# [1966] 2 S.C.R. 511

- **Citation:** [1966] 2 S.C.R. 511
- **Court:** Supreme Court of India
- **Decided:** 1965-11-04
- **Bench:** K. SUBBA RAo, J. R. MuDHOLKAR, R. s. BACHAWAT
- **Source:** https://unisonlegal.in/judgment/supreme-court-of-india/1966-2-s-c-r-511-3609
- **Pages:** 12

## Headnote

Punjab Security of Land Tenures Act, 1953- s. 9( 1) (i)-Small Land
Owner at commencement of Act whether ceases to be such if value or
Income of land increases subsequently-Land whether can be re-evaluated
for purposes of determining ~atus at time of suit-Effect of s. 19-F(b).
The appellant was a displaced person from West Pakistan.
In 1949
he was allotted 42 standard acres and 11 units of land which were later
consolidated. In 1958 claiming to be a small holder he made an application under s. 14-A(l) of the Punjab Security of Land Tenures Act 1953
before the Assistant Collector for the ejectment of respondent
No. 4
who was a tenant of the land.
The Assistant Collector rejected the
app!i<:ation on the ground that because of improvements the income from
the lands had risen considerably and consequently the land had become
equivalent to more than 50 standard acres, and therefore the appfa:ation was untenable under s. 14-A.
In appeal the Collector held that
since the appellant was allotted ooly 42 standard acres and 11 units he
was entitled to be treated as a small land-holder. The Collector's order
was upheld by the Commissioner and by the Financial Commissioner.
The tenant thereupon
filed a writ petition
before the
High Court.
According to the High Court the status of a landlord had to be ascertained as existing on the date of !he application under s. 14-A of the Act
and not an the date of the allotment.
Further according to the High
Court what is 'permissible area' available to a landlord under the Act
had also to be determined as obtaining on the date of the application for
eviction made by the landlord.
On this view the High Court allowed
the tenant's writ petition.
In appeal by special leave to this Court,
HELD : Under the provisions of the Act the entire land held by the
landowner in the State of Punjab on the date of the commencement of
the Act must be evaluated as on that date and the status of the landowner and his surplus area must then be ascertained. If he is then found
to be a small landowner, he continues to be so for the purpose of the
Act, until he acquires more land and on taking into account the nlue
of the land in terms of standard acres on the date of the acquisition,
he is found to be a big landowner. The landowner is required to make
the necessary reservations or selections and to give the necessary declarations so that his status and the surplus area, if any, held by him may be
so determined. If he is a small landowner at the commencement of the
Act, his status is not altered by reason of improvements in the value of
his land or re-allotment of land on compulsory consolidation of holdings.
S. 19-F(b) which was introduced into the Act during the pend ency of the
appeal clarified the position to the same effect. [514 B-D; 515 Fl
The appellant did not acquire any land after the commencement of
the Act.
His status as a small landowner was not altered by reason of
subsequent improvements or re-allotments of land on compulsory consolidation of holdings.
On the date of the application, he therefore continued to be a small landowner. The High Court was in error in holding
that the status of the appellant should be determined by evaluating his
512
SUPREME COURT REPORTS
[1966] 2 S.C.R.
land in terms of standard acres on the dates of the application for evicA
tion.
(515 H; 516 A-BJ
Per Mudholkar J : Provisions relating to the valuation of lands under
the Act are to be found in s. 19-F(a) and 19F(b). The former did not
apply to the present case as it applies only to the ascertainment of
'surplus area' held by a landowner at the commencement of the Act; the
appellant held only 'permissible area' and no 'surplus area' at all. Under
s. 19-F(b) fresh evaluation of land can take place "at any time" but the
B
power under that section is exercisable only in the context of special circumstances, that is to say, where the landlord obtains land after the
commencement of the Act by inheritance, bequest or gift. These special
cir

## Text

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BHAGWAN DAS
v .
THE STATE OF PUNJAB
November 4, 1965
.
[K. SUBBA RAo, J. R. MuDHOLKAR AND R. s. BACHAWAT, JJ.J
Punjab Security of Land Tenures Act, 1953- s. 9( 1) (i)-Small Land
Owner at commencement of Act whether ceases to be such if value or
Income of land increases subsequently-Land whether can be re-evaluated
for purposes of determining ~atus at time of suit-Effect of s. 19-F(b).
The appellant was a displaced person from West Pakistan.
In 1949
he was allotted 42 standard acres and 11 units of land which were later
consolidated. In 1958 claiming to be a small holder he made an application under s. 14-A(l) of the Punjab Security of Land Tenures Act 1953
before the Assistant Collector for the ejectment of respondent
No. 4
who was a tenant of the land.
