SENTHATHIKALAI PANDIYA CHINNATHAMBIAR Vs. VARAGUNA RAMA PANDIA CHINNATHAMBIAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an appeal under Section 51 Madras Estates (Abolition & Conversion into Ryot-wari) Act (Act 26 of 1948) (hereinafter called the "Act",) against the decision of the Tribunal to this Bench, which was constituted a Special Tribunal by the Hon'ble the Chief Justice under the said section.

(2.) Under Section 42 of the said Act, appellant 1 made an application to the Tribunal to direct payment of the entire sum of advance compensation deposited with the Tribunal in respect of the zamin estate of Sivagiri in Tinnevelly district. The zamin-dari of Sivagiri was taken over by the Government under the Act and a sum of Rs. 2,40,000 was deposited with the Tribunal as advance compensation. The father of appellant 1 Varaguna Rama pandia Chinnathambiar was the holder of the zamindari, which is an ancient impartible estate, included in the schedule to the Madras Impartible Estates Act (Act 2 of 1904). The management of the estate however was taken over in 1941 by the Court of Wards, at the request of the zamindar under the Madras Court of Wards Act (Act 1 of 1902) --vide Section 18. Appellant 1 is the eldest son of the zamindar. Respondent 1 In the appeal is the zamindar, who is a ward of the court of Wards and respondent 2 is his second son. On 5-2-1945, the zamindar executed a document, which is styled "relinquishment deed", Ex. A. 1, in favour of appellant 1, the eldest son and respondent 2, the second son represented by his guardian the eldest son. Under this deed, the zamindar purported to relinquish the said zamindari including the properties described in the schedule attached to the deed in favour of the two sons in consideration of : (1) a sum of Rs. 11,000 paid already to the father; (2) Rs. 4000 and Rs. 10,000 respectively to be paid to him and his second Rani as per the promissory notes executed by the eldest son on the same date 5-2-45; (3) a promise to pay an allowance of Rs. 300 per mensem to the zamindar and Rs. 450 per mensem to the second Rani for the first five years to commence from the date on which the estate is handed over by the Court of Wards; (4) an increased allowance of Rs. 700 per mensem for the second Rani after the first five years; (5) a right of residence in one of the palaces at Sivagiri for the zamindar and his second Rani and her sons and other members of the family with a right to ingress into and egress out of the residence; (6) other rights granted under the covenants made by the memorandum of agreement of 5-2-1045. The capitalised value of the maintenance and the lump sum payments made or agreed to be paid was over Rs. 1,70,000. The operative part of the deed is :

(3.) The memorandum of agreement referred to herein however was not filed. After this deed, the zamindar and his son made an application to the Court of Wards to release the estate from its management and to hand it over to the eldest son. This request was rejected by the Court of Wards by its order (Ex. B-1) dated 11-71945 as the relinquishment deed by the zamindar was void under Section 34, Court of Wards Act and was, therefore, inoperative to pass any title to the zamindari to the eldest son. There was an appeal to the Government against the decision of the Court of Wards but that appeal also was unsuccessful --vide proceedings of the Government (Ex. E-3) dated 27-2-1946.