Service inam succession and grant scope: ordinary Hindu law governs devolution, and Section 44-B does not bar recovery suits.
A service inam granted to named grantees and their successors, without an express condition altering succession, devolves under ordinary Hindu law; on that footing, a widow holds a widow's estate and may validly surrender the property to the next heir, and the next reversioners can accept that surrender. The grant was construed from the title deed, inam register and inam statement as extending to both melwaram and kudiwaram, because the materials showed a grant of the land itself rather than revenue alone. Section 44-B of the Madras Hindu Religious Endowments Act was read as a resumption provision for religious endowments and not as barring a suit by a service holder against an alienee.
Issues: (i) whether the plaintiffs were the next reversioners entitled to the surrender made by the widow of the last holder and whether the surrender was valid; (ii) whether the grant covered both melwaram and kudiwaram or only the melwaram interest; and (iii) whether Section 44-B of the Madras Hindu Religious Endowments Act barred the suit.
Issue (i): whether the plaintiffs were the next reversioners entitled to the surrender made by the widow of the last holder and whether the surrender was valid.
Analysis: The title deed confirmed the grant to the named grantees and their successors, and it did not prescribe any special mode of devolution different from the ordinary Hindu law of succession. In the absence of express conditions excluding normal inheritance, the widow took a widow's estate and was competent to surrender the property to the next heir. The objection that the plea was not raised in the pleadings was also upheld.
Conclusion: The plaintiffs were the next reversioners, and the surrender in their favour was valid.
Issue (ii): whether the grant covered both melwaram and kudiwaram or only the melwaram interest.
Analysis: The title deed, inam register, and inam statement indicated a grant of the land itself and not merely of assessment or revenue. The recitals showed that the field was jointly enjoyed by the grantees and that the land, not only the revenue interest, was the subject of the grant. The materials relied upon by the defendants did not justify the inference that the grant was confined to melwaram alone.
Conclusion: The grant comprised both the melwaram and the kudiwaram interests.
Issue (iii): whether Section 44-B of the Madras Hindu Religious Endowments Act barred the suit.
Analysis: Section 44-B created a machinery for resumption of alienated inams on behalf of the Government and made the resumption order final, subject to the statutory remedy provided for determining whether the inam comprised both warams or only melwaram. It did not expressly or by necessary implication bar a suit by a service holder to recover property from an alienee. The section was held to apply to religious endowments and not to grants made to individuals burdened with service; the definition in Section 9(11) did not enlarge its scope for this purpose.
Conclusion: Section 44-B did not bar the suit.
Final Conclusion: The plaintiffs succeeded on title and maintainability, and the defendants' challenge to the decree failed.
Ratio Decidendi: In the absence of an express condition creating a special rule of devolution, a service inam granted to individuals descends according to ordinary Hindu law, and Section 44-B of the Madras Hindu Religious Endowments Act does not bar a suit by the service holder to recover property from an alienee.
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