The Assistant Collector rejected the
app!i<:ation on the ground that because of improvements the income from
the lands had risen considerably and consequently the land had become
equivalent to more than 50 standard acres, and therefore the appfa:ation was untenable under s. 14-A.
In appeal the Collector held that
since the appellant was allotted ooly 42 standard acres and 11 units he
was entitled to be treated as a small land-holder. The Collector's order
was upheld by the Commissioner and by the Financial Commissioner.
The tenant thereupon
filed a writ petition
before the
High Court.
According to the High Court the status of a landlord had to be ascertained as existing on the date of !he application under s. 14-A of the Act
and not an the date of the allotment.
Further according to the High
Court what is 'permissible area' available to a landlord under the Act
had also to be determined as obtaining on the date of the application for
eviction made by the landlord.
On this view the High Court allowed
the tenant's writ petition.
In appeal by special leave to this Court,
HELD : Under the provisions of the Act the entire land held by the
landowner in the State of Punjab on the date of the commencement of
the Act must be evaluated as on that date and the status of the landowner and his surplus area must then be ascertained. If he is then found
to be a small landowner, he continues to be so for the purpose of the
Act, until he acquires more land and on taking into account the nlue
of the land in terms of standard acres on the date of the acquisition,
he is found to be a big landowner. The landowner is required to make
the necessary reservations or selections and to give the necessary declarations so that his status and the surplus area, if any, held by him may be
so determined. If he is a small landowner at the commencement of the
Act, his status is not altered by reason of improvements in the value of
his land or re-allotment of land on compulsory consolidation of holdings.
S. 19-F(b) which was introduced into the Act during the pend ency of the
appeal clarified the position to the same effect. [514 B-D; 515 Fl
The appellant did not acquire any land after the commencement of
the Act.
His status as a small landowner was not altered by reason of
subsequent improvements or re-allotments of land on compulsory consolidation of holdings.
On the date of the application, he therefore continued to be a small landowner. The High Court was in error in holding
that the status of the appellant should be determined by evaluating his
512
SUPREME COURT REPORTS
[1966] 2 S.C.R.
land in terms of standard acres on the dates of the application for evicA
tion.
(515 H; 516 A-BJ
Per Mudholkar J : Provisions relating to the valuation of lands under
the Act are to be found in s. 19-F(a) and 19F(b). The former did not
apply to the present case as it applies only to the ascertainment of
'surplus area' held by a landowner at the commencement of the Act; the
appellant held only 'permissible area' and no 'surplus area' at all. Under
s. 19-F(b) fresh evaluation of land can take place "at any time" but the
B
power under that section is exercisable only in the context of special circumstances, that is to say, where the landlord obtains land after the
commencement of the Act by inheritance, bequest or gift. These special
circumstances did not exist in the present case. (519 H; 520 H; 521 B,
DJ
When the provisions of s. 19F are thus not attracted, the Revenue
Assistant before whom an application under s. 14-A for ejectmenl of a
tenant is made by a landlord, is not entitled to evaluate the land of the
C
landlord afresh for ascertaining whether he is in possession of land in
exce'\S of the permissible area. (521 F]
Elaborate rules have been framed under the Act and elaborate provisions are also contained in the Act with a view to extend its protection as
far as possible to tenants cultivating land.
The omission. therefore, to
make any provision as to what has to be done, if as a result of improvements made by the landlord or by reason of the rise in the yield of the
land through other causes would point only to one conclusion and that
is that this circumstance is not to be taken into account for evaluating
the land afresh and recalculating the standard acreage. (521 G-H]
It would follow that the High Court was in error and its order must
be set aside.
CrvrL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Civil Appeal No. 541 of
D
1963.
E
'
Appeal by special leave from the order dated August 23,
1961 of the Punjab High Court in Civil Misc. No. 120 of 1961.
Bhagwani Lal, E. C. Agarwala and P. C. Agarwalla, for the
appellant.
Deepak Dutt Chaudhry and B. R. G. K. Achar, for respondents Nos. 1 to 3.
Janardhan Sharma, for respondent No. 4.
The Judgment of SUBBA RAO and BACHAWAT, JJ. was delivered
by BACHAWAT, J., MUDHOLKAR, J. delivered a separate but concurring Judgment.
Bachawat, J.
