This civil revision petition has been filed against the decision of the Subordinate Judge of Vizagapatam in A.S. No. 145 of 1944 affirming the decree of the District Munsif in a suit for rent for 1939-1940 and 1940-41 in respect of certain lands situated in the zamindari village of Madgole. The amount of the claim was less than Rs. 500 and hence the case comes to this Court by way of a civil revision petition. The contention of the defendants, here petitioners, is that the lands in respect of which rent is claimed are ryoti lands, that they are tenants with a permanent right of occupancy and that the suit for rent was cognizable only by a revenue Court. The respondent’s case, accepted by the Courts below, is that the lands are his private lands and the suit for rent was therefore rightly filed in the Civil Court. It is stated for the petitioners that this finding is erroneous and that the lower appellate Court has misdirected itself in law in arriving at this conclusion.

There was some discussion at the bar as regards the scope of the revisional jurisdiction of this Court in cases like the present, the respondents’ contention being that the findings of the lower appellate Co