RAJAVELUKOTI MUTHUKRISHNA YAJENDRA BAHADUR VARU ZAMINDAR OF TIRUPASUR, BY ADINARAYANA IYER Vs. RAJU CHETTY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The suits were for ejectment under Section153 of the Madras Estates Land Act.

(2.) Section 153 of the Madras Estates Land Act applies only to non-occupancy ryots, and the question for decision is whether the respondents (defendants) are non-occupancy ryots.

(3.) They are ryots who were in possession of their holdings at the commencement of the Act and are, therefore, occupancy ryots, unless they come within some provision of the Act to the contrary, It is contended by Mr. L. A. Govinda Raghava Iyer that the defendants are tenants who were let into possession in 1907 under leases for a definite period of one year and that, therefore, they are non-occupancy tenants, and he relies upon the proviso to Section 153 to the effect that nothing in that section shall affect the liability of a non-oconpancy ryot to be ejected on the ground of the expiry of the term, of a lease granted before that Act.