GULZARI LAL Vs. JAI RAM

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal arises out of a suit brought by the lambardar against a tenant (purporting to be under the provisions of Section 63 of the Tenancy Act) for ejectment. The Court of first instance gave a decree. The lower Appellate Court held that the lambardar without joining the other co-sharers could not bring the suit and accordingly reversed the decree of the Court of first instance. On second appeal to this Court a learned Judge took the same view as the lower Appellate Court and dismissed the appeal.

(2.) As the question is one of very considerable importance it has been fully argued before this Bench. The contention put forward on behalf of the respondent is as follows : That there are in this mahal a number of co-sharers, and that accordingly under the provisions of Section 194 of the Tenancy Act, the suit cannot be maintained unless all the co-sharers join in the suit, and that the lambardar cannot be regarded as the agent appointed by them, to act on their behalf. If this contention be sound it would revolutionise the practice prevailing in lam-bardari villages in these Provinces for generations. Indeed the learned Advocate for the respondent felt himself bound to admit that the argument must necessarily go so far as to contend that the lambardar could not even give a valid discharge for the rent payable by a tenant so as to bind the other co-sharers.

(3.) Lambardar in the Tenancy Act is declared to have the same meaning as in the Land Revenue Act. In the Land Revenue Act the expression is defined to mean a co-sharer of a mahal appointed under this Act to represent all or any of the co- sharers in that mahal." In lambardari villages in these Provinces the duties of the lambardar are fairly well understood and recognised. Beyond all doubt he has the power of collecting rents. The following extract from a judgment of the Board of Revenue, in our judgment, fairly describes the position of the lambardar in a lambardari village. Speaking generally the lambardar is the manager of the common lands, entitled to collect the rents, settle tenants, eject tenants, procure enhancement of rents, and do all necessary acts relating to the management of the estate for the common benefit." It would be almost absurd to hold that the lambardar has power to collect the rents, and at the same time to hold that he has no power to enforce the collection. That he has power to collect rents is clearly shown by the provisions of Section 164 which is as follows : " A co-sharer may sue the lambardar for his share of the profits of a mahal, or of any part thereof. In any such suit the Court may (sic) to the plaintiff not only the share of the (sic) actually collected, but also of such sums as the plaintiff may prove to have remained uncollected owing to the negligence or misconduct of the defendant." It will be seen from the provisions of this section that the lambardar is responsible to a co- sharer in a suit brought under the section for all rents which remained uncollected owing to his negligence. If the lambardar is entitled to collect the rent from the tenant, then he is a "landholder" within the meaning of that expression in the Tenancy Act, and he accordingly would be entitled to bring a suit like the present.