SIVARAMAN CHETTI Vs. MUTHIA CHETTI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE Plaintiffs and Defendants are all inhabitants of the village of Karakkudi, and the subject of dispute is a tank belonging to that village. The Plaintiffs claimed in their plaint to be hereditary hukdars, which the High Court interpret to mean rightful owners, of the tank, and they prayed for a declaration that they have the sole right to repair it at their own exclusive cost, and for other relief flowing from that right and from the Defendants' interference with it. The Subordinate Judge gave the Plaintiffs a decree establishing their sole right to repair the tank at their own exclusive cost Upon appeal the High Court dismissed the suit. Their Lordships are now asked to say the High Court was wrong.

(2.) THE Plaintiffs do not now assert that they are owners of the tank in any full or proper sense of the word; they admit that the villagers at large have full right to the enjoyment of it; but they contend that the function of cleaning, repairing, and generally managing and protecting the tank is an hereditary possession of their family, which they have a right to retain so long as they bear the cost of it. It may be that for generosity and public spirit their attitude deserves all that has been said of it by their counsel. But the Defendants object to it; and the only question for a Court of Justice is on which side the lawful right is to be found.

(3.) ON the 1st of April, 1842, Chidambaram, who was the head of, or in some way represented, the Plaintiffs' family, presented a petition to the Collector of Madura, in which he alleged that when his predecessor improved the tank, it was agreed that his family should have charge of all the affairs appertaining thereto, and maintain it for ever. Then, after stating that their opponents in the village had prevented them from cleansing the tank, he prayed, "That an order may be passed allowing us to remove the mire and maintain the said uruni charity for ever as we have been usually doing, prohibiting interference on the part of the persons who are endeavouring wrongfully to trouble us and enabling the continuance of the charity in perpetuity."