# KHAJAMIAN WAKF Egi"ATES ETC v. STATE OF MADRAS & ANR

- **Citation:** [1971] 2 S.C.R. 790
- **Court:** Supreme Court of India
- **Decided:** 1970-11-18
- **Case number:** Writ Petitions Nos. 1542 of 1965
- **Bench:** T. c. SHAH, G. K. Mitter, K. s. HEGDE, A. N. G~Ver, A. N. Ray
- **Source:** https://unisonlegal.in/judgment/supreme-court-of-india/khajamian-wakf-egi-ates-etc-v-state-of-madras-anr-5122
- **Pages:** 9

## Headnote

Constitution of India, i9,SO, Art. 31A-Madras Inam Estates (Abolition ancl .Conversion into Ryotwari) Jct (26 of 1963); Madras Leaseholds
(Abolition and Conver>ion. i111tl~yoiwari) A.ct (27 of 1963) and Madras
Minor Inams· (Abolition and .Conversion Into Ryotwari) Act (30 of 1963)
A
-Legislative co1i1petie11r;y-lf yiolall~e of Arts. 14, 19, 26 and 31.
C
In the State of Madras there· were three types of inams namely : ( 1)
those which constituted. of the grant of melwaram alone; (2) those which
consisted of the grant of both melwaram and kudivaram; and (3) minor
inams.
By Madras loams (Assessment) Act, 1956, full assessment was
levied on all inam lands except
melwaram
inams granted on service
tenure, without affecting in .any way the rights between the inamdars and
the persons in possessibn or enjoyment of the land.
To complete the
agrarian reform initiated by the Mad.ras Estates (Abolition and Conversion into Ryotwari) Act,. 1948. the Madras Inam Estates (Abolition
and Conversion into Ryotwari) Act, 1963 the. Madras Leaseholds (AboF·
tion and Conversion into Ryotwari) Act, 1963, and the Madras Minor
Inams (Abolition and Conversion into Ryotwari) Act, 196;1, were enacted.
Under the first, acquisition of all rights of landholders in inam estates
D
ahd the introduction of ryotwari settlement in such"'" estates was provided
for.
Section 18 of th.e Act provides that compehSation shall be deter- . E
mind for each inam as .a whole. The second Act provides for the termination of the leases of certain leaseholds. granted by the· Government, the
acquisition of the •ights of the l.essees in.such.leasehol&; and the introduction of ryotwari .settlement; and the third/Acfpt<,ivide$'4'ot·the acquisition
of the rights of inamdars iri minor·: iriatμs and'.\lie;i)ritrodtiction of the
ryotwari settlement; The Acts contain:':pr<Wisions teducliig the Habilitv
·of the tenants in t~e ·matter of. paym~iilof':arreats ·of rent
·
•
On the question of the validity of the. Acts,
HELD : (1) The impugned. Acts.coμld not .be challeng~d as violativ~
of Aris; 14, 19 and 31.' They d~al with 'estates' a8 defined tn Art. 31A of
F
the Constitution, and provide ·for their,.ac4iiisition by the State.
They
seek to abolish all intermediate holders and to establish direct relationship
between the. Government and the. occupants of the ~oncerned .lands. They
G
were undertaken as a part of a$farian reform and hence, the provisions
relating· to acquisition or extingutshmenf of ·the rights of the intermediate
holders fall within the. protective wings of Art. 3 !A.. [795 D-EJ ·
B. Shankara Rao Badami & Ors. v .. State of Mysore & Anr., [1969J
3 S.C.R. 1, followed.
.
·
(2) Assuming that as· a result of the levy of full assessment under
H
the 1956-Act. the lands cease to ]).: inams and the ·intermediaries ceased
to be inamdars, the lands· are siill 'estate' within the meaning! of Art.
