Palani Ammal vs L. Sethurama Aiyangar

Satyanarayana Rao, J.—The defendant is the appellant. The suit out of which this second appeal arises was instituted by the landholder to

recover possession of some Gramanatham land, which was occupied by the defendant sometime in 1936. The main defence to the suit was that

the plaintiff who was one of the co-owners of the inam village in which the land was situated was not entitled to institute the suit in ejectment;

secondly, that the plaintiff was not the owner of the land and that it is communal property and he had, therefore, no title to eject; thirdly, that the

plaintiff had no possession within 12 years prior to the date of institution of the suit. On all the questions both the Courts found in favour of the

plaintiff negativing the contention of the defendant, and decreed the suit.

In this second appeal, again the same contentions were repeated. On the first question apart from the fact that the plaintiff was recognised as the

landholder under the Estates Land Act, he is entitled to institute the present suit in ejectment against the defendant who was a trespasser on the

finding of the Courts below as laid down by the decision of this Court in Syed Ahamad Sahib Shutari Vs. The Magnesite Syndicate, Ltd. and

Others, . The contention, therefore, that the plaintiff was not entitled to institute the suit, he being only a co-owner, is untenable.

The second contention is that the plaintiff is not the owner or at any rate is not entitled to maintain this suit in respect of Gramanatham lands. In

view of the decision of Wadsworth, J., in Chinnathambi Goundan v. Venkatasubramania Iyer (1939) M.W.N. 207 this contention also seems to

me untenable. Gramanatham is not communal property in the sense in which thrashing floor or burning grounds or other property is communal, that

is property reserved for the use of the community. Gramanatham if it is unoccupied is assigned from time to time by the proprietor whether it is in

zamindari area or in an inam village and this practice was referred to by the learned Judge (Wadsworth, J.) in Chinnathambi Goundan v.

Venkatasubramania Iyer (1939) M.W.N. 207. This, if I may say so with respect, is the practice obtaining in the zamindari area and also in inam

villages.

The village in which the suit site is situated is an inam village and the owners of the village (inamdars) would be entitled to all the porombokes

except communal porombokes; and this not being a communal poromboke, the plaintiff would be entitled to institute the suit for recovery of

possession.

As regards the third contention that the plaintiff did not establish possession within 12 years prior to the suit, the finding of both the Courts is that

Karuppan Ambalam was in possession of the property from the year 1923 up to 1933 and thereafter he walked out of the building or house. The

house became dilapidated and the defendant trespassed into that property in 1936. Thereafter, she rebuilt the house and continued to live. The

present suit was instituted within 12 years from the date of the trespass by the defendant in 1936 and, therefore, the suit is in time. It is in evidence

of the defendant''s witnesses themselves that the plaintiff was planting mango trees on the site and was watering them. That could not have

happened after the defendant got into the house after 1936 but must be between 1933 and 1936 and the Courts below have given sufficient

reasons for holding that the defendant''s possession commenced only in 1936. The plaintiff was in possession at any rate after Karuppan Ambalam

walked out of the land in 1933. The decision of the Court below is correct. The second appeal fails and is dismissed with costs. No leave.