Alfred Henry Lionel Leach, C.J.

1. This appeal arises out of a suit filed in the Court of the Subordinate Judge of Nellore by the appellant against the Secretary of State for India in Council (the first respondent) and Yettigadda Audemma (the second respondent), for a declaration that an order of the Local Government granting a mining lease to Yettigadda Audemma is illegal and for a decree for specific performance of a contract which he alleged had been entered into between him and the Local Government for a lease of the area in suit. In 1903 the Local Government granted a mining lease of the area known as Survey No. 499 to one R.V. Kuppuswami Aiyar. The lessee subsequently transferred this lease to the appellant company. In 1904 the Local Government granted a mining lease in respect of the area known as Survey No. 500 to Kalappa Chetti, the husband of the second respondent. Kalappa Chetti is now dead and the lease of this area has vested in the second respondent. From the second respondents area a strip of land three furlongs in length and 133 feet in breadth, lying on the boundary of Survey No. 499, was excluded from, Kalappa Chettis lease. This area has been referred to a