STATE OF MYSORE Vs. YALE MALLESAPPA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The above appeal has been filed by the State of Mysore against the judgment and decree dt.31-3-1965 passed in O.S.117 of 1964 on the file of the Civil Judge, Bellary. The said suit was originally filed on 21-9-1959 in the Court of the District Judge, Bellary, and was numbered as O.S. 8 of 1959. On the re-organisation of the jurisdiction of the Civil Courts in the State of Mysore by virtue of the Mysore Civil Courts Act, 1964, the said suit was transferred to the file of the Civil Judge, Bellary, for disposal and after such transfer it was numbered as O.S.117 of 1964.

(2.) The suit out of which this appeal arises was instituted by one Yele Malleshappa for a declaration that the lands set out in the plaint 1000 acres and 61 cents with an assessment of Rs.233-3-1 situate in the village of Singadevanahalli, Bellary Taluk. Bellary District, did not constitute an estate under the Madras Estates Land Act, 1908 (Madras Act 1 of 1908) (hereinafter referred to as the Estates Land Act), or an estate' within the meaning of the Madras Estates Land (Reduction of Rent) Act, 1947 (Madras Act 30 of 1947) (hereinafter referred to as the Reduction of Rent Act), or an mam estate within the meaning of the Madras Estates (Abolition and Conversion into Ryotwari) Act, 1948 (Madras Act 26 of 1948 (hereinafter referred to as the Abolition Act); for a permanent injunction restraining the State of Mvsore, the defendant in the suit, from interfering with the enjoyment and possession of the said lands by the plaintiff, for an account to be teken for ascertaining the rents realised from the lands during the management of the said lands by the defendant from 1950 upto date of suit; and for a decree for the payment of the said sum which might be ascertained in taking such account to the plaintiff. The said Yele Malleshappa having died in the course of the pendency of the suit, his legal representatives were brought on record on 2-8-1961.

(3.) The case of the plaintiff as set out in the plaint was that certain inam lands in the village of Singadevanahalli also known as Bhatrahalli were enfranchised as personal inams under two title deeds Nos.4045 and 4046 at the time of inam settlement in 1963. According to the plaint, the title deed No.4045 was issued in respect of about 1099 acres and 25 cents of land and the title deed No.4046 was issued in respect of about 1308 acres and 47 cents of land. The lands thus enfranchised did not constitute an estate either under the Estates Land Act or under the Reduction of Rent Act. It was alleged that the original grantees of the inams and their successors in title dealt with and enjoyed the said lands as owners by exercising the right of transfer intervivos by gift, lease, mortgage, sales and by testamentary disposition without any interference by the Government.