31 A, because, they fall under one· of the .sub-els. I, II or III · of· Art
KHAJAMIAN WAKF 1'. MADRAS
79 I
A
31A(2)(a). If the impugned legislation can be traced to a valid legislative. power the fact that the Lrgislature wrongly described some of the·
intermediaries sought to be removed does not make the law invalid.
B
c
1795 E-lil
(3) In the absence of any material to the contrary, the court mus
proceed on the basis that the President had given his assent to the bills
after duly considering the implication of the provisions contained therein.
[796 E-Gl
{ 4) If the arrears of rent are treated as rent then the State Legi91aturc has power to legislate with respect to the liability of tenants to pay
the arrears, under Entry 18 of List II, VII Schedule. If they are considered as debts due . from agriculturists then the State Legislature has
competence .to legislate under Entry 30 of the same list. [796 G-H; 797 A]'
(5) In the case of the first of the impugned Acts, assuming that for
some of the properties included in the inam no compensation was provided, Art. 31A bars the plet that there was contr

## Text

790
KHAJAMIAN WAKF Egi"ATES ETC.
v.
STATE OF MADRAS & ANR.
November 18, 1970
(.T. c. SHAH, G. K. MITTER, K. s. HEGDE, A. N. G~VER
AND A. N. RAY, JJ.]
Constitution of India, i9,SO, Art. 31A-Madras Inam Estates (Abolition ancl .Conversion into Ryotwari) Jct (26 of 1963); Madras Leaseholds
(Abolition and Conver>ion. i111tl~yoiwari) A.ct (27 of 1963) and Madras
Minor Inams· (Abolition and .Conversion Into Ryotwari) Act (30 of 1963)
A
-Legislative co1i1petie11r;y-lf yiolall~e of Arts. 14, 19, 26 and 31.
C
In the State of Madras there· were three types of inams namely : ( 1)
those which constituted. of the grant of melwaram alone; (2) those which
consisted of the grant of both melwaram and kudivaram; and (3) minor
inams.
By Madras loams (Assessment) Act, 1956, full assessment was
levied on all inam lands except
melwaram
inams granted on service
tenure, without affecting in .any way the rights between the inamdars and
the persons in possessibn or enjoyment of the land.
To complete the
agrarian reform initiated by the Mad.ras Estates (Abolition and Conversion into Ryotwari) Act,. 1948. the Madras Inam Estates (Abolition
and Conversion into Ryotwari) Act, 1963 the. Madras Leaseholds (AboF·
tion and Conversion into Ryotwari) Act, 1963, and the Madras Minor
Inams (Abolition and Conversion into Ryotwari) Act, 196;1, were enacted.
Under the first, acquisition of all rights of landholders in inam estates
D
ahd the introduction of ryotwari settlement in such"'" estates was provided
for.
Section 18 of th.e Act provides that compehSation shall be deter- . E
mind for each inam as .a whole. The second Act provides for the termination of the leases of certain leaseholds. granted by the· Government, the
acquisition of the •ights of the l.essees in.such.leasehol&; and the introduction of ryotwari .settlement; and the third/Acfpt<,ivide$'4'ot·the acquisition
of the rights of inamdars iri minor·: iriatμs and'.\lie;i)ritrodtiction of the
ryotwari settlement; The Acts contain:':pr<Wisions teducliig the Habilitv
·of the tenants in t~e ·matter of. paym~iilof':arreats ·of rent
·
•
On the question of the validity of the. Acts,
HELD : (1) The impugned. Acts.coμld not .be challeng~d as violativ~
of Aris; 14, 19 and 31.' They d~al with 'estates' a8 defined tn Art. 31A of
F
the Constitution, and provide ·for their,.ac4iiisition by the State.
They
seek to abolish all intermediate holders and to establish direct relationship
between the. Government and the. occupants of the ~oncerned .lands. They
G
were undertaken as a part of a$farian reform and hence, the provisions
relating· to acquisition or extingutshmenf of ·the rights of the intermediate
holders fall within the. protective wings of Art. 3 !A.. [795 D-EJ ·
B. Shankara Rao Badami & Ors. v .. State of Mysore & Anr., [1969J
3 S.C.R. 1, followed.
.
