White, J.:— This was a suit brought by the Dowager Ranee of Burdwan against a tenant with whom she alleged that a verbal agreement had been made under which he took a jummadari of certain land in Assar 1281. The suit was for arrears of rent for the years 1282 and 1283. The defendant before us did not deny that he was her tenant, but disputed the extent of his holding and is rate of rent. The Moonsiff passed a decree in favor of the Ranee.
On appeal that decree was reversed by the Judge of Cuttack, not upon the merits, but on the ground that a certain document, which was contained in a book belonging to the zemindary of this ??? and which related to jummabundee of the particular district, in which the respondent held the land in question, amounted to a ??? or an agreement for a lease, and not being stamped or ??? could not be used in evidence. We have had the document ??? and it appears to be in the form of a tabular statement ??? in the first column the year and date, the name of the ??? that is the respondent, the number of the holding, ??? the amount of rent for the several years 1281, 1282 and 1283, the rent column of each year being sub-divided into the columns in which are inserted the jumma, or amount of ??? amount of disbursement and balance of rent, and in the ??? column appears the signature of the defendant. The document contains no particulars about the duration of the tenancy, ??? any date affixed to the signature.
A verbal agreement was proved in the lower Court to ??? been made between the defendant and the lady's agent; and the document was put in evidence there to meet the defendants objection about the extent of his holding and the rate of rent.
The lower Appellate Court have treated the document as lease, or agreement for a lease, and consequently held that he was not at liberty to admit the verbal evidence which was ??? in the First Court.
I am unable to concur in the view taken by the Judge of the document. In my opinion it amounts to no more than an ??? on the part of the defendant that the particulars set for in the tabular statement are true, and consequently the document requires neither to be stamped nor registered.
In determining whether this document comes within the ??? of the Stamp Act, the Court has to consider whether the document produced is one which fairly falls within the ??? of any one or more of the documents there mentioned. ??? it does, it must be stamped, otherwise, it is not liable to ??? stamped.
The opinion which I have arrived at is supported by the ??? of one of the Benches of this Court in a case reported in ILR 3 Cal 322—Gungapersaud v. Gogun Singh.
There a very similar and, in all material particulars, an ??? identical document was offered in evidence. The Judges ??? that it was admissible without a stamp; and when the ??? which induced the Court to come to that opinion, is examined, is the same as that given by me for my present decision, ??? that the document only amounts to an admission. The ??? of the document in question in no way excluded the evidence the verbal agreement which was produced on the part of Maharanee. The Judge in the lower Court says that, ??? document is admissible, he should hold that the ??? of Deputy Collector on the merits was right. This expression of judicial opinion enables this Court to dispose of the case without a remand, and to restore the decision of the First Court.
The appeal will be allowed with costs, and the appellant will also have her costs in the lower Appellate Court.