RAJA OF RAMNAD, TRUSTEE, RAMANATHAPURAM DEVASTHANAM AND CHATRAMS, BY DEWAN Vs. STATE OF MADRAS BY REVENUE SECRETARY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE petitioner is the Raja of Ramnad and he files this petition in his capacity as the sole and hereditary trustee of the Ramanathapuram Devasthanam and Chatrams. The petitioner was the hereditary trustee of several devasthanams each of which owned estates which had been notified and taken over by the Government. The claim of the petitioner is that the compensation payable' to the several institutions of which he is the trustee has not been calculated in accordance with law and that a much lesser sum than that which is legally due is being paid. The relief, therefore, which he seeks is the issue of "a writ of mandamus or other appropriate direction directing the State of Madras " to calculate the compensation payable to the institutions under Sections 38(2) and 54(1) of Act XXVI of 1948 by reference to the original rate unreduced by Act XXX of 1947 and to make payment thereof or in the alternative to take into account the compensation provided in Section 5(1) of Act XXX of 1947 and to make payment accordingly. In the affidavit in support of the petition he has set out in Schedule A the villages which have been taken over by the Government and the several temples and chatrams to whom these villages belong. The number of these institutions is numerous.

(2.) WHEN the petition in this form was filed, the office raised an objection that a single petition was not maintainable and that as the petitioner was asserting his rights as trustee of distinct institutions his right to relief in respect of these institutions could not be clubbed together so as to enable him to file a single petition. As learned Counsel for the petitioner contested this position, the matter has been placed before me for orders.