KOCHUNNI KARTHA Vs. KRISHNA MARAR & OTHERS

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE short question in this case is whether the grant of land on what is known as viruthi (in this case by a temple, on Sankhu viruthi) creates a leasehold right in the property so as to make of it a holding within the meaning of section 2(1) of Act I of 1957. The Court below has, answering this question in the affirmative, construed the plaintiff's suit for possession of the land on the ground that the grantee has not merely alienated the land but has ceased to perform the services for which it was granted, as a suit for the eviction of a person from his holding and has stayed it under section 4 of the Act. In my view the court has answered the question wrongly. A viruthi is a service inam falling, as observed by Sadasiva Iyer C. J. in Kochupilla Kallyani v Lekshmi Thevi (25 T. L. R. 26 at page 29) within the third of the three classes into which service inams are divided in Lakhamgavda v Keshav Annaji (I. L. R. 28 Bom 305 at page 309), namely, the grant of an office, the performance of the duties whereof is remunerated by the use of the land. The exact words used by the learned Judge in defining viruthi lands are:

(2.) ONE of the incidents of a leasehold is that it is alienable like any other property unless there be a condition against alienation coming within the saving in section 10 of the Transfer of Property Act, but it is settled law that so far as viruthi land is concerned it is by its very nature inalienable - -see Kochupilla Kallyani v Lakshmi Thevi (25 T. L. R. 26) and Krishnaru Pandarathil v Parukutti Varisiaru (19 T. L. J. 1383 Full Bench). In Chacko Thommi v Kuruvilla Varkey (27 T. L. R. I) it is observed at page 3 that viruthi holdings are by immemorial usage inalienable and that the holders thereof are in the position of mere tenants at will. A tenant at will has not the right to enjoy the property for a certain time, and, as pointed out by Mulla in his commentary on the Transfer of Property Act (at page 589 of the 4th Edition) a tenancy at will is not really a leasehold.