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1961 (8) TMI 58

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..... -90, but the jagirs including Syudpore Bhettree were excluded from that settlement. Ousan Singh died in or about the year 1800, and his son Sheo Narain Singh succeeded to the jagir. In the enquiry held by the Collector of Ghazipore into the proprietary right claimed by the jagirdar under Regulation II of 1819, it was declared that the grant to Ousan Singh was for life only and did not confer a heritable or transferable tenure in the parganas. The decision of the Collector was confirmed by the Commissioner of Bihar and Banaras, subject to the recommendation that Sheo Narain Singh should be maintained in possession of the parganas for life. The Government then directed in 1828 that a detailed settlement be made with the village zamindars, and offered Sheo Narain Singh allowance for life of one-half of the revenue to be assessed on the pargana. Sheo Narain Singh declined to accept the offer and commenced an action in the civil court contesting the validity of the order resuming the jagir. The Government considered the question afresh, and resolved to revise the order of resumption and in July 1830, ordered that Sheo Narain Singh be considered Tahsildar of parganas Syudpore Bhettree .....

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..... ad on the terms set out in that letter and also the office of Tahsildar. In the meanwhile, proceedings for settlement were commenced and on November 16, 1832, the Settlement Officer reported on the conclusion of a summary settlement of the parganas that in 166 mahals, the village zamindars established proprietary rights and the revenue assessed upon them was ₹ 1,28,960. He further reported that 12 mahals of which the gross revenue was ₹ 22,840 were settled with the jagirdar at a reduced revenue of ₹ 17,130. 4. Harnarain Singh having refused to undertake the office of Tahsildar on the terms offered by the Government, the Board of Revenue suggested that Harnarain Singh should receive 1/4th of the net collections after deducting from the gross collection the cost of Tahsil establishment thereby giving him an income of ₹ 36,322-8-0. The Board of Revenue recommended that a sanad be issued under the authority of the Lt. Governor conferring the pension of ₹ 36,322-8-0 on Babu Harnarain Singh and his heirs in perpetuity . 5. In a letter dated September 13, 1837, it was recorded that the Lt. Governor of N. W. F. Province was of the view that it would be .....

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..... enue which may fall in arrear by person or the arrangement made by him, or of the domestic differences of his family, must be made good from his pension, before the assignment of the fourth share of the net collections can have effect. 5. The Board must consider the Muqurrureedar as the owner of these villages during his life. With his family arrangements they have no concern. But if it will be his wish that the whole revenue be collected from these villages, and one-fourth be returned to him from the treasury instead of receiving that fourth in the shape of a remission, he is at liberty to make the election. 6. He is also the Board remark of course at liberty to cause those mauzas to be transferred or sold in the case of arrear, but his responsibility for the assessed Jumma as fixed by the act of settlement will remain the same. 6. It is manifest that the recommendations made by the Board of Revenue and the Secretary to the Government in the lengthy correspondence varied from time to time, but in the final letter it appears to have been made clear that an amount equivalent to 1/4th of the net revenue of the 166 mahals be given as pension annually to the jagirdar. .....

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..... ourt, under section 6 of the Act, only the rights of the intermediaries in respect of land revenue of the lands comprised in the estate were extinguished and that the rights of third parties under a contract with the State not relating to the rights and privileges of intermediaries, tenants or other persons having interest in land were not effected, and the predecessors in interest of the respondent having been granted an allowance annually in lieu of abandonment of the right to realise land revenue, the arrangement did not come to an end because of the abolition of the zamindari under the Act. 9. The question which falls to be determined in this appeal by the State of Uttar Pradesh, is whether the right of the respondent to receive the allowance under the arrangement of the year 1838 was extinguished as a consequence ensuing from the vesting of the Syudpore Bhettree parganas in the State of Uttar Pradesh under section 4 of the Act. 10. By the preamble, it was recited that the Act was enacted to provide for the abolition of the zamindari system which involved intermediaries between the tiller of the soil and the State and for the acquisition of their rights, title and int .....

