Pandurang Dnyanoba Lad v. Dada Rama Methe & Ors.

Judgment

The Judgment of the Court was delivered by CIIANDRACHUD, J. The appellant owned a land, Survey No. 72, at Shiroli in the district of Kolhapur. The land was held by the appellant for the performance of miscellaneous inferior services and was classified as a Huzur Sanadi Inam land. Respondents have been in possession of a portion of the land as tenants and w~rc declared as purchasers under the Bombay Tenancy and Agricultural Lands Act, LXVH of 1948, (hereinafter called the Tenancy Act). Consequent upon the declaration, the Agricultural Lands Tribunal, Hatkanagale, fixed the price of the land under section 32G of the Tenancy Act. That decision was confirmed in appeal by the Special Deputy Co!lector, Kulhapur. and in revision by the Maharashtra Revenue Tribunal. The appellant filed a petition in the Bombay High Court under article 227 of the Constitution to challenge the decision of the Revenue Tribunal but that petition was dismissed summarily by a learned Single Judge.

This appeal by special leave is directed against the order of the High Court. The Teuancy Act provides by section 32 that on April 1, 1957, called the "tillers day", every tenant shall, subject to certain conditions, be deemed to have purchased from bis landlord the land held by him as a tenant. Section 32G requires the Agricultural Land Tribunal to determine the purchase price of the land in accordance with a statutory formula. The dispute before us is not as regards the arithmetic of the price fixation but as regards whether the respondents are qualified at all to purchase the land under section 32 of the Tenancy Act. The right of a tenant to opt for a compulsory purchase of the agricultural land held by him is no longer open to constitutional doubt or difficulty. But, the respondents' right to purchase the land is questioned by the appellant on the ground that they ceased to be tenants and have therefore no right of purchase.

This plea is founded on the orovisions of the Bombay Merged Territorie& Miscellaneous Alienations A9olition Act, XXII of 1955 (hereinafter caueu tne Alienat10ns Abolition Act). It is argued that with the abolition of Inams effected under that Act, the old relationship of landlord and tenant between the appellant and respondents came to an end, that with the re-grant of occupancy rights to the appellant a new relationship of landlord and tenant came into existence between 01cm and since the respondents did not exercise their right to repurchase the land withi,1 the period prescribed by section 32-0 of th'' Tenancy Act, they have forfeited that right.

According to the appellant, the provision$ of the Tenancy Act and the Alienations Abolition Act are in a material respect inconsistent and the inconsistency has to be resolved by giving precedence to the latter Act. _The m~rit of the~e contentio_n_s depends upon the validity of the basic premise that with the abolil!on of Inams which the Alienations Abolition Act brought about, the relationship of landlord and tenant ·' I I P. D. LAD v. D. R. METHE (Chandrachud, J.) 4 95 between the appellant and the respondents came to an end. We see no warrant for this premise. By section 4 of the Alienations Abolition Act, all alienatlons in the merged territories were abolished with effect from the ~ppomted date. As a result of the aboh!ion of Inams effected by sectlun 4, all alienated iands became liable under section 5 to the payment of land revenue in accordance with the provisions of the Bombay Land Revenue Code, 1879.

Sections 6, 7, 8 and 9 of the Alienations Abolition Act provide for the grant of occupancy rights in respect of the erstwhile Inam lands. There is no provision in that Act by virtue of which the relationship of landlord and tenant between the ex- Inamdar and his tenant would stand extinguished. On the contrary, section 28 provides that nothing contained in the Act shall in any way be deemed to affect the application of any of the provisions of the Tenancy Act to any alienated land or, "the mutual rights and obligations of a landlord and his tenants save in so far as the said provisions are not in any way inconsistent with the express provisions of this Act". None of the provisions of the Tenancy Act, particularly the provision contained in section 32 of the Tenancy Act under which tenants became entitled to purchase the lands held by them in that capacity on the tillers' day, is in any way inconsistent with any of the express provisions of the Alienations Abolition Act.

Section 32 of the Tenancy Act must therefore govern the rights of the ex-Inamdar and his tenants notwithstanding the abolition of the lnams brought about by the Alienations Abolition Act. Since the respondents did not cease to be tenants of the appellant on the introduction of the Alienations Abolition Act, they are entitled to purchase the land under section 32. Consequently, it was competent to the Agricultura1 Lands Tribnnal to commence the price fixation proceedings under section 32G of the Tenancy Act. Section 32-0 of the Tenancy Act applies only to tenancies created atfer the tillers' day. It provides that in respect of such tenancies, a tenant desirous of exercising the right of purchase must give an intimation to the landlord and the Tribunal within one year f;om the commencement of his tenancy.

As observed by us, the relationship of landlord and tenant between the appellant and respondents did not come to an end on the introduction of the Alienations Abolition Act nor indeed is there any legal justification for the theory that on the cesser of that relationship a new relationship of landlord and tenant came into existence between the parties so as to attract the application of section 32-0. The object of the Alienations Abolition Act was "to abolish . . . . alienations of miscellaneous character prevailing in the merged territories", that is to say, to abolish the Jnam grants prevailing irt those territories. The elimination of Inamdars as . intermediaries, not the e~iction of the tillers of the soil, was the ~b1ect of ipat Act. By se?ll?n 1· what was abolished was all alienat10ns, all n~hts le)!ally subs1stmg m respect of alienations and all other inc~dent~ of such alienations;

A_ tenancy created by an Inamdar is not a n~ht m respect of t?e ahenat1on nor an incident of the alienation. In simple words, all nghts of the Inamdars stood determined on the {1976] 3 S.C.R. introduction of the Alienations Abolition Act; the rights of tenants continued to exist and were expressly protected by section 28 of the Alienations Abolition Act. The provision contained in section 32G(6) of the Tenancy Act shows that nothing contained in the Alienations Abolition Act can affect the tenant's right of purchase under section 32.

Section 32G ( 6) provides that if any land is re-granted to the holder under the provisions of any of the Land Tenures Abolition Acts referred to in Schedule III of the Tenancy Act on condition that it was not transferable, such condition shall not be deemed to affect the right of any person holding the land on lease created before the re-grant and such person shall. as a tenant, be deemed to have purchased the land under section 326 as if the condition that it was not transferable was not the condition of re-grant. The Alienations Abolition Act is included in Schedule III of the Tenancy Act as item No. 21. Thus, even if the land. after the abolition of the Inam effected under the Alienations Abolition Act, was re-granted to the appellant on condition that it was not transferable, such a cqndition cannot affect the right of the respondent to purchase the land under section 32 and 32G of the Tenancy Act.

In other words, the statutory purchase of a land by a tenant under the provisions of the Tenancy Act is excepted from the restraint of nontransferability. It is undisputed that the respondents were holding the land on a lease created before the·occupancy rights were re-granted to the appellant on the abolition of the Inam. The que~tions _raised before us on behalf of the appellant merited careful cons1derat10n and we would have been happy to have the benefit of a considered judgment by the High Court. But the Revenue Tribun~l was. !ight in its d~cision and so the summary dismissal of ~he. Wnt Petition by the High Court has not caused any failure of 1ustice. In the result, the appeal fails and is dismissed. We are thankful to Shri Parekh for assisting us in the case as amicus. P.H.P. Appeal dismissed.