UNDE RAJAHA RAJE SIR RAJAH VELUGOTI SRI RAJAGOPALA KRISHNA YACHENDRA BAHADUR, PANCHAHAZAR, MUASUDAR MAHARAJAH OF VENKATAGIRI Vs. VELIKANTI RAMI REDDI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is a suit in ejectment brought by the Rajah of Venkatagiri against the villagers of Velikallu and others to recover possession of certain lands which he had leased to them. The defendants pleaded that they were sole owners of these lands subject to the payment of an annual rent to the plaintiff and that the annual auctions held by the plaintiff were merely auctions of the right to collect the fees which they paid for the grazing of their cattle ; and later on in the written statement they alleged that they were either owners or entitled to rights of occupancy in the plaint land.

(2.) We think that the Subordinate Judge s finding on the fact is to a certain extent vitiated by his belief that the estate records were deliberately manufactured in anticipation of the passing of the Estates Land Act. The Respondent s vakil is unable to sup-port this belief and we think that the facts of the case must be taken to be as follows: The suit land called the Kancha of the village had been leased out annually for grazing for 15 or 20 years, before the passing of the Act, from 1894 to 1899 to one Narayana-swami Naidu and afterwards to a number of pattadars of Velikallu village the rent being at first Rs. 500 and finally Rs. 600.

(3.) There is nothing to support defendant s contention that the lease of the right to collect grazing fees and from plaintiff s documents and the admissions of defendant s witnesses it is clear that the lease was of the right of grazing and not of the right to collect grazing fees.