·
(2) Assuming that as· a result of the levy of full assessment under
H
the 1956-Act. the lands cease to ]).: inams and the ·intermediaries ceased
to be inamdars, the lands· are siill 'estate' within the meaning! of Art.
31 A, because, they fall under one· of the .sub-els. I, II or III · of· Art
KHAJAMIAN WAKF 1'. MADRAS
79 I
A
31A(2)(a). If the impugned legislation can be traced to a valid legislative. power the fact that the Lrgislature wrongly described some of the·
intermediaries sought to be removed does not make the law invalid.
B
c
1795 E-lil
(3) In the absence of any material to the contrary, the court mus
proceed on the basis that the President had given his assent to the bills
after duly considering the implication of the provisions contained therein.
[796 E-Gl
{ 4) If the arrears of rent are treated as rent then the State Legi91aturc has power to legislate with respect to the liability of tenants to pay
the arrears, under Entry 18 of List II, VII Schedule. If they are considered as debts due . from agriculturists then the State Legislature has
competence .to legislate under Entry 30 of the same list. [796 G-H; 797 A]'
(5) In the case of the first of the impugned Acts, assuming that for
some of the properties included in the inam no compensation was provided, Art. 31A bars the plet that there was contravention of Art". 31(2).
[796 C-D!,
(6) Jn regard to the inams belonging to the religious and charitable
institutions, the impugned Acts do not provide for payment. of compensation in a lumpsum but provision is made to pay " portion of the com·
pcnsation every year as tasdik. The method adopted is not violative of
D
Art 31(2) and is at any rate protected by Art. 31A. [797" A-CJ
E
(7) Article 26(c) and (d) ol the Constitution provide that religious
denominations shall have the right to own and acquire properties and
aJminister them according to law.
But that does· not mean that .the
properties owned by them cannot be acquired by the State. [797 C-E]
(81 It is open to the inamdars to agitate before the Trihunal constituted under the last Act that a particular property is not an inam at alt
and that the Acts do not apply to them. [798 D-E]
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION ; Civil Appeals Nos. 2480 to
2509, 2543 to 2546, 2547 to 2553, 2559; 2575, 2576 and 2602
of 1966, 214 to 217, a72 to 674, 1053, 1054, 1055, 1062, 1063,
1457 and ~458 of 1967, and 162, 672, 673 and 1000 of 1968.
Appeals from the judgments and orders dated June 24, 1966
and July 20, 1966 of the Madras High Court in Writ Petitions
Nos. 1542 of 1965 etc. etc.
·
Y. Vedantachari, K. C. Rajappa, S. Balakrishlllin and N. M.
Ghatate, for the appellants (in C.As. Nos. 2480-2482, 2484"2509,
G
2575 and 2576 of 1966).
V. Vendantachari and S. Balakrishnan, for the appellants (in
C.As. Nos. 2543, 2544 and 2546 of 1966).
s. Balakrishnan and N. M. Ghatate, for the appellant (in
H
C.A. No. 2545 of 1966).
S. V. Gupte and K. Jayaram, for the appellants (in C.A. Nos.
2547 to 2553 and 2559 of 1966).
-·
792
SUPREME fflURT REPORTS
[1971] 2 S.C.R.
K. Parasaran, K. R. Chaudhuri and K. Rajendra Chaudhuri,
A
for the appellants (in C.As. Nos. 2602 of 1966, 214 to 217 and
1055 of 1967).
M. s. K. Sastri, S. Gopa/an and M.• S. Narasimhan, for the
appellants (in C.As. Nos. 672 to 674 ol 1967).
M. S. Narasimhan, for the appellants (in C.As. Nos. 1053 and
B
1054 of 1967).
A. V. V. Nair, for the appellants (in C.As. Nos. 1062 Bild
1063 of 1967).
