Chennai Court February 1914 Judgments

Mukkassa Nair Veettil Meenakshi Amma Vs. the Secretary of State for In ...

Court: Chennai

Reported in: AIR1914Mad841; 24Ind.Cas.547; (1914)26MLJ385

Sankaran Nair, J. 1. The Judge has now found that the plaintiff has been constructing the dam at the spot across the bed of the stream or thodu for the past 25 or 30 years, but he has also held that in view of the presumption that the stream is Government property it must be held that the plaintiff has failed to establish a right of easement as she is bound to prove uninterrupted user for 60 years. Objection is taken to this finding and it is argued that there is no presumption in Malabar that the riverbeds form Government property. It is contended that they form the property of the riparian owners, as under the English law, and therefore proof of user for 25 or 30 years is sufficient to create a right of easement in plaintiffs favour.2. I shall first deal with the contention as to the ownership of the bed of the stream. In the case of riverbeds which are not tidal and navigable the law is clear. 'Prima facie every proprietor of land on the banks of a river is entitled to that moiety o...