Income of the shrotriem is fixed at Rs.
on shrotriem tenure.
But Dighton was a Collector of Revenue appointed by the East India Company which was in 1790 number invested with de jure sovereignty over the region.
Dighton who was the first Collector of the Nellore District unde r the new dispensation found on enquiry that some villages in the District had been alienated.
It appears that the shrotriem of Challayapalem was companytinued under the arrangement of the year 1790 which we have set out.
Soon after the East India Company took over the administra tion of what later came to be known as the Presidency of Madras, Regulation 31 of 1802 setting up machinery for the better ascertainment of titles of persons holding or claiming to hold lands exempt from payment of revenue to Government under grants and for fixing assessment on such lands was promulgated.
After the War between the East India Company and Sultan Hyder Ali, it was arranged between the Government of Madras and the Nawab of Carnatic that the latter should bear the companyt of the military defence of the Carnatic region.
A 1 related to 453 06 acres, the balance being in respect of minor inams.
A 1 did number include the area of five minor inams for which separate entries Exts.
The shrotriemdars have failed to produce their books of account relating to their management.
7 details of the lands are set out.
223 9 3.
The total area of the village as then estimated exceeded 466 acres and Ext.
They are strangers to the family of the original grantees, and it is number surprising that they are number in possession of the deed of grant, and the earlier record relating to the management of the village.
There is, however, on the record numberevidence to prove the date of the grant, the names of the grantor and the grantee, the extent and terms, of the grant, the purpose and nature of the grant, and whether the grant was of kudiwaram as well as of melwaram or of melwaram alone.
There is numberevidence as to when the five minor inams, including those two mentioned in the Inam Register, were created, who paid the revenue, whether tenants were shifted from lands in their occupation, or lands originally number occupied were brought under cultivation.
This statement is described as written and filed by Muthuraju Subbarao and Subbarammayya shrotriemdars of Challayapalem, and that it was companyfirmed by the Village Officers.
342 of 1949, 789 of 1950 and 551 of 1951 respectively.
Exhibits A 2 and A 3 relate to devadayam grants the extent companyered by Ext.
Exhibit B 1 undoubtedly refers to Mutharaju Ramchandrayya as Chellayapalem Shrotriemdar and fixes the revenue at 283 pagodas in respect of your shrotriem known as Challayapalem village.
A 7 the whole village was described is the Challayapalem shrotriem.
This Suit was later numbered 37 of 1947.
Evidence on the record about the actings of the shrotiemdars and the tenants for the period 1790 to 1862 is vague and inconclusive.
Administration of the territory by the East India Company came to an end on August 31, 1792.
It appears from the Inam Register that for a period of 25 years the shrotriem was under an Ijara.
Appeals from the judgment and decree dated September 2, 1955 of the Andhra Pradesh High Court in Appeals Suits Nos.
The plaintiffs in suit No.
Three other entries in the Inam Fair Register were Exts.
223 9 3 to the shrotriemdars.
But Ext.
The recommendation made by the Deputy Collector was companyfined to the shrotriem.
A 101 and A 102 respectively dated January 14, 1889 and August 7, 1889 from the previous holders.
A 4, A 5 A 6.
It is however admitted by them that they were companylecting jodi from the holders of minor inams and paying it into the public exchequer.
B 1 was number of the nature of a sanad it did number companytain a reference to the terms of the grant, the date of the grant, the names of the grantor and grantee, and was based on information by a Jabitha list relating to Circars shrotriems.
Out of the total area of the land 21 Gorrus 12/16 are recorded as poramboke, 5 Gorrus and It Visas as minor inams, and 126.
The Inam Fair Register recites that garden lands were irrigated from the private wells of the shrotriemdars.
There was one more suit, No.
Pursuant to the enquiry made by the Inam Commissioner entries were posted in the Inam Fair Register.
B 195 related only to a part of the village and that the income realised by the inamdar was Rs.
With certificates granted by the High Court, these three appeals have been preferred.
341 to 343 of 1961.
Suit No.
Under Ext.
Apart from the preparation of this Inam Register, numberhing substantial was done under the Regulation till 1860.
2 of 1946 are purchasers under two deeds Exts.
The boundaries and particulars of the inam lands are shown as if the inam grant was of the whole village, the description of the boundaries being of lands of other villages to the East, South, West and on the North of lands of military barracks.
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by Shah, J. In these appeals a companymon question whether a shrotriem grant of lands known as Challayapalem shrotriem formed an estate within the meaning of S. 3 2 d of the Madras Estates Land Act, 1908 arises.
14 of the Inam Register the Inams registered pursuant to the Regulation were set out.
Exhibit B 1 the letter addressed by Dighton to the shrotriemdar may at first blush suggest that the village was accepted and companyfirmed as one of the shrotriem villages in the Gandavaram Paragana.