The appellant is a displaced person to whom
F
G
105 ordinary acres of land equivalent to 42 standard acres 11
units in village Jamalpur, .Tehsil Hansi, District Hissar, were
allotted by the Custodian on October 5, 1949 under the conditions
published in the Notification of the East Punjab Government
H
No. 4892/S dated July 8, 1949. The Punjab Security of Land
Tenures Act, 1953 (Punjab Act No. 10 of 1953), hereinafter
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BHAGWAN DAS v. STATE (Bachawat, J.)
513
A referred to as the Act, came into force on April 5, 1953.
On
that date, the aforesaid land was equivalent to 42 standard acres
11 units, and having regard to proviso (ii)(b) to s. 2(3) of the
Act, was permissible area in relation to the appellant, and as the
appellant did not own any oiher land in the State of Punjab, he
was a small landowner within the meaning of s. 2 ( 2) of the Act.
B On October 22, 1955, as a result of consolidation proceedings,
the appellant was granted 101.4/5 ordinary acres of land in exchange for the land originally allotted to him in 1949. Respondent No. 4 is a tenant of the appellant in respect of a portion
of this land.
C
On February 20, 1958, the appellant filed an application
before the Assistant Collector, 1st Grade, Hissar for ejectment of
respondent No. 4 under s. 9( 1 )(i) of the Act on the ground
that he is a tenant of the appellant who is a small landowner.
On that date, the aforesaid 101.4/5 acres of land owned by the
appellant was equivalent to more than 50 standard acres.
On
D February 17, 1960, the Assistant Collector dismissed the application.
He held that the appellant was a big landowner, because
on the date of the application the land owned by him was equivalent to more than 50 standard acres.
On appeal, on May 2,
1960, the Collector of Hissar set aside the aforesaid order, and
allowed the application for ejectment.
He held that the appellant
E was a small landowner as he was a displaced person and an
allottee of less than 50 standard acres. On August 30, 1960, the
Commissioner, Ambala Division, dismissed a second appeal, and
on January 2, 1961, the Financial Commissioner dismissed a
revision petition filed by respondent No. 4.
Following his preF vious ruling in Pat Ram v. Milawa Ram(') and Har Chand Singh
v. The Punjab State( 2 ), the Financial Commissioner held that the
status of the appellant must be determined on the date of the
commencement of the Act and subsequent accretions to his holding arising out of consolidation of holdings and improvements
due to good husbandry or advent of irrigation should be ignored.
G On August 22, 1961, the Punjab High Court allowed a petition
preferred by respondent No. 4 under Art. 227 of the Constitution
o! India and set aside the orders of the Collector, the Commissioner and the Financial Commissioner. The High Court held
~at the ~tatus of the appellant must be determined by evaluating
his land m terms of standard acres on the date of the application
H for ejectment.
The appellant now appeals to this Court by
special leave.
'
(I) (1961) 40 Lahore Law Times, p. 28.
(2) (1961) 40 Lahore Law Times, p. 9.
514
SUPREME COURT REPORTS
(1966] 2 S.C.R.
The question is whether the appellant is a small landowner
within the meaning of s. 9(l)(i) of the Act.
On a combined
reading of ss. 2, 3, 4, S, SA, SB, SC, lOA, 19A and 19B, the
scheme of the Act appears to be as follows : The entire land held
by the landowner in the State of Punjab on the date of the commencement of the Act must be evaluated as on that date and the
status of the landowner and his surplus area, if any, must be
then ascertained. If he is then found to be a small landowner,
A
R
he continues to be so for the purpose of the Act, until he acquires
more land, and on taking into account the value of the land in
terms of standard acres on the date of the acquisition, he is
found to be a big landowner. The landowner is required to make
the necessary reservations or selections and to give the necessary
C
declarations so that his status and the surplus area, if any, held
by him may be so determined. If he is a small landowner at the
commencement of the Act, his status is not altered by reason of
improvements in the value of his land or re-allotment of land on
compulsory consolidation of holdings.
In an unreported decision in Surja v. Financial Commissioner
of Punjab and others( 1), the Punjab High Court held that the
status of the landowner for the purposes of an application under
s: 14A of the Act should be determined by evaluating his land
D
on the date of the application.
On the basis of this ruling, the
improvements in the land subsequent to the commencement of the E
Act could not be ignored; but the legislature considered that this
decision had the effect of defeating the purpose of the Act. It
is well-known that with a view to get rid of this decision, the
legislature inserted s. 19-F(b) in the Act by the Punjab Security
of Land Tenures (Amendment and Validation) Act, 1962 (Punjab Act No. 14 of 1962). The object of this amendment will
F
appear from the following passage in the statements of Objects
and Reasons published in the Punjab Gazette (Extr.) dated April
27, 1962 :
"Some of the recent judicial pronouncements have
the effect of defeating the objectives with which the
Punjab Security of Land Tenures Act, 1953 was enacted and amended from time to time. . . . Under the
scheme of the parent Act a specific period was allowed
for filing of reservations by the landowners the object
of which was to find out whether a person was a small
landowner or not. Once that was found the intention
was that such a person should continue to be treated as
(1) Civil Writ No. 486 or 1961.
