RANI INDER KUMARI ETC. ETC. versus STATE OF RAJASTHAN & ANR.

Citation: [1975] 3 S.C.R. 705 · Decided: 25-02-1975 · Supreme Court of India · Bench: KUTTYIL KURIEN MATHEW · Disposal: Dismissed

Judgment (excerpt)

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D 
705 
RANI INDER KUMAR! ETC. ETC. 
v. 
STATE OF RAJASTHAN & ANR. 
February 25, 1975 
[K. K. MATHEW, P. K. GOSWAMI AND N. L. UNTWALIA, JJ.] 
Rajasthar. Cash Jagirs Abolition Act, 1958-S. 3 Constitutiona/ va/idi!Y of-
Delay i:: approachinR the Court-Effect of. 
By s. 3 of the Rajasthan Cash Jagirs Abolition Act: 1958 all cash jagirs 
sanctioned to the former princes were abolished. Sub-s. (2) of s. 3 provided 
for payment of .~cmpensation. The petitioners received compensation from 
1958 to 1970. Jn 1970, however, they questioned the validity of s. 3 on the 
ground that it is violative of ar:icles 31 and 19( 1) ( f) of the Constitution. 
Di>missing the petitions. 
HELD : The petitioners have approached the court after inordinate de Jay 
and eve.11 then after enjoying the· full benefit under the Act. The petitioners 
rnnnot be alJowed to blow hot and cold in the same breath. 
Right to the 
compensation, of wha1ever nature or content. flowed from !he abolition of the 
cash jagirs under the Act and acceptance. of compmJation gave .a quietus to 
the daim to have the Act adjudged ~s ultra rires. 
The 
founda~1on of 
the 
compensation was the abolition of cash j8girs. 
[707G; Fl 
State of Madhya Pradesh v. Ranojirao Shirulc & Anr. [19681 3' S.C.R. 489, 
distinguished. 
ORIGINAL JURISDICTION: Writ Petitions Nos. 610 to 614 of 1970. 
Petitions under Art. 32 of tlie Constitution of India. 
E 
Mohan Behari L.,I, for the petitioners. 
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G 
H 
L. M. Singhvi and S. M. Jain, for the respondents. 
fhe Judgment of the Court was delivered by 
C:oswAMI, J.-By the above Writ Petitions the constitutional vali-
dity of the Rajasthan Cash Jagirs Abolition Act, 1958 (Act No. 29 
of 1958) is challenged as violative of the petitioners' 
fundamental 
righl:i. under articles 14, 19(1) (f) and 31 of the Constitution. 
The facts of Writ Petition No. 610 of 1970 may alone be suffi-
cient. The petitioner states that in view of the near relationship 
as 
well as in lieu of her husband's share in the parental jagir of Riri the 
Maharaja of Bikaner sanctioned a separate cash grant to her husband, 
Maharaj Chander Singh ji, of Rs. 1200/- per annum on May 
23, 
1942. This amount was continuously paid to her husband 
by 
the 
State of Bikaner and was later raised to Rs. 2400/- per annum with 
effect from February 2, 1943. This grant of Rs. 2400/- with an addi-
tion of Rs. 600/- as pearness allowance was shared between her and 
her husband under the order of the Prime Minister of Bikaner State 
dated September '18, 1942. This payment of Rs. 1500/~ per annum 
was continued to be received by the petitioner through Bikaner 
Treasury upto the formation of the State of Rajasthan, on April 7, 
1949. After the death of her husband on May 6, 1951, the payment 
70 6 
SUPREME COURT REPORTS 
[1975] :3 s.c.R. 
of her grant was continued. The Stat.e of Rajasthan being the. s~ccei­
sor to the former Bikaner State recognised this grant and contmued 
to make payment to the petitioner. It appears that after the death of 
her husband it was decided in December 1953 that no payment should 
be made to her thereafter and the regular payments received by h~r 
after the ~':ath of l.1er husband would not be recovered. On the petir 
tioner·s representation, however, the grant was restored 
an? 
was 
allowed to continue till its discontinuance by the act of the legislature. 
Anm:xure 'C' to the petition shows the order .of the 
Acc:?untant 
General of Raja:sthan to the Treasury Officer, B1kaner, conveymg the 
sanction of the Governor for the continuance of the grant of Rs. 125/-
per month to the petitioner from the date the same had bee.n dis-
continued "till the cash jagirs are resumed". This order is dat1~d June 
s. 1958. 
The Rajasthan Cash Jagirs Abolition Act, 1958 (briefly the Act) 
received the assent of the President on July 13, 1958. 
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Section :~ (a) of the Act defines cash jagir to mean "any grant of 
money by way of jagir or otherwise, made or recognised to have been 
nuide by tho Government in any part of the State or ~y the Ruler of 
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a convenanting State without any consideration or in lieu of jagir 
rei;umed or abolished otherwise than under the Rajasthan Land Re-
forms and Resumption of Jagirs Act, 1952 ....... " 
Section 3 which provides for abolition of cash jagirs reads thus : 
3 (I) "Notwithstanding 
anything to the contrary con-
tained in any law, sanad, c.rder, custom or usage in force 
in any part of the State, alJ payments of money on a

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