V. Vedantacharl, A. T. M. Sampath and E. C. Agarwa/a, for c
the appellants (in C.As. Nos. 1457 and 1458 of 1967).
P. C. Bhartari, for the appellant (in C.A. No. 162 of 1968)
K. Jayaram, for R. Thiagarajan for the appellants (in C.As.
Nos. 672, 673 and 1000 of 1968 and 2483 of 1966).
S. Mohan Kumaramangalam and A .. v. Rangam, for the
D
respondent-State of Madras (~n all the appeals).
R. Kunchitapadam,
Vineet Kumar and K. Jayaram,
for
respondent No. 2 (in C.A. No._2484 of i966).
M. K. Ramamurthy, J. Ramamurthy and Vineet Kumar, for
respondent No. 2 (in C.As. Nos. 2488 to 2490 of 1966).
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by
E
Hegde, J. In this batch of appeals, the validity of the Madras Inam Estates (Abolition and Conversion hito Ryotwari)
Act, 1963 (Madras Act 26 of 1963); ihe Madras Lease-Holds . F
(Abolition and Conversion into Ryotwari) Act, 1963 (Madras
Act 27 of 1963) and the Madras Minor Inams (Abolition and
Conversion Into Ryotwari) Act, 1963 (Madras Act 30 of 1963)
is challenged on the ground that the material provisions in those
Acts are violative of Arts. 14, 19(1)(f) and 31 of the Constitution.
The provisions in these Acts reducing the tenants' liabiG
lity to pay the arrears· of rent are also challenged .on the ground
that the legislature had nq competo~nce to enaot ithose provisions.
A few other minor contentions are also raised in these appeals
to which reference will be made in the course of the judgment.
All these contentions had been •msuccessfully urged before the
High Court.
Dealing with the allegation of infringement of Arts.
14, 19 and 31, the High Court in addition 'to holding that there
H
has been no infringement of those Articles has further. held that
the challenge to the validity of these Acts on the basis of those
KHAJAMIAN WAKF v. MADRAS (Hegde, I.)
793
A Arts. is precluded in view of Art. 31 (A). Dealing with the contention relating to the reduction of ,rent the High Court came
to the conclusion that the legislature had power to enact the
impugned provisions. The High Court also has given reasons
tor rejecting the other contentions advanced before it. Aggrieved by the decision of the High Court these appeals have been
B brought by special leave.
The impugned statufies deal with agrarian ~orms. They
purport to deal with Inam lands.
It is profitless to go to the
origin of Inams or about their early history.
Suffice it to say
that the Urdu word 'Inam" means a gift. The lnams grants
c were made by the Rulers for various purposes.
Some of them
were granted to institutions and some to individuals. Broadly
speaking there were three types of Inams. The first type consisted of the grant of the melwaram right a!one.
The second category consisted of the grant of both the melwaram as well as the
kudivaram right.
~n addition to these two Inams, there were
D what are known as Minor lnams.. Sometime prior to 1862, the
Government took up the question _of enfranchising the Inams.
The Inams Commissioner wen't into the rights of various persons
claiming to be Inamdars.
Thereafter the Madras Enfranchised
lnams Act, 1862 (Madras Act 47 of 1862) was passed for
declaring and confirming the title of the _Inamdars.
Section 2
of that Act provided that the title deeds Issued by the Ina:ms Com-·
E
mis~ioner or an authenticated extracted from the register of tte
Commissioner or Collector shall be deemed sufficient proof of
the enfranchisement of land previously held on Inam tenure. By
l'Aadras Inams (Assessment) Act,
1956 (Madras Act 40 of
1956), full assessment was levied on 1111 Inam lands except me1- ·
waram lnams granted on service tenure, without affecting in any
F way the rights as between the Inamdar and other persons, if any,
in possession or enjoyment of the Inam land.
