The decision of the Revenue Court on the right to grant a patta is binding and constitutes res judicata in subsequent civil proceedings.

Phillips, J.

1. In this case the plaintiff (respondent) instituted a suit in a Revenue Court under Section 55 of the Estates Land Act. His suit in respect of the plaint land was dismissed on the ground that he was not entitled to demand a patta. He has brought the present suit to obtain possession of the suit land, and the question that now arises for decision is whether the decision in the prior suit in the Revenue Court is res judicata or not. The Section applicable is Section 189 (3) of the Estates Land Act. It says:

The decision of a Revenue Court or of an appellate or revisional authority in any suit or proceeding under this Act on a matter falling within the exclusive jurisdiction of the Revenue Court shall be binding on the parties thereto and persons claiming under them in any suit or proceeding in a Civil Court in which such matter may be in issue between them.

2. This question has been considered in several cases, but in most of these cases the circumstances were not the same as here. In Ramadina Das Gosayiji Garu v. Boishamo Mundalo (1921) 14 L.W. 251 and Second Appeals Nos. 1002 and 1213 of 1916 on the file of the High Court the prior litigation in the Revenue Court had been in respect of commutation of rent and it was held in a subsequent suit in a Civil Court that the decision as to title in the Revenue Court did not constitute res judicata as it was a decision on a matter which did not fall within the exclusive jurisdiction of the Revenue Court. Second Appeal No. 786 of 1919 on the file of the High Court was concerned with the decision in a suit for rent for a particular fasli and the same view was held. In all these cases it is clear that the question decided in the Revenue Court was not one falling within its exclusive jurisdiction so far as those suits were concerned. There is, however, a decision in Appa Rao v. Gurraju (1920) I.L.R. 43 M. 859 : 39 M.L.J. 476 in which the facts are very similar to the present; the suit in the Revenue Court in that case being one under Section 58 of the Estates Land Act for enforcing a patta, and it was there held that the decision of the Revenue Court on the title to the land or occupancy rights was not res judicata in a subsequent suit in a Civil Court. Sadasiva Aiyar, J., who delivered the leading judgment, has unfortunately based his judgment on a misapprehension that Section 11 of the Civil Procedure Code is not applicable to proceedings under the Estates Land Act, although it is expressly made applicable under Section 192. He accordingly came to the conclusion that Section 189(3) was enacted in the place of Section 11, Civil Procedure Code, and was not intended to go beyond Section 11 and to constitute the decisions on issues arrived at in the Revenue Court in suits cognizable exclusively by the Revenue Court binding on a Civil Court as res judicata, Spencer, J., no doubt held that the decision as to title in the Revenue Court was a decision on an incidental matter inasmuch as the patta had been ordered and its provisions were settled. If in the present case the decision as to the occupancy right of the plaintiff can be deemed to be on an incidental matter, I entirely agree that it would not constitute res judicata in subsequent civil proceedings. I am, however, of opinion that it is not a decision on a mere incidental matter, but a decision on a matter falling within the exclusive jurisdiction of the Revenue Court. Under Section 57, in adjudicating suits under Sections 55 and 56, the Collector shall first inquire whether the party sued is bound to grant or accept a patta and, unless this be proved, the suit shall be dismissed.

3. A suit for the grant of a patta lies within the jurisdiction of the Revenue Courts and cannot be brought in a Civil Court under Section 189(1) of the Estates Land Act. When the legislature lays down that in such a suit the Revenue Court must decide in the first place whether the party sued is bound to grant or accept a patta, it seems to me