NATHA Vs. GOBIND RAM

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The plaintiff is the Zemindar of the village Tehra in the Mnttra Distriat. The defendants are desaribed as the former biswadars (biswadaran sabiq) of the village. The plaintiff stated that they were liable to pay Rs. 160 per year for the land in their possession and he sued them for the recovery of the amount due for the years 1321, 1322 and 132a Fasli. The defendants pleaded that the revenue for Kharif 1321 Fasli had been remitted by the Government and the revenue payable for Rabi 1321 and Rabi 1323 Fasli had been suspended and that they were entitled to the benefit of the remission and suspension above mentioned. They deposited Rs. 200 on account of the rent for the period for which no suspension or remission had been granted.

(2.) The Court of first instance deareed the claim for 1322 and Kharif 1323 Fasli, but the lower Appellate Court extended the decree to Kharif 1321 Fasli. The ground on which the lower Appellate Court proaeeded was that inasmuch as the rent payable for Rabi 1321 and Rabi 1323 Fasli was liable to be paid 21 days before the revenue became payable in each half year, and the payment of the revenue for Rabi 1321 and Rabi 1323 Fasli had been suspended, the claim for those periods was premature. With regard to Kharif 1321 Fasli the view taken by that Court was that the defendants were not entitled to the benefit of the remission of revenue granted by the Government, because the wajib-ul-arz in which the nature of the tenure held by the defendants was recorded, did not mention that they would be entitled to the benefit of any remission made by the Government.

(3.) The exact nature of the tenure held by these" former biswadars" is not clearly ascertainable. It apears from the report of the Settlement of the Muttra District that certain taluqat, which originally belonged to the Aligarh District, were transferred some time prior to that Settlement to the Muttra District, and that in those taluqat there was a class of subordinate tenure-holders called hiswadars, who owned biswa interests in the village but were not admitted, on account of the small fractional interests they held, to a direct engagement for the payment of revenue by the then Government. These biswadars were in possession and enjoyment of the land or shares held by them and used to collect rents from the tenants cultivating the land of which they were the biswadars, and paid a certain amount of malikana allowance to the taluqdar or over-proprietor, with whom the engagement for the payment of the Government revenue was made. When the last Settlement of the Muttra District took place, it was found that some of these biswadart had at some time or another either abandoned their biswa interests or had been ejected. They, however, claimed to be in possession of certain holdings by reason of their being the old biswadart or former proprietors (biswadaran sabiq), and an arrangement was come to by virtue of which they were allowed to remain in possession of their old holdings and to collect rents from the tenants cultivating those holdings, subject to their paying a certain amount of what might be called rent to the taluqdar or proprietor with whom the Settlement was made, The wajib-ul-arz of the village Tehra prepared at the Settlement accordingly recorded that the "former biswadars"(biswadaran sabiq) were liable to pay Rs. 2,400 per year to the proprietors of the village after realising from the tenats, whether occupancy or non-occupancy, the rents payable by them, the revenue and cesses payable for the village by the proprietors being Rs. 1,711. It was further stated there that the said amount was payable 21 days before the Government revenue would fall due and that if that amount was not paid, they would be liable to ejectment. These incidents were apparently the incidents of the tenure under which the "former bis-wadart" held the land in the villege, and by virtue of that tenure they are liable to pay the amount therein mentioned to the taluqdors or proprietors out of what they are entitled to collect from the tenants of the village.