Where the Inam comprised the entire village, the same was
treated as an "estate" in the Madras Proprietary Estates' Village
Service Act, 1894 (Madras Act 2 of 1894) and the Madras
G Hereditary Vi11age Offices Act, 1895 · (Maiiras Act 3 of 1895) as
well as in Madras Estate Land Act, 1908 (Madras Act I of
1908). Mdras Estates Land Act, 1908 recognised the ryots'
permanent tenure. That Act secured a perni'anent right of occupancy to every ryot who at the commencement, was in possession
of "ryoti" land or who was subsequently admitted to the possesH sion of such land. Then came the Madras Estate Land (Third
Amendment Act, 1936 (Madras Act 18 of 1936). That Act
amplified the definition of the "estate" in the Madras Estate Lanjl
Act, 1908, so as to bring within its scope all Inam villages, Of
794
SUPREME COURT REPORTS
(197 l ]2 S.C.R.
which the grant was made, confirmed or recognised by the Government. It also provided that when a question arises whether
· any la.nd was· the !and-holder's private land or not, the land
should· be presumed not to be lnamdar's private land until the
contrary was proved.
In 1937, the Madras Government appointed the Prakasam Committee to enquire into and reP,ort the
conditions which prevailed in the Zamindari and other proprietary areas jn the State.
That committee submitted its report together with a draft bill on the lines of its recoillinendations, but
no action was taken on that report as the Congress Ministry which
appointed it resigned.
Then we come to the Madras Estates
(Abolition and Conversion Into Ryotwari) Act, 1948 (Madras.
Act 26 of 1948). This ~ct applies to all estates i.e. Zamindari
. and under-tenure estates and all Inam villages in which the grant
consisted· of me/waram -alone.
That Act as its preamble says is
an Act to provide for the repeal of the permanent settlement, the
acquisition of the rights of landholders in permanently settled
and certain other estates in the Province of Madras and the introduction of the ryotwari settl~ment in such estates.
To complete
the agrarian reform initiated by this Act, the impugned Acts appears to have been en~cted. The Preamble to Madras Act 26 of
1963 says that it is an Act to provide .for the acquisition of ail
rights of landholders in Inam estates in the State of Madras and
the introduction of the ryotwari. settlement in such estates.
That
Act follows by and large the provisions in Act 26 of 1948.
In
Act 26. of 1963 Inams estates are divided into two categories
namely ( 1) existing Inam estate and (2) a new Inam estate. the
existing Inam estate refers to . the estate consisting of the whole
village and the new Inam estate means a part village Tnan1 estate
of Pudukkottai foum estate.
The "N cw Inam estate" was nClt
.. an estate known to law earlier,
It is merely n name given to
part village Inam estate or a Pudukkottai Inam estate for draftIDg convenience.
Act 27 of 1963 is an Act to provide for the
termination of the leas.es of1certai,n lease-holds granted
by the
Government, the acquisitioft of the rights of tlie lessees in such
lease-holds, and the introduction of the ryotwari settlement in
~uch leaseholds.
Act 30 of 1963
is an Act to provide for
the acquisition of the rights of the Inarndars in minor lnams and
the introduction of the ryotwari settlement in such Inams.
We do not think it necessary to go into the contention that
one or more provisions of the impugned Acts are violative .of
Arts. 14, 19 and 31. as in our opinion these Acts are completely
protected by Art. 31 (A) of the Constitution which says that:
"Notwithstanding anything contained in -article 13,
no law providing for-
·A
c
))
E
F
G
H
A
B
KHAJAMIAN WAKF v. MADRAS (Hegde, I.)
795,
(a) the acquisition by the State of any estate or of
any rights therein or the extinguishment or modification
of any such rights ....... .
shall be deemed to be void on the ground that it is
inconsistent with, or takes away or abridges any of the
rights conferred by article 14, article 19 or article
31."
The expression "estate" is defined in sub-Art. ( 2) of Art.
31 (A). That definition includes not merely lnams but also Janel
held under. ryotwari settlement as well as land held or let for !he
purpose of agriculture or for purposes ancillary thereto, include ing waste land, forest land, land for pastures ·or site or buildings.
and other structures occupied by the cultivators of land, agricul.
turers and and village artisans.
