BOMANJI ARDESHIR WADIA Vs. SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INDIA IN COUNCIL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) EARLY in the last century an ancestor of the leading plaintiff for services rendered to the Government received a grant of Rs. 4000 per annum. In 1844 his successor prayed that the grant might be changed into a grant of villages in Salsette, an island near Bombay. This after some negotiations was done in 1848 and the grant which falls to be construed in this action was given.

(2.) THIS grant, after a preamble narrating the original grant of Rs. 4000 to the family and the request that it might be exchanged for a grant of villages, goes on as follows:

(3.) IT is now expedient to explain the position of the ryots or sutidars. By legislation in 1808, the sutidars in Salsette were declared to be permanent proprietors of their lands so long as they paid the amount of their assessment, and this assessment was fixed at a sum equivalent to a certain share of the produce and could be revised every five years.