ACHUTANANDA PUROHIT Vs. STATE OF ORISSA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Three civil appeals, stemming from three revision petitions to the High Court of Orissa under the Orissa Estates Abolition Act, 1951 (Orissa Act I of 1952) (for short, the Act) have reached this Court thanks to special leave granted to the appellant, who is common in all the cases. The High Court, after deciding various issues remanded the cases to the Compensation Officer under the Act, after overruling most of the contentions pressed before it by the appellant.

(2.) Shri Achutanda Purohit, appellant, was the intermediary in respect of vast forests and other lands comprised in the estate of Jujumura in the district of Sambalpur. This estate vested in the State of April 1, 1960 by force of the Act and the crucial question agitated before us, consequently, turns on the quantum of compensation awardable under Chapter V of the Act. The appellant has received around Rupees 3,00,000/- but much more, according to him, is due and this controversy can be settled by examining his specific points.

(3.) Shri Purohit, appellant, is an Advocate by profession and is 83 years old. He has argued in person and with passion. We have listened with patience to all his submission, good, bad and indifferent. If we may anticipate ourselves, none of the nine submissions has appealed to us, save to the extent the High Court has upheld. Even so, a minimal narration of the facts and a brief consideration of each argument is necessary and we proceed to do so. While his arguments did not impress us, we were touched by his concluding words that he had been born and had grown in an adivasi village, in the only brahmin family and, in his evening years of life, proposed to give a substantial part of the compensation the State would give him for adivasi welfare. Although he waxed sentimentally on this note, he did not convince us on his contentions. With these prefatory observations, we proceed to formulate the many points urged and give our findings and reasons, one after the other.