Mohan, J. - (1.) All these appeals, arisinng out of a judgment of the High Court of Bombay (Nagpur Bench), can be dealt with under a commonjudgment since they relate to one and same assessee, the appellant before us.
(2.) Shrimant Padmaraje R. Kadambande is the assessee and the only child of Late Chhatrapati Raja Ram Maharaj, the ruling Chief of the former State of Kolhapur. Under the Huzur Order dated April 8, 1947 the assessee was granted a cash allowance of Rs.3,000/- per month from April 1, 1947. This order was passed by the successor of Chhatrapati Raja Ram Maharaj. After the merger of Kholhapur State in the then State of Bombay, the allowance was continued for some time up to July 31, 1955. Thereafter it was discontinued. This was because of the provisions of the Bombay Merged Territories Miscellaneous Alienations Abolition Act, 1955 (hereinafter referred to as the Act . It may be stated at this stage that the Act was passed to abolish miscellaneous alienations of various kinds prevailing in the merged territories in the State of Bombay.
(3.) The Districts Treasury Officer, Kolhapur, by his letter dated April 14, 1956 communicated of the said allowance. Under sub-sec. (1), Cl. (d) of S. 15 of the Act it was provided that a cash allowance could be paid as a compassionate payment notwithstanding the abolition of all alterations under S. 4 of the Act. The assessee continued to receive cash allowance from August 1, 1956 on modified terms. The sanction of this cash allowance was conveyed to the appellant by the Collector of Kolhapur through his letter dated October 6, 1959. It appears that an amount of Rs. 10 lakhs out of a trust property in the Bank of Kolhapur in accordance with the provisions of Indenture of Trust dated October 19, 1947 was misappropriated. The cash allowance that was to be paid to the assessee under order dated October 6, 1959 was to be reduced in the circumstances mentioned therein.;