VANNAVA RAGAYYA Vs. VUNNAVA HANUMAYYA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellants brought a suit in the Court of the Subordinate Judge, Guntur for possession of a village tank jointly with defendants 1 to 3. The case for the plaintiffs was that they along with defendants 1 to 3 entered into an agreement on 5th September, 1945 with the fourth defendant who then happened to be the President of the Panchayat Board pursuant to the direction of the then District Collector. The agreement in question provided inter alia for the maintenance of the tank by the washermen and for expending the income to be derived from the tank for the upkeep of the said tank. This was subject to the authority of the fourth defendant. In or about the year 1946 they left the village as they were boycotted by all the villagers for the reason that they refused to carry torches at Kolupulu. After one year they returned to the village and they were obstructed by defendants 1 to 3 in the enjoyment of the tank. Hence the suit.

(2.) The suit was contested on the ground that the plaintiffs abandoned the right to the use of the tank having left the village in the year 1946 and that they were not exercising any right over the tank. On these pleadings several issues were raised, one of them being whether the vesting of the suit tank by the Government in the Panchayat Board as set up by the defendants is true, valid and binding on the plaintiffs. The trial Court found that Exhibit A-1, conferred on the washermen the right to manage to tank and enjoy the profits subject to the obligation of repairing the tank and subject to the control of the Panchayat Board and that there was no abandonment of the rights under the agreement. The learned Judge however dismissed the suit as under section 77 of the Village Panchayats Act, 1950 all the tanks vested in the Village Panchayat.

(3.) In this appeal brought by the plaintiff it is argued by Mr. Ch. Ramakrishna Rao that the rights acquired under Exhibit A-1 are not defeated by section 77 of the Village Panchayat Act and that the plaintiffs could still exercise their rights subject to the authority of the President of the Panchayat Board. It is difficult to accede to this proposition. Section 77 of the Village Panchayats. Act is in these words: