Construction of grant to Inam Estate.

Ramachandra Iyer, C.J.-

This is an appeal under section 7 of Act XXX of 1956, filed by the landholders against the decision of the Special Tribunal at Madurai, functioning under that enactment, which held the village of Kothakudi in Mangulam Taluk in Madurai District to be an Inam Estate. The proceedings leading up to the present appeal has a chequered history. Soon after the enactment of the Abolition Act (Madras Act XXVI of 1948), the Assistant Settlement Officer, Manamadurai, who took action suo motu, held the village to be an Inam Estate.

There was an appeal from that decision to the Estates Abolition Tribunal at Madurai which by its order dated 16th January, 1951, found that the village was not an Inam Estate. That order was, however, set aside four years later at the instance of certain ryots in the village, who complained that they had no notice of the proceedings. Fresh evidence was allowed to be let in and the matter was ultimately remanded to the Assistant Settlement Officer for fresh consideration. He held that the Inam grant being of an entire village, it would be an “estate” under the provisions of the Madras Estates Land Act but that it would not be an Inam Estate under section 2 (7) of the Abolition Act, as, in his view, the land itself had been granted to the Inamdar. The ryots appealed. In the meanwhile Madras Act XXX of 1956 came into force. Conformably to it, the appeal was treated as an original application and, after following the prescribed procedure, the Special Tribunal, on a consideration of the entire evidence, came to the conclusion that the village was an Inam Estate. This conclusion has been challenged by the landholders on two grounds: (i) that the village of Kothakudi, at the time of the grant, was only a part of the larger village Sramam and that therefore it will not be an “estate” and much less an Inam Estate ; (ii) even if the grant is to be regarded as comprising . the entire village, inasmuch as the grant was of the land itself, it cannot be an Inam Estate.

Fortunately, a copy of the original deed of grant is available and it has been marked as Exhibit B-5. That shows that in the year 1802 the Raja of Ramnad made a gift of the village, comprising an area of about Acs. 43, 77 cents, after deducting Porambokes, to one Sivarama Vadhiyar on the day of the Lunar Eclipse that year. The grant is in Tamil and the subject-matter of the grant runs thus:

“The four boundaries of Kothakudi Uzhalankulam, situate in the village residential area of Mangala Nadu, are as follows: Lying to the east of Mudikkarai limits punja, puravu, and the tank channel of the village, west of the village tank eastern bund water belt and inner sluice and the northern channel, south of the drain channel of the field of Pudukulam and the border stone of the water belt area of Kothakudi and the pathway of the village of Kalli and north of the inner sluice in the water belt area of the southern bund of the village tank and the Tethamaram and the Melakal Kadakombu ; comprised within these four boundaries, the Kothakudi Uzhalankulam and Chinna Kothakudi and the inner Oorani, attached to it and Sithayadi orani, together with the nanja and punja lands, the fruit-bearing and timber trees, high level and low level lands, Natham, Chei, Thalai and Fishery rights in the tanks, the trees and the wells etc., and all the rights over the kudi, Padai, Pallu, Parai and all Samudhayam rights “with the eight kinds of enjoyment and ten kinds of possession” such as treasures, treasure troves, water, trees, stones etc., with powers of alienation by way of gift, exchange, sale, etc., snail be held and enjoyed permanently ...................”

The document describes itself as Bhoodhanam. The name of the village as well as; the boundaries thereof appear to indicate that the grant must have been of a whole village. But it has been argued that as the subject-matter of the grant is described as lying to the east of Punjai Puravu, the grant must have been only

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