The impugned Acts are laws providing for the acquisition by
the State of ain "estate" as contemplated by Art. '31 (A). They
seek to abolish all intermediate holders and to establish direct
D relationship between the Government and the occupants of the
concerned lands. These legisla!tions w.~re under1aken as a part of
agrarian re.forms. Hence the provisions relating to acquisition or
the extinguishment of the rights of the intermediate holders fall
within the protective wings of Art. 31 (A)-see B. Sankara Rao·
Badantj._and ors. v. State .of Mysore and anr. (1).
E
It is next contended on behalf of the appellants that the lands.
on which full assessment was levied under Act 40 of 1956 ceased
to be inams and therefore provisions of the Madras Act 26 of
1963 caunot be applied to the same.
We have not thought it
necessary to go into the question whether as a result of Madras
Act 40 of 1956, certain lnams have ceased tp be Inams, as irr
F our opinion, whether they continued to Ile Inams or not they
are still "estate" within the meaning of Art. 31 (A) because they
fall either under sub-clauses (I) or (II) or (III) of Clause (a)
of Art. 31 (A)(2) and that being so the provisions of the impug~
ned Acts cannot be challenged on the ground that they infringe
Arts. 14, 19 and 31.
The contention that ·as the State purported·
G to abolish Inams and not other intermediaries the law cannot be·
held to be valid if the intermediaries sought to be removed are
not Inamdars is an untenable one. If the impugned legislation
can be traced to a valid legislative power, the fact that the legislature wrongly described some of the intermediaries sought to be
removed does not make the law invalid.
From the above obser-·
H vations, it should not be understood that we have come to the
conclusion that the intermediaries concerned were not Inamdars.
We have not gone into that question.
From the provisions of
(I) 1196§\ 3 S.C.R. J.
796
SUPREME COURT REPORTS
[1971] 2 S.C.R.
the impugned Acts, it is q;iite clear that the intention of the legisA
lature was to abolish all intermediaries including the owners of
those "estates" that wer2 subjected to fu]] assessment by Act 40
Of 1956.
It was next urged that Art. 31 (A) does not protect a legislation where no compensation whatsoever has been provided for
taking the "estates".
We do not think we need go into that
question.
This contention bears only on the provisions of the
Madras Act 26 of 1963.
Section 18 of that Act provides that
compensation shall be determined for each ln8m as a whole and
not separately for each of the interests in the Inams.
The validity of this section was not challenged before us.
All that was
urged was that for some of the properties included in the Inam,
no compensation was provided.
Even if we assume this· contention to be correct, it cannot be said that no compensation w.i>
provided for the acquisition of the Inam as a whole.
Hence Art.
31 (A) bars the plea that there was contravention of Art. 31 (2)
B
c
in maklng the acquisition in question.
One of the contentions
taken. on behalf of the appeUants is that the impugned Acts to
D
the extent they purport to acquire mining lands are outside the
purview of Art. 31 (A).
It is not known whether the lands in
which mining operations are going on were let or held as "estates".
There is also no evidence to show that the owners of
those lands were entitled to the mines.
Hence it is not possible
to uphold the contention that lands concerned in some of the
appeals have been acquired without paying compensation.
In order to avoid the bar of Art. 31(A), a curious plea wa~
put forward.
It was urged that when the concerned bills were
submited . to \he President for his assent as required by the first
proviso to Art. 31 (A), the President was not made aware of the
implications of the bills.
This contention is a wholly untenable
one.
There is no material before us from which we could conclude that the President or his advisers were unaware of the implications cf . those bills.
We must proceed on the basis that the
President had given his assent to those bills after duly considering
the implication of the provisions contained therein.
It was next urged that the provisions in the impugned Acts
reducing the liability of the tenants in the matter of payment .of
the arrears of rent, whether decreed or not was beyond the legislative competence of the State legislature.
