TANJORE PALACE DEVASTHANAM BY ITS HEREDITARY TRUSTEE RAJA SRI RAJARAM RAJAH SAHIB Vs. ESTATES ABOLITION TRIBUNAL BY CHAIRMAN AND ORS.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS petition raises for consideration the point regarding the construction of the Madras Estates Abolition Act (XXVI of 1948) which so far as I am aware has not yet come up for consideration before this Court.

(2.) THE petitioner is the hereditary trustee of the two Devasthanams managed by the Rajah of Tanjore. This petition has been filed to quash an order of the Estates Abolition Tribunal, Madurai, holding that 74.99 acres of land situated in the hamlet of Melveli Thottam forming part of village of Kasba Melveli Thottam was part of an inam estate which could validly be notified and taken over by Government under Act XXVI of 1948. The main village of Melveli Thottam included a hamlet which also went by the same name and it is common ground so far as this case is concerned that Melveli Thottam was the subject of an inam grant. What We are concerned with is the grant of two bits of land of an extent of 59.40 acres and 15.59 acres in the hamlet of Melveli Thottam. Though during the course of the enquiry before the Tribunal there appears to have been some controversy as to whether 74.99 acres which was the total extent of the grant to the two Devasthanams constituted the entirety of the hamlet, it is clear now that this extent merely represented a part only of the area of the hamlet. I shall now proceed to narrate the history of the grant in relation to the Devasthanams. These lands were granted in inam to the Devasthanam by the then Rajahs of Tanjore long before 1855. It is a well -known fact that all the lands including all the private lands of the Rajah were taken over by the East India Company as forfeited to them. It is also a matter of common knowledge that there was a rendition of these properties by the British Government in 1862. This rendition, however, was confined to what might be termed the private properties of the Rajah and the properties possessed by the Rajah as hereditary trustee were restored to him in 1863 and they have continued in their management ever since.

(3.) THE question which now arises for consideration is whether by reason of this grant by the British Government or its recognition or confirmation by it, the extent of 74.99 acres falls under Section 2(7) of the Estates Abolition Act so as to permit of its being notified and taken over by the Government under Sections 1(4) and 3 of the Act.