representing 120 houses of the village and the pro forma defendants representing 40 houses applied to the President of the Manipur State Darbar for permission to convert the Fishery into arable lands, as there was scarcity of agricultural lands in the village. The defendants representing 260 houses of the village raised certain objections, but the President, Manipur State Darbar ordered the conversion, and the settlement of the lands with the plaintiffs and the pro forma defendants. It is also in the above-mentioned capacity that the present suit was prosecuted and defended by the respective parties under Or. 1 R. 8 C. P. C.

3 The principal defendants then appealed to the Maharajah, and the appeal was heard and decided by the Judicial Member, who was empowered to hear such appeals by the Maharajah, and the copy of the appellate order dated 21-7-1941 (Ext. D/A) shows that the order for conversion was maintained and