- (1.) This is an appeal by special leave against a judgment of a Division Bench of the Allahabad High Court dated March 22, 1966 dismissing Special Appeal No. 647 of 1961 and confirming the judgment of a learned single Judge of the said High Court rejecting Civil Misc. Writ No. 809 of 1958 filed by the appellant herein.
(2.) The appellant claims to be the descendant and successor in interest of one Dewan Krishna Kant Nandy in whose favour a jagir of 41 villages situated in the district of Ballia. had been conferred by Raja Mahip Narayan Singh of Banaras. This jagir grant was recognised by the 1st India Company and in token thereof the Governor General, by a fresh Sanad dated Jan. 10, 1785 assigned the said 41 villages as 'Altamga Jagir' in favour of Dewan Krishna Kant Nandy. The Sanad mentioned that the grant was being made for purposes of defraying the expenses of worship etc. of the deity in a temple. Subsequently, by a document of the year 1793, Dewan Krishna Kant Nandy created a trust of the income of this jagir in favour of the deity. In the revenue settlement of 1841, Dewan Krishna Kant Nandy was entered as Jagirdar of these villages entitled to realise the land revenue and the zamindars of the villages were charged with the duty of paying the annual land revenue aggregating Rs. 10,000/- to the Jagirdar. It is the case of the appellant that since 1785, Dewan Krishna Kant Nandy and his descendants have throughout been realising the land revenue of the said villages. When some of the zamindars defaulted in payment of the land revenue, suits for realisation of the outstanding arrears were filed against them and in execution of the decrees obtained in those suits the appellant's ancestors purchased the zamindari rights of the defaulting zamindars in respect of some of the villages. Thus, at the time when the Uttar Pradesh Zamindari Abolition and Land Reforms Act, 1950 (U.P. Act No. 1 of 1951) hereinafter called 'the Act' came into force in 1952, the appellant claims to have held two distinct rights namely, jagirdari rights in respect of 41 villages covered by the Sanad and additional zamindari rights in respect of the some of the villages acquired by purchase in execution of the decrees. 2A. When the provisions of the Act were brought into force. the appellant was paid. compensation in the form of annuity in respect of those villages over which he had acquired zamindari rights since the lands were held in trust for meeting the expenses of a religious institution. The State of Uttar Pradesh claimed that the Jagirdari rights of the appellant became vested in the State under Ss. 4 and 6 of the Act. But this claim was disputed by the appellant who contended that his Jagirdari rights fell outside the purview of the Act and had not vested in the State. It was for resolving the said dispute that the appellant approached the High Court with the Writ Petition complaining that he had not been paid compensation in respect of his Jagirdari rights over 41 villages and praying that a writ should be issued compelling the Government to recognise and enforce the Jagirdari rights of the appellant over the said villages. The Writ Petition was dismissed by the learned single Judge, whose judgment, as already noticed, was confirmed by a Division Bench of the High Court on appeal.
(3.) From the facts narrated above, it is clear that the appellant was having Jagirdari rights over 41 villages under the Sanad issued to him in January, 1785. As pointed out by this Court in State of Uttar Pradesh v. Kunwar Sri Trivikram Narain Singh (1962) 3 SCR 213 : (AIR 1963 SC 799), the intention of the Legislature as clearly disclosed by the Scheme of the Act was to extinguish estates and all derivative rights in estates and to extinguish the interest of intermediaries between the State and the tiller of the soil. All grants and confirmation of title in respect of a right or privilege over land in an estate or its revenue, will stand automatically determined under the provisions of the Act.;