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BHAGWAN DAS v. STATE (Bachawat, J.)
515
such for the purposes of the Act so long as he did not
acquire more lands. In other words, his status was not
to be altered on account of improvements made on the
land or reallotment of land during consolidation. However, the High Court took a different view in Civil
Writ No. 486 of 1961 (Surja versus Financial Commissioner, Punjab and others . ... ) . Accordingly clauses
3, 6 and 7 of the Bill seek to neutralise the effect of
the aforesaid decisions."
Clause 7 of the Bill related to ss. 19-E and 19-F. The amending
Act of 1962 was passed on July 4, 1962 during the pendency
c of the appeal in this Court. Section 19-F is retrospective in operation and is deemed to have come into force on April 15, 1953.
Section 19-F (b) reads :
D
E
F
"19-F. For the removal of doubts it is hereby
declared,-
(b) that for evaluating the land of any person at
any time under this Act, the land owned by him immediately before the commencement of this Act. or the
land acquired by him after such commencement by
inheritance or by bequest or gift from a person to whom
he is an heir, shall always be evaluated for converting
into standard acres as if the evaluation was being made
on the date of such commencement, and that the land
acquired by him after such commencement in any manner shall always be evaluated for converting into standard acres as if the evaluation was being made on the
date of such acquisition."
On a reading of s. 19-F(b), it would appear that for the purpose
of determining the status of the landowner and evaluating his
land at any time under the Act, the land owned by him immediately before the commencement of the Act must always be
G evaluated in terms of standard acres as if the evaluation was
being made on the date of such commencement. It is not disputed that if the land held by the appellant immediately before
the commencement of the Act is so evaluated, the appellant would
be a small landowner.
There is no scope for evaluating the
subsequent improvements in the land due to consolidation operaH lions or otherwise. The appellant did not acquire any land after
the commencement of the Act.
His status as a small landowner
was not altered by reason of subsequent improvements or
516
SUPREME COURT REPORTS
(1966) 2 S.C.R.
re-allotments of land on compulsory consolidation of holdings. On
A
the date of the application for eviction, he, therefore, continued
to be a small landowner. The High Court was in error in holding
that the status of the appellant should be determined by evaluating
his land in terms of standard acres on the date of the application
for eviction.
In the result, the appeal is allowed.
We set aside the order
of the High Court and restore that of the Financial Commissioner
upholding the orders of the Commissioner and the Collector. We
direct that costs throughout will be borne by the parties as
incurred.
B
Mudholkar, J. This is an appeal by special leave from a C
judgment of the High Court of Punjab allowing a writ petition
under Art. 227 of the Constitution and setting aside orders of
the Collector, the Commissioner and the Financial Commissioner
made under certain provisions of the Punjab Security of Land
Tenures Act, 1953 (hereafter referred to as the Act).
The relevant facts are briefly these : The appellant BhagwanD
das is a displaced person from West Pakistan. He owned 74
standard acres 13! units of agricultural land in certain villages in
West Pakistan. On October 5, 1949 he was allotted 42 standard
acres and 11 units of land in the village Jamalpur, Tehsil Hansi,
District Hissar.
Subsequently proceedings for consolidation of E
holdings were taken under the East Punjab Holdings ( Consolidation and Prevention of Fragmentation) Act, 1948 (Act 50 of
1948). After those proceedings were finalised the appellant was
granted an equivalent area of land in the same village as described
in a sanad granted by the President on October 22, 1955 in exchange for the land earlier granted to him.
Under the sanad the
F
appellant was granted proprietary rights in the land.
On February 20, 1958 the appellant, claiming to be a small
holder made an application under s. 14-A(i)
of the
Punjab
Security of Land Tenures Act, 1953 before the Assistant Collector,
I Grade, Hissar, for the ejectment of respondent no. 4 who was
a tenant of the land.
In his application the appellant alleged that G
as he held less than 50 standard acres of land he was a "small
land owner" and as such had the right to evict the tenant and
instead cultivate the land himself. The application was rejected
by the Assistant Collector.
Unfortunately neither party has
placed the order of the Assistant Collector on the record of this
appeal. It is, however, common ground that the reason for
H
rejecting the application was that the Assistant Collector found
that because of certain improvements the income from the lands
I -
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BHAGWAN DAS v. STATE (Mudholkar, J.)
