SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INDIA IN COUNCIL REPRESENTED BY THE COLLECTOR OF GODAVARI Vs. DAMISETTI SURAYYA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Plaintiffs sue for a declaration that the defendant, the Secretary of State, has no right to charge water-cess in respect of certain lands belonging to the second and cultivated by the first plaintiff.

(2.) The plaint sets forth that these lands are zamindari ryoti situated in Veeravallipalam village, near a channel known as Togarapaya; if it be found that water was taken for irrigation purposes from this channel, then it is water which does not belong to Government and to which plaintiffs land has a natural right (Para. 5-b of plaint).

(3.) The defendant denied that the channel was ryoti, claiming that it was part of the river Godavari, where it is both tidal and navigable, the water therein belongs to Government and plaintiffs have no natural right.