BISHUN PRASAD Vs. KAMTA PRASAD MISRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The respondents instituted a suit for recovery of possession over 2.82 acres of land covered by survey plot No. 166 in khata No. 126 in Mahal Gobindbigha. The mahal originally belonged to defendants fourth party and was sold for arrears of Government revenue in the year 1930 and purchased by the ancestor of defendant first party who obtained delivery of possession in July 1930. The cause of action for the suit was that the ancestor of the defendant second party was set up as a tenant of the land and as the result of a criminal proceeding started in July 1933, the Criminal Courts passed an order under Section 145 declaring the possession of the defendant second party with the result that the plaintiffs were dispossessed on 20 July 1933.

(2.) The plaintiffs case was that the disputed land known as Jagir Badal Singh was a grant made by Government to Havildar Badal Singh, an invalided soldier, under the provisions of regulations for invalided sepoys and was a tenure existing from the time of the Permanent Settlement and wag protected from annulment after the revenue sale of 1930--the land was admittedly acquired by the ancestor of the plaintiffs some time in 1872. The defence to the action was that the jagir was not a grant made to any invalided soldier and did not exist from the time of the Permanent Settlement and was not a protected interest within the meaning of Section 37, Revenue Sale Law, and that it was properly annulled after due notice had been given to the Jagirdar. Before the trial Court it was not disputed that the land in suit appertained to Jagir Badal Singh Havildar. He found from an examination of two old documents, Ex. 3 and Ex. 4, that the Jagir was created some time before February 1800. Ex. 3 which is a certified copy of a register containing a list of the jagirs granted to various invalided soldiers of Pargana Salemabad by the Government contains a note that the specified area of jagir land was granted to Badal Singh Havildar in Gobind Bigha. Ex. 4 is a certified copy of an entry in the register maintained by the Collector from 1200 to 1235 Fasli and Ex. 5 is the Batwara Rubakar on partition of Mahal Gobind Bigha.

(3.) Each of these documents shows that the village Gobinda Bigha was first temporarily settled with Dhrub Singh, who later on surrendered the estate, which then remained for some years in the khas possession of the Government. But, later on, when Dhrub Singh agreed to the terms of the engagement offered by the Government the village was permanently settled with him on 9 December 1800. Again in the Batwara Khasra (Ex. 6) of 1866-67 the ancestors of the plaintiffs were shown to be in possession over the land known as Jagir Badal Singh with a liability to pay rent at 3 annas per bigha. It follows from these documents that the jagir in question was existing in February 1800 but the trial Court proceeded to presume backwards and held that the jagir in question was in existence in the year 1793 and therefore he came to the conclusion that this was protected from annulment under the first exception to Section 37 of Revenue Sale Law (Act 11 of 1859).