RAM RANJAN MALLIK Vs. SECRETARY OF STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal by the plaintiffs arises out of a suit to recover possession of 11 logs of sal wood on declaration of title thereto, or in the alternative to recover a sum of Rs. 400 as the value thereof. The plaintiffs case was that the logs in question belonged to them having formerly been the property of their ancestor one Hari Mohan Malik, who had a timber business in mouza Ballavpara, that the logs foundered in a cyclone in the year 1271 B.S. (1864), and were found embeded in the River Ganges and that the defendant's officers [removed them and rejected plaintiffs claim thereto. The claim which they set up to the logs was based upon three grounds : firstly, that the logs belonged to their predecessor Hari Mohan Mallik; secondly, that they wore entitled to them because they had been found within the ambit of their mouza Ballavpara; and thirdly, that as finders of the logs they were entitled to them or to such share of them as the Act gave them, under the Treasure Trove Act.

(2.) The defendant, the Secretary of State for India in Council denied the plaintiff's title to the timber, or that it was found within their mouza Ballavpara, or that plaintiffs were the finders of the logs and had any claim under the Treasure Trove Act.

(3.) The trial Court held that plaintiffs had failed to prove that the logs belonged to Hari Mohan Mallik, or that they were the finders, or that the logs were found within mouza Ballavpara, and dismissed the suit.