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After the Central Provinces and Berar Revocation of Land Revenue Exemptions Act, 1948 was brought into force, the appellants who held estates in the districts of Hoshangabad and Nimar on favourable terms as Jagirdar's Muafidars and Ubaridars enjoyed exemption from payment of land revenue amounting to an aggregate of Rs. 27,895.05p. per annum, made applications to the Deputy Commissioners of Hoshangabad and Nimar claiming that the members of the Bhuskute family of Timarni to which they belonged were the descendants of a former Ruling Chief and therefore were entitled to a substantial grant of money or pension for their suitable maintenance in terms of cl. (ii) of sub-s. (3) of s. 5 of the Act. It was alleged that although their ancestors had acquired the rights of a Ruling Chief by virtue of the sanads granted by the Peshwas and recognized by the Scindias and were all along treated as such even by the British, they were wrongly recorded as Jagirdars of Timarni in the record of rights which was no evidence of their real status. The applications were forwarded by the respective Deputy Commissioners to the State Government of Madhya Pradesh. The State Government, by its order dated May 13, 1955, rejected their prayer holding that they were not entitled to the grant of such amount or pension not being the descendants of a former Ruling Chief within the meaning of cl. (ii) of sub-s. (3) of s. 5 of the Act. A Full Bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court by its judgment dated April 20, 1959 declined to interfere on the ground that the proceedings under sub-s. (3) of s. 5 of the Act could not be said to be judicial or quasi-judicial in nature as the use of the word "may" in sub-s. (3) of s. 5 of the Act made the grant of money or pension in the discretion of the State Government. Disagreeing with the High Court, this Court in Sardar Govindrao & Ors. v. The State of Madhya Pradesh(1) held that the word "may" used in sub-s. (3) of s. 5 must, in the context, be construed to have a compulsive force and therefore on the existence of the condition precedent, the grant of money or pension became obligatory on the Government notwithstanding that in sub-s. (2) the Government had power to pass such orders as it thought fit. It observed that in passing orders on the applications made by the appellants the State Government had to act in a quasi- judicial manner. The appellants therefore had to be given an opportunity to state their case and were also entitled to know why their claim had been rejected.

On a consideration of the material on record, the High Court came to the conclusion that there was no error apparent on the record to warrant interference with impugned order of the State Government. According to the High Court, cl. (ii) of sub-s. (3) of s. 5 of the Act authorized the State Government to grant money or pension to those families alone whose ancestors had been granted remissions in land revenue, not on account of any services rendered by them but in consideration of the fact that they were deprived of their sovereign powers. It referred to the existence of a feudal system known as the jagirdari system, prevalent in the erst-while State of Gwalior, which was a legacy of the past, under which the land revenue of a territory was assigned to a chief or a noble, known as the jagirdar, to support troops, police and for specified services.(1) It observed that the Legislature has kept the distinction in view while enacting cl. (ii) of sub-s. (3) of s. 5 of the Act. After referring to the material on record, it came to the same conclusion as the State Government and held that the ancestors of the appellants never enjoyed the powers of a tributary or feudatory chief under the Peshwas or the Scindias that they held status of sur-mandloi and sur-kanungo and were holding the lands muafi in perpetuity, being in the nature of service grant. The conferral of rights in them by the Peshwas in favour of a loyal servant and instead of making a cash grant for the services rendered, they were permitted to collect their remuneration from a part of the revenue and maintain themselves from the profits derived from the lands appurtenant to their office. It would thus appear that both the High Court as well as the State Government were of the view that the appellants never enjoyed any status higher than that of a jagirdar.

There can be no doubt that the ancestors of the appellants exercised considerable power and authority in the Narbada Valley at a certain period of time. The description of the family as extracted from the Hoshangabad Gazetteer, 1908, at pp. 97-98, reads:

"The most important Brahman family is that of the Bhuskute, who hold the Timarni Estate as well as considerable property in the Nimar District and in Holkar's territory. The family is about 150 years old and originally came from the Ratnagiri District in the Bombay Presidency. Its founders were the two brothers, Ramchandra Ballal and Naro Ballal, who five generations ago, took service under the Peshwas. The brothers subjugated the country west of the Ganjal, which was then called the Handia Sarkar, and forced the Makrai Raja to surrender half his territory. The sternness with which they repressed the wasting raids of the aboriginal tribes, earned them the name of Bhuskute, or "Chopper". Kurhade or axemen, is another name by which the family is sometimes known, and the axes which are said to have been the instruments of execution are still preserved at Khargaon and duly worshipped at the Dasahra festival by the Bhuskute and their retainers. In reward for these services the brothers received in 1751 the hereditary offices of Sir Mandloi and Sir Kanungo in the Sarkars of Bijagarh and Handia, with villages and tracts of land rent-free, percentages on the revenue, and rights of taxation. The Bhuskute proved as successful in peace as they had been in war, keeping the country in order, and settling cultivators from Khandesh in the uninhabited parts. In 1777, the Peshwa Madho Rao gave them the fort of Timarni as a permanent jagir. Dault Rao Sindhia subsequently added two neighbouring villages and two more were acquired either by force or gift from the Raja or Makrai, the five villages forming a semi-independent jagir. Until the thirty years' settlement, the kiledar or "holder of the fort" at Timarni exercised jurisdiction in civil, criminal, revenue and other petty cases. These powers were withdrawn at settlement, but the estate continued to be held in jagir until the settlement of 1891-96, when the villages were registered as muafi or revenue-free, though the honorary title of jagirdar was still allowed to be retained."

The historical material pertaining to the period from 1844 to 1860 A.D. when the Scindia had ceded the territory to the British and the period thereafter i.e. the period from 1860 till the settlement of the Hoshangabad District in 1865 is of no legal consequence. They are undoubtedly historical documents of great importance but are not sufficient to form a basis for the conclusion that the ancestors of the appellants were the Ruling Chiefs of Timarni. First of these was the letter of Lt. Col. Sir W.H. Sleeman, Agent to the Governor General, dated June 3, 1847 treating the Jagirdar of Timarni at par with the Chief of Makrai and by which he ordered that there should not be any interference with the revenue management of the Makrai and Timarni estates and all questions relating to transfer of leases, suits for rents, ejectments etc. should be left to the Chiefs as hithertofore. This was a letter written when the territory was placed under the Deputy Commissioner of Hoshangabad subject to the control of Agent to the Governor General. Next is a letter from the Deputy Commissioner, Hoshangabad dated July 16, 1860 on a complaint by the kiledar of the Bhuskutes directing the Settlement Officer that he would cause the survey, and if any commenced, to be discontinued, "as we cannot in any way interfere with the Bhuskute Jagir". We have already referred to the important letter dated July 24, 1860 from the Secretary to the Government, North-western Provinces to the Secretary to the Southern Board of Revenue, North-Western Provinces, which brings out the real status of the ancestors of the appellants as a Jagirdar.