9911796707
TMI Blog1969 (2) TMI 51X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nswer the following questions of law : " (1) Whether, on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the muafi grant held by the deceased, Sardar Narayan Rao Patankar, was property within the meaning of section 2(15) of the Act ? " (2) Whether, on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the muafi grant was held by the deceased, Narayan Rao Patankar, for his life only ? (3) Whether, on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the muafi grant held by the deceased, Narayan Rao Patankar, passed, on his death within the meaning of section 5(1)? " Sardar Narayan Rao Patankar, who died on 13th October, 1957, was the holder of a cash muafi of Rs. 38,844 per annum from the Gwalior Durbar On his death the grant of muafi wa ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... has referred to us the questions of law that we have already set out. The original sanad of this grant is not traceable. From the history, Jagirdaran, which appears to be a publication under the authority of the Government of the erstwhile Gwalior State and a translation of which has been included as a part of the statement of the case, it appears that the ancestor of the Patankar family, Shri Rao Saheb Mansingh, was a Sardar of Kolhapur and Hyderabad States. His son, Ramchandra Rao, was married to the daughter of Maharaja Daulatrao Shinde of Gwalior. At the time of the marriage, there was an agreement for payment of some cash and grant of jaghir. Thereafter, Maharaja Daulatrao granted to Mansingh Rao, ' Mahal Pavagan ' in jaghir ; subseq ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... iture stated above. " After the death of Narayan Rao in 1957, as already stated, the Government of Madhya Pradesh allowed the substitution of the name of his son in place of the deceased and the muafi has been continued in favour of the son. The order of the Government reads as follows : " With reference to your letter No. 13 dated 28-1-0-57 on the subject cited above, you are hereby informed that the Government of Madhya Pradesh has been pleased to grant substitution of Shri Trimbakrao alias Aditya Patankar under your guardianship for the aforesaid cash muafi. " The charging section in the Estate Duty Act for levy of estate duty is section 5(1), which reads as under : " 5. (1) In the case of every person dying after the commenceme ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... have already referred, it becomes clear that originally a jaghir was granted to Rao Saheb Mansingh, the ancestor of the Patankar family, which was later on converted into a cash grant for maintenance. In the beginning, it appears that a sum of Rs. 10,000 per month (Rs. 1,20,000 per annum) was being paid, but it was later on reduced by Maharaja Jiwaji Rao Scindia to Rs. 5,000 per month (Rs. 60,000 per annum.) Thereafter, when Trimbak Rao died, the cash grant was further reduced to Rs. 38,844 per annum and this amount was sanctioned as cash muafi in favour of Narayan Rao. There is no original sanad and the earliest document that we find is of the year 1918, when Maharaja Jiwaji Rao reduced the monthly allowance from Rs. 10,000 per month to Rs ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ollector of Surat, their Lordships of the Privy Council held that a jaghir must be taken, prima facie, to be an estate only for life, although it may possibly be granted in such terms as to make it hereditary. " Since a jaghir is normally for the lifetime of the holder and lapses on his death, the burden was on the revenue to produce material to show that the grant in the instant case was heritable. No material has been placed to give rise to an inference of heritability. The documents filed go to show that although the grant was continued in favour of the successor, it was varied and reduced ; that leads to the conclusion that the successor of the last holder did not acquire the grant by inheritance, but by a new grant from the Governmen ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
|
