STATE Vs. NARAYANDAS

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS is an appeal by the State Government from the decree for possession and a consequential relief.

(2.) THE property in dispute is mouza Dundal Kheda, Tahsil and district Seoni, It consists of forest area comprising 815.40 acres. Formerly the area was 803 acres, over which Raja Gokuldas and his nephew, Rai Bahadur (subsequently Diwan Bahadur) Seth Ballabhdas claimed proprietary interest. Their claim was negative by Government, Ultimately the dispute was settled, whereby they were granted perpetual lease of the area, subject to their payment of an annual premium. Subsequently the area was allotted to Raja Gokuldas in the family partition

(3.) ON coming into force of the Madhya Pradesh Abolition of Proprietary Rights (Estates, Mahals and Alienated Lands) Act, 1950 (I of 1951), the State Government took possession of the village and of the timber felled by the plaintiffs. Subsequently the State Government permitted the plaintiffs to remove the cut timber on payment of Rs. 1 per diem. They removed a part of the stock but did not appropriate the remainder. Thereafter they sued the State Government for possession of the village, and for recovery of Rs. 1,500 as the price of the remaining timber and of Rs. 400 as the estimated profits of the village for the year 1951 -52. Barring the claim for Rs. 400, the plaintiffs' suit was allowed by both the Courts below.