ULLAL VENKATRAYA KINI Vs. LOUIS SOUZA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) In this revision petition the true scope of some of the provisions in the Madras Cultivating Tenants Protection Act, 1955(which shall be hereinafter called the 'Act') comes up for consideration.

(2.) The petitioner is the plaintiff in Small Cause Suit No. 72/1958 on the file of the learned Second Additional Subordinate Judge of South Karana, Mangalore. He sued the defendant who is his tenant, for a sum of Rs. 790.52 NP, as being the arrears of rent for the years 1956, 1957 and 1958, on the basis of a chalgeni lease deed alleged to have been executed by the defendant on 26-9-1950. The defendant denied the genuineness of the lease deed produced. He alleged that the plaintiff had taken his thumb impression on a blank paper and the same must have been used to get up the lease deed in question. He further pleaded that the claim made in the present suit is barred by the principle of res judicata, in view of the decision given by the Special Assistant Commissioner in O. P. No. 386/58 on his file.

(3.) The trial Court rejecting the contentions of the defendant, held that the lease deed is genuine and binding against the defendant. But it dismissed the plaintiff's suit on the ground that the same is barred by the principle of res judicata by virtue of the decision in O. P. No. 386/59 on the file of the Special Assistant Commissioner, Mangalore. This conclusion is challenged.