This contention is
again untenable. Those arrears are either arrears of rent or debts
due from agriculturists.
U they are treated as arrears of rent
then the State legislatμre had legislative power to legislate in respect of the >ame under Entry 18 of List II of the Vllth Scheduk
If they are considered as debts due from agriculturists then the
E
F
G
H
KHAJAMIAN WAKF v. MADRAS (llegde, :.)
797
A State legislature hlld competence to leg!slate in respect of the
same under Entry 30 of the same list.
In rgard to the Inams belonging to the religious and charitable institutions, the impugned Acts do not provide for payment
of compensation in a lumpsum but on the other hand provision
B is made to pay them a portion of the compensation every year as
Tasdik.
This is only a mode of payment of the compensation.
That mode was evidently adopted in the interest of the concerned
institutions.
We are unable to agree that the method is violative
of Art. 31(2). At any rate that provision is protected by Art.
31-A.
c
It was next urged that by acquiring the properties belonging
to religious denominations the legislature violated Art. 26( c)
and ( d) which provide that religious denominations shall have
the right to own and acquire movable and immovable property
and administer such property in accordance with law.
These
provisions do not take away the right of the State to acquire proD
perty belonging to reli~ous denominations.
Those denomina,..
tions can ov11n acquire properties and administer them in ac.cord-
. ance with law.
That does not mean that the property owned by
them cannot be acquired. As a result of acquisition they cease
to own that property.
Thereafter their right to administer that
property ceases because it is no longer their property.
Art. 26
E does not interfere with the right of th;.i State to acquire property.
Mr. S. V. Gupte appearing for some of the appellants urged
that the impugned Act contravenes the second proviso to Art.
·3l(A). From the materiat before us it is not possible to hold
that any property under the personal cultivation of any of the
F appellants had been acquired.
Further there is no material to
show what the ceiling is. Hence it is not possible for us to examine
the correctness of that contention. If in any particular case, the
second proviso to Art. 31 (A) has been breached, then to that
extent, the acquisition will become invalid.
G
.H
It was urged by Mr. Sastri appearing for some of the aμpellants that the impugned Acts do not acquire the lands concerned
in some of the appeals.
This contention was not gone into by
the High Court.
Dealing with that contention, the High Court
in its judgment observed :
"But the applicability of the impugned Acts to the
Inams in question cannot be .conveniently investigated
in the present writ proceedings.
The question will have
to be detennined with reference to the tenns of the
798
SUPREME COURT REPORTS
[1971] 2 S.C.R.
grant, the extent oi. the grant has to be ascertained by
rt:oference to the relevant materials.
Section 5 of Madras Act XXXI of 1963 (XXX of 1963 ?) makes special provision for determination of the question 'whelher
any non-ryotwari area is or is 1not an 'existing Inam
Estate 'or' part village . lnam Estate' or a minor
loam or whole Inam village.in Pudukko'ttai. It is stated
at the bar that in most of the cases now'before us the
parties have applied under the provisions of the said
Act for determination of the character of the Inams
respectively held by ihem. It i.s needless to point out
that tbe Tribunal constituted under the Act will be entitled to decide that a particular property is nei'ther an
'existing Inam estate' nor a part village lnam ·eslate nor
a whole inam village in Puddukkottai and completely
out of the coverage of Acts XXVI and XXX of 1963.
We 41;0 make it clear that the disposal of these writ peti·
!ions now does not preclude the Inamdars from agitating
the question that a partiCular property is not an Inam
at all. and does not under any of the aforesaid four
categories or falls under one or other of the categories
as m.::y be urged for the inamdars."
We agree with the High Court that the contention in question
can be more appropriately gone into in the manner suggested by
1he High Court.
. In the result these appeals. fail and tht:y are dismissed. But
under the circumstances, we make no order as to costs in these
.appeals.
V.P.S.
Appeals di5mis.l'ed
A
B
c
D