SHEOSHANKAR Vs. LAL INDRA SHAH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS appeal arises out of a suit which was filed on 23rd January 1926 by the plaintiffs-appellants who are inferior proprietors of mouza Deosur in the Amagarh Chowki Zamindari of the Drug District, for a declaration that they as inferior proprietors have full rights over the forest and the banjar in their village, and that the conditions contained in Sub-Clauses (1), (2), (3), (5), (6) of Clause 6, (A) and (B) of Clause 7 and Clause 18 of the wajib-ularz-of 1925, which take away their rights are not binding on them. They claim the right to realize grazing dues in respect of the banjar and the jungle of the village, to appropriate the income from the minor forest produce, and to collect and sell timber. The defendant who is the zamindar of Amagarh Chowki and the superior proprietor of this village, stated that the plaintiffs never enjoyed the rights which they now claim, that the rights now claimed were not recognized in the settlement of 1902-03, and that the plaintiffs were not entitled to the rights claimed because these rights were not conferred on them when they were made inferior proprietors.

(2.) THE trial Court held that the plaintiffs were not entitled to the rights they now claim on account of the entries in the settlement wajibularz of 1904 and of 1925, that though plaintiffs enjoyed these rights occasionally, they have not enjoyed them as a custom for a sufficiently long time to be entitled to them and that they were bound by the entries, made in the previous settlement and could not claim the rights now claimed.

(3.) SECRETARIAT letter No. 3784-175 dated 14th November 1874, affirmed the title of every sub-proprietor, in the Bilaspur District, not over a due proportion of the village waste but over the whole area, whether cultivated waste or jungle, surprised within the traditional boundaries of the village and over this area the sub-proprietor was declared to possess the same rights as the zamindar him self enjoyed over the rest of his estate.