RAJAH SIR ANNAMALAI CHETTIAR BY HIS AUTHORISED AGENT V ATMANABHA AYYAR Vs. TIRUMALAI TIRUPATHI DEVASTHANAM COMMITTEE BY ITS COMMISSIONER

JUDGEMENT

(1.) In this second appeal preferred by the first defendant, we are concerned with a channel called Punyam kasam kalva. It has its source in a river-bed in a village called Samanthavada, passes through the lands of Samanthavada and Aravasipattada, and flows into the limits of Punyam village where it irrigates Punyam lands. If is common ground that it is an artificial channel. It is also agreed that every drop of water in the channel is intended for the benefit of the proprietor and the ryots of Punyam and that the people of Samanthavada and Aravasipattada have no rights whatever to the water flowing in this channel. Originally the Rajah of Karvetnagar was the owner of the aforesaid three villages. He mortgaged them to different persons on various dates; and ultimately Aravasi pattada and Samanthavada were purchased by the Tirumalai and Tirupathi Devasthanam, while Punyarn was purchased by the first defendant. After this purr chase, the first defendant laid claim to the trees standing on the bunds of the channel within the limits of the village of Aravasipattada and auctioned them. They were also cut and removed despite the protests by the Devasthanam subordinates. Hence this suit for a declaration that the Devasthanam is solely entitled to the bed and the bunds of the Punyam kasam kalva so far as it lies in the village of Aravasipattada and for an injunction restraining the defendants from interfering with the bunds and the bed and the trees.

(2.) The first defendant contended that the channel inclusive of the bed and the bunds even within the limits of the suit village belonged to him as the proprietor of Punyam village, for whose exclusive benefit the channel was dug and exists. He also relied on adverse possession.

(3.) The District Munsiff decreed the plaintiff's suit holding that the first defendant had no ownership of the bed or the bunds of the channel in the suit villages pf Aravasipattada and Samanthavada. While the plaintiff had not been able to show even a single act of ownership in regard to the trees standing on the banks of the channel, the first defendant had not been able to establish the adverse possession set up by him. This decree was confirmed on appeal by the Subordinate Judge of Ghittoor.