RANI PARBATI KUNWAR Vs. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an appeal from a decree, dated the 2nd April, 1915, of the Board of Revenue for the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh, which set aside a decree, dated the 7th October, 1914, of the Court of the Commissioner of Lucknow, and restored a decree or order, dated the 4th June, 1914, of the Court of the Deputy Commissioner of Sitapur.

(2.) The suit in which this appeal has been brought was instituted in a Court of Revenue which alone had jurisdiction to entertain the suit, a civil Court having no jurisdiction in the matter. In the suit the plaintiffs claimed a decree for the possession of the entire village mauza Bandhia Kalan, situate in pargana Nighasan, in the district of Kheri, by resumption of the Muafi, and in the alternative that the rent might be fixed at a proper amount under Section 107 G of Act XXII of 1886 (the Oudh Rent Act, 1886), and other reliefs which need not be referred to. The Deputy Commissioner of Sitapur, before whom the suit came for trial, did not grant a decree for resumption, but having found that the rent was liable to be enhanced under Section 107G of Act XXII of 1886, by his decree declared that the defendant was a tenant of the mauza without any right of occupancy, and determined the rent to be payable at 2,000 rupees per annum. The only question to be considered in this appeal is whether the rent at which the mauza was held by the defendant of the plaintiffs at the date of suit was or was not liable to be enhanced, and that question depends upon the nature of the lease under which the mauza was held by the defendant.

(3.) Mauza Bandhia Kalan ia part of the taluqdari estate of Majhgain. On the 13th November, 1882, Raji Milap Singh, in whom was then vested that estate, by his will devised mauza Bandhia Kalan to his wife Rani Dhan Kunwar, who on his death obtained possession of the mauza. Thereafter Rani Dhan Kunwar, in order to provide maintenance for her daughter, who is the defendant in this suit and the appellant in this appeal, and maintenance for that daughter s son, executed, on the 23rd February, 1891, the following lease :- Lease in favour of Chhoti Betia, i.e , Parbati, who is married at Malanpur, and also in favour of the grandson, i.e., the dear son of the said daughter, granted by Rani Dhan Kunwar, talukdar of Majhgain and Bhur, pargana Nighasan, Mauza Bandhia Kalan, pargana and tahsil Nighasan, Hadbast No. 61, owned and possessed by me, the executant, the revenue of which, along with that of the entire taluka, is paid to Government, is leased to you from 1297 Fasli up to the terra of your life and that of your dear son, at a jama of 584 rupees per annum. You should take possession of the said mauza from 1297 Fasli as a lessee for life and bring into your own use all sorts of receipts which include mal and siwai and pay to me 584 rupees annual lease money, instal. ment by instalment, year by year, without objection, and all sorts of profit will belong to you and your dear son during your respective lives and after you and your dear son the lease of the mauza will end and it will, as before, revert to the possession of the holder of the ilaka (estate). During your lift and that of your dear son neither I nor any heir or representative of mine will have power to set aside the lease. If you do not pay the jama reserved by the lease at the proper time, it will be duly recovered from you with our interest by means of a suit; in Court. You should, during the period of your lease, fully carry out all orders issued by the authorities in respect of the village, so that no stigma of disobedience of orders might attach to you or to the taluka (estate). You should keep the tenantry satisfied in every way, so that the population of the Village -might increase and the village might not become desolate. Under proper circumstances you are also authorised to eject the tenants so that you might eject them after issuing notice of ejectment. You should, however, see that they are not oppressed. You are authorised to enhance or reduce the rent of the tenants so far as it is just. You should carry on all the affairs of the village just as they have been hitherto conducted,These few presents have, therefore, been executed by way of a lease to stand as evidence. Rani Dhan Kunwar.