RAJABALA HALDAR Vs. PADMABATI DASSI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) These nineteen appeals arise out of as many suits brought by the Plaintiff-Appellant for recovery of khas possession and in the alternative for assessment of fair rent.

(2.) The disputed lands are situate in touzi No. 46 of the Burdwan Collector ate of which the proprietor is Raja Kamala Ranjan Roy of Cossimbazar. Within the zemindary one Bindu Basini Dassi held a patni called patni lot Kulti. The Plaintiff's case is that the suit lands lie within the aforesaid patni taluk and that at a patni sale held on the 2nd Jaistha, 1343 B.S. (May 16, 1936), one Gosto Behari Ghosal purchased the entire patni free from encumbrances; that the said Gosto Behari Ghosal transferred patni lot Kulti to the Plaintiff by a registered kabala, dated the 8th Aswin, 1344 B.S. (September 24, 1937); that the suit lands lie within the regularly assessed mahal of the Plaintiff and are assessable to rent; that in the settlement record-of-rights, all the suit lands were wrongly recorded as nishkar (raiyat or tenure-holder); that the Plaintiff same to know of the wrong entries on October 6, 1943, and thereafter demanded possession from the Defendants on April 9, 1944, and on their refusal to vacate the lands, the Plaintiff brought the resent suits for possession and in the alternative for assessment of rent. The Plaintiff claimed damages for use and occupation for a period of three years prior to the suits.

(3.) The defence set up by the Defendants is that the Defendants are a possession of the suit lands in lakhiraj (revenue-free) right from the time of the Permanent Settlement of Bengal and as such they are entitled to hold the suit lands free from the obligation of paying rent at any time.