G.R. Jagadisan, J.

1. In proceedings taken suo motu under Section 9 of Madras Act XXVI of 1948 the Miscellaneous Settlement Officer, Ramanathapuram, held that the Inam Village of Vellalankulam Vettuvankulam in Tirunelveli Taluk is not an "Inam Estate" within the definition of Section 2(7) of the Act. The State of Madras filed an appeal from the decision to the Estates Abolition Tribunal, Madurai. The Tribunal affirmed the decision of the Settlement Officer not for the reasons given by the Officer but on different grounds. Aggrieved by the decision of the Tribunals under the Act the State has preferred this appeal.

2. The only question that arises for decision is whether the village Vellalankulam Vettuvankulam is an "Inam Estate" under the Act.

3. Two conditions must be satisfied in order to bring an inam village within the definition of Section 2(7) of Madras Act XXVI of 1948 and they are, (1) the grant must have been made of a whole village or a named village and (2) the grant must have been of the melwaram alone to a person not owning the Kudivaram but not of the land itself. Section 3(2)(d) of the Madras Estates Land Act before its amendment in 1936 applied only to an inam