Gosukonda Venkatanarasayya and Others vs The State of Madras

Rajamannar, C.J.—The petitioners'' case is that the grant in their favour comprised less than a village and therefore it is not an estate still less

an under-tenure estate within the meaning of the Madras Estates Land Act. If the grant is less than a village then obviously Madras Act XXVI of

1948 can have no application whatever. Section 9 of that Act provides for the determination after inquiry of the question whether any inam village

is an inam estate or not. Presumably, when the contention is that the grant does not comprise a village, the proceedings u/s 9 would not be strictly

open to the aggrieved party. There is no other provision in the Act under which a special Tribunal has been set up to decide a dispute of the nature

which arises in this case, viz, whether a particular grant comprises less than a village. In these circumstances, in our opinion, the aggrieved party will

have a right of suit as he would have a good cause of action when proceedings are taken under colour of an Act which does not apply to the facts

of the case. We have already held in petitions arising under Madras Act XXX of 1947 that in similar circumstances the aggrieved party will have a

right of suit. We accordingly hold that the proper and adequate remedy for the petitioners is by way of a suit. As they have such a remedy it is not

necessary to invoke our jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution. The application is therefore dismissed.

The learned Advocate General states that the Government will not take the objection u/s 80 CPC in case a suit is filed.