KARANPURA DEVELOPMENT CO LTD Vs. STATE OF BEHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS suit was instituted by Karanpura Development Co. Ltd. , against the State of Bihar and various other defendants requiring the defendants to interplead concerning their respective claims to the sum of Rs. 21,03,293. 8 np. being rent and royalty for the period from May 5, 1953 to May 4, 1959. The other prayer is that upon delivering such rent and royalty in the aforesaid sum to such person or persons as the court may appoint less the costs of the plaintiff in the suit and less commission, the plaintiff be discharged from all liabilities to the defendants and each of them in respect of the rents and royalties payable by the plaintiff in respect of the leases.

(2.) THE plaintiff alleges in the plaint that at all material times Raja Bahadur of Ramgarh was the proprietor of Ramgarh Estate being Touzi No. 28 of the Collectorate of Hazaribagh in the State of Bihar till the Touzi vested in the State of Bihar under the Bihar Land Reforms Act, 1950 and notifications thereunder. The plaintiff further alleges in paragraph 2 of the plaint that the Raja Bahadur granted several leases in respect of coal in the said Touzi in favour of the plaintiff on various dates. In paragraph 3 of the plaint, the plaintiff alleges that by a purported conveyance dated January 4, 1949 executed by the Raja Bahadur in favour of the defendant no. 2, the Raja Bahadur purported to transfer or assign his right, title and interest under 22 Coal Mining Leases all dated June 17, 1948, out of the leases referred to in paragraph 2 in favour of the defendant no. 2. In paragraph 4 of the plaint it is alleged that out of 31 Coal Mining Leases purported to be assigned to the defendant no. 2 by the Raja Bahadur as mentioned in paragraph 3 of the plaint by several purported conveyances the defendant no. 2 purported to transfer to different companies being defendants nos. 3 to 11, its right, title and interest under 29 of such leases. In paragraph 4 of the plaint the plaintiff alleges that the plaintiff did not attorney tenancy to the defendants nos. 3 to 11 or any of them. The plaintiff further alleges that the said defendants are claiming from the plaintiff the rents and royalties payable under the leases so purported to have been assigned or transferred.

(3.) IN paragraph 5 of the plaint the plaintiff alleges that by notifications of the Bihar Land Reforms Act, 1950 published in the Bihar gazette of November 3, 1951, June 7, 1952 and September 17, 1952, it was declared that the respective estates of the Raja Bahadur, the defendant no. 2 and the defendants mos. 3 to 11 in the said Touzi no. 28 and in all the leases referred to above had with effect from the dates of such publication passed to and become vested in the defendant No. 1, State of Bihar under the provisions of the said Act. The plaintiff alleges in paragraph 5 of the plaint that the defendant State of Bihar is claiming that Touzi no. 28 is vested in the State of Bihar as from November 3, 1951 and that as from the said day it is exclusively entitled to all the rents and royalties payable in respect of all leases referred to in paragraph 2 of the plaint.