JUDGMENT

Bennet, J. - This is a Letters Patent appeal by the defendants against a judgment of a learned single Judge of this Court, finding in favour of the plaintiff in regard to the claim of the plaintiff for the removal of a drain made by defendant across a courtyard on which the houses of the parties abut. The drain was made with permission from the Municipal Board of Meerut. The courtyard is connected with a road, and the finding of the lower appellate Court is:

Once this courtyard belonged to the plaintiff, but in 1910 the Municipal Board of Meerut paved it out of Municipal funds and since then it became a public street,

I hold that the plaintiff is not now the owner of this lane, but its proprietorship is now vested at least since 1910 with the Municipal Board of Meerut.

2. Both the lower Courts dismissed the suit of the plaintiffs, but the learned single Judge of this Court has found in favour of the plaintiff in regard to this drain. He has arrived at that finding on a consideration of the definition of street. In the Municipalities Act (Act 2 of 1916) the definition of public street is as follows:

Public street means a street (a) which is declared a public street by the Board