SAKHARAM GOVIND PAGE Vs. TRIMBAKRAO RAMCHANDRARAO MANTRI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) In this suit the plaintiff sought to recover Rs. 141-13-0 alleged to have been wrongfully recovered from him by the defendant as assessment on lands Survey Numbers 288 and 885 in the village of Bagni. He also prayed for an injunction restraining the defendant from recovering assessment in future. The plaintiff alleged that the defendant s ancestors had conferred upon his ancestors the "Inam and Mirasi" rights in those lands and that by virtue of that grant the defendant was precluded from recovering from him any assessment.

(2.) The matter arose in the year 1908 owing to the extension of the survey settlement to the village of Bagni. It is not disputed that up to that date no assessment had been paid on the lands in suit. The defendant is the Saranjamdar of the Bagni village and as such is the alienee of the revenue of the entire village. He contended, in the first instance, that the alleged grant is not made out, and, secondly, that he was not bound by any grant made by his predecessors owing to the nature of his tenure. The other points raised are not material for the purposes of the present appeal.

(3.) In the trial Court the Subordinate Judge held that there had been a grant of the nature alleged; he relied upon Exhibit 23 which, was an extract of the village accounts of the year 1829 showing that an ancestor of the plaintiff held 11 bighas of land rent-free. He further relied upon the fact that admittedly no assessment had been charged upon the lands from time immemorial. It does not appear that the identity of the lands in suit, described in Exhibit 23, was disputed in the trial Court. The Subordinate Judge says that admittedly these were the lands in suit, and the plaintiff s evidence to that effect was not challenged in cross-examination.