SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INDIA IN COUNCIL Vs. JADAV CHANDRA MISRA; SIVA PRASAD MISRA; SASHI BHUSAN KAR; KASHI NATH DAS; KAMALA KANTA MANNA; DURGA PROSAD ACHARJYA; RAGHU NATH MISRA; ASUTOSH SINHA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) These eight appeals arise out of as many suits which were tried togather and determined by one judgment in the Court of first instance. The appeals have similarly been heard together in this Court.

(2.) The lands in question are situated within an estate known as the Jalpai Mahal of Perganna Jalamutha bearing No. 2715, formerly No. 130, on the revenue roll of the District of Midnapur. From Exhibit H 8 and Exhibit S we learn that these Jalpai lands were at one time part of the temporarily settled estate Jalamutha, the property of the zemindars of Garh Basudebpur, but being an area bordering on the sea, were taken possession of by Government for the purposes of its manufacture of salt.

(3.) In 1864 the manufacture of salt was abandoned and the Jalpai Mahal, therefore, passed from the hands of the salt agency on to the hands of the Land Revenue Authorities. For the first year 1271 the Collector, apparently as a temporary measure, leased the mahal to one Narayan Prosad Maiti at a rent of Rs. 4,800. The Board of Revenue next directed that the settlement should be made with the proprietors who had been in receipt of what is spoken of as a khalasi rent or nimak masahara. The order, it may be observed, is in accordance with the provision of Section 3 of Regulation VII of 1822 and in pursuance thereof the Collector by a letter or pcrawana, dated the 20th of June 1865, offered a settlement for 15 years, 1273 to 1287, to the then zemindars Kuar Narain and Gajendra Narain Roy. In anticipation of their taking the proposed settlement he further authorised them to grant amalnamahs in order that the lands of the mahal should be brought under cultivation. At the same time for the then current year 1272 he granted a second lease (Exhibit NI) to Narayan Prosad Maiti. The lease, it appears, was authorised on the 1st July 1865 and was formally executed on the 14th November of that year. The rent fixed, it may be noticed, is Rs. 5,800.