NDLI: Rani Ratnesh Kumari Vs. State of U.p. & Ors.

Content Provider	Supreme Court of India
e-ISSN	30484839
Language	English
Access Restriction	NDLI
Subject Keyword	U.P. Zamindari Abolition and Land Reforms Act 1950 Sections 3 3(21) 3( 12)
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Law Judgement
Jurisdiction	India
Act(s) Referred	U.p. Zamidari Abolition and Land Reforms Act, 1950 (1 of 1951)
Case Type	Appeal
Court	Supreme Court of India
Disposal Nature	Appeal Dismissed
Headnote	U.P. Zamindari Abolition and Land Reforms Act, 1950 Sections 3, 3( 12), 3(21)-Whether the taluqdar was an "intermediary" within the meaning ofs. 3(12) - Whether the taluqdar's interest in the Biswadari villages was extinguished even after the fixation of the "malikana" - Whether "malikana" is in the nature of pension. Mauchhanna taluqa or Mainpuri Raj was a part of the Mainpuri district in U.P. The district originally belonged to the Nawab Wazir of Oudh who ceded it to the East India Co. in 1801. Raja Dalel Singh the ancestor of the appellant was then the owner of the Manchhanna taluqa. A part of his estate was taken over by the British Government. Settlement operations of the taluqa lands were carried out from time to time. As it came to notice during the settlement operations in 1840 that there were under-proprietors or biswadars in 133 villages of the taluka, it was decided by the Government that while 133 villages would be settled with biswadars other villages would remain under thedirect management of the Raja and that he would receive an allowance or "malikana'' for the 133 villages at 18% of the assets leaving 60% of the realisation with the Government as land revenue and 32% with biswardars as their share. The settlement was revised thereafter and the assets of the biswadars were redistributed so as to give 55 percent of the realisation to the Government as revenue, 20 1/4 to the Raja as "malikana" and 24 3/4 to the biswadars as their share. Then came the settlement of 1872 when Raja Ram Pratap Singh tried to reopen the question of direct engagement with the Government even in regard to the biswardari villages. It was ultimately agreed that the Raja would receive, in respect of each village, the same amount as before by way of malikana and the settlement would be made directly with the biswadars who would bear the burden of the arrangement. The Malikana thus worked out to Rs. 22,502/- per year. lt was however stipulated that it would be reduced to 1/11 of the biswadari payment on the death of Raja Ram Pratap Singh. An order was issued in 1873 by which the Raja was held entitled to malikana at the rate of 5 per cent of the annual rental. Sheo Mangal Singh who was the last male descendant of Raja Dalel Singh thus received Rs. 8946-9-4 as annual rental of the 133 biswadari villages. He died in 1938 and thereafter the malikana was received by his widow Rani Prabhuraj Kumari. After her death in 1951 the malikana was paid to her daughter Rani Ratnesh Kumari the present appellant upto March 1953. Further payment was stopped because of the vesting of the estate in the State under the U.P. Zamindari Abolition and Land Reforms Act, 1950. Efforts of the appellant for its restoration did not bear fruit. She filed a writ petition in the Allahabad High Court on September 16, 1958 for quashing the State Government's order refusing the payment of the malikana and for a direction that it should be continued to be paid to her along with arrears. She based her claim mainly on the ground that the malikana was in the nature of a pension or allowance "in lieu of the taking over, forfeiture or acquisition" of the perpetual hereditary rights of the Raja in 133 villages and was not rent or revenue derived from land. She pleaded that the name of the Raja was never entered in the record of rights of the 133 villages and that she was neither an intermediary with respect to those villages nor those villages were included in her estate. A single Judge of the High Court upheld the petitioner's contentions, allowed the writ petition, quashed the orders of the State Government against her and directed the payment of the arrears of the malikana as well as itsfuture payment. The Division Bench set aside the impugned judgment of the single Judge and dismissed the writ petition.
Judge	Hon'ble Mr. Justice P.N. Shinghal
Neutral Citation	1978 INSC 121
Petitioner	Rani Ratnesh Kumari
Respondent	State Of U.p. & Ors.
SCR	[1979] 1 S.C.R. 17
Judgement Date	1978-08-02
Case Number	1424

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