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..... marily turns, provided : All grants and confirmations of title of or to land in any estate so acquired, or of or to any right or privilege in respect of such land or its land revenue shall, whether liable to resumption or not determine. 11. By clause (c), all rents, local rates and sayar in respect of any estate or holding therein for any period after the date of vesting and which, but for the acquisition, would be payable to an intermediary, vested in and became payable to the State Government and not to the intermediary; and where under an agreement or contract made before the date of vesting any rent, cess, local rate or sayar for any period after that date had been paid to or compounded or released by an intermediary, the same, notwithstanding the agreement or the contract, became recoverable by the State Government from the intermediary. By clauses (d) and (e), liability of intermediaries in respect of any estate incurred for any period prior to the date of vesting remained enforceable. By clause (f), the interest of intermediaries in any estate was exempt from attachment or sale in execution of any decree or other process of any court and any attachment existing at t .....

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..... ea included under one entry in the registers described in clauses (a) to (d) of the Land Revenue Act. The High Court upheld the contention of the respondent that allowance paid to him could not be regard as an estate . That view is not challenged before this Court by counsel for the State of Uttar Pradesh. The right to receive the allowance of ₹ 30,612-8-0 from the Government under the arrangement cannot, in the absence of an express provision to that effect, be called an area included under one entry in any of the registers described in the various clauses. The first part of section 6(b) does not therefore assist the claim made by the State. 14. But of the 12 mahals the respondent was a proprietor : the land of the mahals was estate within the meaning of section 3(8) of the Act and by section 4, the right of the respondent in that estate stood vested in and transferred to the State. It is true that by the arrangement of the year 1838, confirming the earlier compromise, remission of 25% was granted to the respondent's predecessors in respect of payment of land revenue. If the right of the respondent in the 12 mahals ceased, the right to remission could not be conv .....

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..... e land revenue assessed on the land, i.e., it was fixed as a percentage of the land revenue : but the percentage was merely a measure, and indicated the source of the right in lieu of which the allowance was given. The amount is described as pension in the letters dated September 14, 1838, July 7, 1837 and June 15, 1838. The words used in clause (b) are undoubtedly wide; any right to a grant which has relation to land or land revenue would be determined by the operation of that clause. But the allowance to Harnarain Singh was not in respect of land or its revenue : it was granted as consideration for settlement of a claim litigated in a civil court relating to that land. 17. The primary object of the legislature, as set out in the preamble of the Act, was to abolish the zamindari system and to acquire the rights of the intermediaries and to pay compensation for acquisition of those rights. By section 4, estates in the area for which a notification was issued, vest in the State free from all encumbrances and as a consequence of vesting, the rights of intermediaries, but not their pre-existing liabilities are extinguished as from the date of vesting. Clauses (a), (c) to (f) and .....

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..... d incidental changes as may be prescribed. It is common ground that section 78 of the U. P. Land Revenue Act has no application to Syudpore Bhettree pargana. To proprietors who are assignees of land revenue and whose names are recorded in the record of rights maintained under section 32 clauses (a) to (d), the provisions of sections 39 to 44 may undoubtedly apply subject to modifications as may be prescribed, and computation of their gross and net assets may be made accordingly. But the respondent is not an assignee of land revenue whose name is so recorded in the record of rights nor is he qua the allowance an under-proprietor, sub-proprietor, permanent tenure-holder or permanent lessee. Section 45 is a machinery provision : it does not purport to extend the field of section 6 by prescribing consequences which are not incorporated in that section. There is in section 45 nothing to warrant the submission of counsel for the State that rights of a land-holder to receive allowances from the Government are extinguished even without compensation, merely because he was an assignee of land revenue of some land or was a proprietor, sub-proprietor, permanent tenure-holder or permanent les .....

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