During the companyrse, of his management Dighton addressed on November 13, 1790 to the Chellayapalem Shrotriemdar Mutharaju Ramachandrayya Sthala Karnai Varu the following companymunication You shall pay as per installments varahas 283 two hundred and eighty three being the beriz in respect of your shrotriem known as Chellayapalem village in Gandavaram Paraganas, as entered in the circar shrotriem jabitha, into the Nellore Treasury, obtain receipt and happily enjoy the produce realised from that village, you shall enjoy happily by giving shares to the kapus as per mamool.
B 1 did number purport to be a companyfirmatory sanad or a fresh grant, or a deed embodying the result of any investigation regarding the title of the Mutharajus to the village.
In this suit the shrotriem dars did number claim any relief for possession they merely sought to reserve liberty to institute separate proceedings in that behalf nd claimed that they were entitled in enforcement of numberices served upon ten out of the named defendants to call upon them to deliver possession of lands occupied by them.
1,449 5 5 per annum and the total jodi at Rs.
The Nawab agreed to assign the revenues of the Carnatic region for a period of five years to the East India Company, and in pursuance of this arrangement, the East India Company took over the admi nistration of the Carnatic region in 1790.
This Regulation was passed on July 13, 1802 and by s. 4 thereof inams were exempted from its scope.
Apparently the village was identified with the shrotriem.
The tenants claimed that they and their ancestors were in possession and enjoyment of the lands for many years and had been paying rent to the shrotriemdars, and were dealing with the lands as owners, that all transactions in the Challayapalem shrotriem were being on the footing that the village was an estate under the Madras Estates Land Act, 1908, and that in any event the tenants held permanent rights of occupancy in the lands acquired in virtue of the provisions of the Madras Estates Land Amendment Act, 1936.
These are all the extracts from public records which have a bearing on the principal question in dispute.
In the village Challayapalem are found mentioned in that Register three Inams the Challayapalem shrotriem which is in dispute in the present case , and two other personal Inams each of an area of 0 93 cents.
He proceeded to investigate the title of the grantees and issued a number of sanads.
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION Civil Appeals Nos.
In 1688 this territory along with Golkonda passed under the Moghal dominion.
In Boswells Manual it is recited that Dighton had investigated the title of the inamdars in the District and had granted sanads, but Ext.
1,225 12 2 and the balance enjoyed as inam was only Rs.
A 2 to A 6 were posted.
Later, permission under O. 1 r. 8 Code of Civil Procedure to sue the named defendants as representatives of all the tenants in the lands of the shrotriem grant was obtained.
The object of the letter Ext.
On August 18, 1790 the Board of Revenue, Madras issued instructions to the Collectors of Revenue appointed by the East India Company, relating to the administration of the Districts.
There is also numberrecord of any enquiry made by Dighton is respect of the Challayapalem shrotriem.
The shrotriem was companyfirmed merely because it was more than fifty years old, and what was companyfirmed was number the area of the entire village, but the shrotriem grant admeasuring 453 06 acres out of a total area of 466 acres.
The statements in Ext.
Exhibit A 4 is in respect of land 3 12 acres, Ext.
Exhibit A 1 Extract from the Inam Fair Register does number lead to the inference that the area of the entire village was granted.
A register of Inams in Government Taluks was prepared and in Col.
Under the bead minor inams included in the village were Personal Inams 5 08 acres Religious Inams 8 64 acres, Village Officers 2 87 acres and village artisans 1 80 acres.
A 2 is 5 68 acres, and by Ext.
342 of 1961 and respondent Nos.
It was explained by S. Rama Rao P.W. 1 that he companylected the cess as a registered proprietor and paid it over into the treasury, because a demand was made upon him by the Revenue authorities for the whole amount of land cess due.
V. V. Nair and P. Ram Reddy, for the appellants.
Pursuant to the entries in the Inam Fair Register, company firmatory title deeds were issued.
1,449 5 5 per year, out of which the revenue payable to the Government was Rs.
1 to 3 in C.A. No.
3 1/4 visas as cultivated lands dry, wet and garden.
1 and 2 in C.A. No.
341 of 1961 respondents Nos.
V. Viswanatha Sastri, Alladi Kuppaswamy and M. S. Narasimhan, for the respondents Nos.
On July 31, 1802 the East India Company assumed sovereignty over the District of Nellore and one Travers was appointed Collector in September 1801.
343 of 1961 .
Travers recognised 207 shrotriem villages without disturbing the arrangements which were then in existence, dispensed with the duties of sthalakarnams and companylected quit rent on their inams.
42 of 1942 was filed by certain tenants of lands in the village Challayapalem, District Nellore, for a declaration that they hold occupancy rights in lands in their occupation and for an injunction restraining the shrotriemdars of the village from inter fering with their possession.
The Court of first instance on a review of the evidence was of the opinion that the grant was of the whole Chellayapalem village within the meaning of s. 3 2 d of the Madras Estates Land Act, 1908, in force at the relevant time, and that the tenants held rights of occupancy in the lands held by them.
1 to 4 and 6 in C. A. No.
2 of 1946 against fifteen named defendants for a declaration that the tenants in occupation of the lands in the village did number hold permanent occupancy rights.
The shrotriemdars filed suit No.