517
A had risen considerably and that consequently the standard acreage
of this land had risen from 42 standard acres to a standard acreage
above 50 standard acres and that the appellant's application was,
therefore, untenable under s. 14-A. In an appeal preferred by
the appellant the Collector, Hissar held by his order dated May 2,
1960 that since the appellant was allotted only 42 standard acres
B and 11 units he is entitled to be treated as a small owner of the
land and since the tenant had more than 5 standard acres under
his cultivation in addition to the appellant's land he was liable
to be ejected from the land belonging to the appellant which was
in his possession.
The Collector's order was upheld by the Commissioner, Ambala Division by his order dated August 30, 1960.
C The tenant moved the Financial Commissioner, Punjab in revision
against the order of the Commissioner but without success.
He
then preferred a writ petition before the High Court which, as
already stated, was granted.
According to the High Court the
status of a landlord had to be ascertained as existing on the date
D of the application under s. 14-A of the Act and not on the date
of the allotment.
Further, according to the High Court, what is
"permissible area" available to a landlord under the Act has also
to be determined as obtaining on the date of the application for
eviction made by the landlord. In coming to the conclusion the
High Court followed a judgment of S. B. Capoor J., in a similar
matter.
E
In order to appreciate the contentions urged before us on
behalf of the parties, it is necessary to refer to certain provisions
of the Act.
At the outset I must point out that' the object of
the Act was to provide to the tenants a security against ejectment
by the landlords except for a just cause. Tlie Act has, however,
F drawn a distinction between "small land owner" and a "large land
owner".
Sub-section (2) of s. 2 of the Act defines small landowner to mean one whose entire land in the State of Punjab does
not exceed the permissible area. Now, sub-s. (3) of s. 2 defines
permissible area. This definition draws a distinction between a
land owner who is not a displaced person and on~Jho is a
G displaced person. In so far as the former is concerned" the permissible area is 30 standard acres.
In so far as the latter is concerned the second proviso to sub-s. (3) enacts :
H
L3Sup.Cl/~6-3
"Provided that-
(ii) for a displaced person-
(a) who has allotted land in excess of fifty standard
acres, the permissible area shall be fifty standard
518
SUPREME COURT
REPORTS
[1966] 2 S.C.R.
acres or one hundred ordinary acres, as the case
A
may be.
( b) who has been allotted land in excess of thirty
standard acres, but less than fifty standard acres,
the permissible area shall be equal to his allotted
area.
( c) who has been allotted land less than thirty
standard acres, the permissible area shall be
thirty standard acres, including any other land
or part thereof, if any, that he owns in addition.
Explanation :-For the purposes of determining the
permissible area of a displaced person, the provisions
of proviso (ii) shall not apply to the heirs and successors of the displaced person to whom land is allotted."
B
c
The expression 'standard acre' is defined thus in sub-s. ( 5)
s. 2 :
of D
"Standard acre" means a measure of area convertible into ordinary acres of any class of land according
to the prescribed scale wiili reference to the quantity of
yield and quality of soil."
E
If a land owner is in possession of land in excess of the permissible
area he is required to follow a certain proc~dure for indicating
which particular land he wants to be treated as "reserved area".
Land in excess of that area is treated as surplus area. The former
expression means the area lawfully reserved under the Punjab
Tenants (Security of Tenures) Act, 1950 while the latter expresF
sion is defined in sub-s. (5-A) of the Act. It is not necessa"V
to set out this definition for the purpose of the discussion of the
question before us.
Under s. 27 of the Act rules have been
f,ramed for carrying out the purpose of the Act. There are twn
sets of rules, one is the Security of Land Tenures Rules, 1953 and
the other is Punjab Security of Land Tenures Rules, 1956. The
G
latter are supplementary to the rules of 1953. Rule 2 of the
Rules of 1953, which is the relevant rule, is as follows :
"Conversion of ordinary acres into standard acres.-
The equivalent, in standard acres, of one ordinary acre
of any class of land in any assessment circle, shall be
determined by dividing by 16, the valuation shown in
Annexure 'A' to these r.ules for such class of land in
the said assessment circle :
..
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BHAGWAN DAS v. STATE (Mudholkar, !.)
srn
Provided that the valuation shall be-
( a) in the case of Ban jar Qadim land, one-half of
the value of the class previously described m
the records and in the absence of any specific
class being stated, one-half of the value of the
lowest barani land;
(b) in the case of Banjar Jadid land, seventh-eighth
of the value of the revelant class of land as
previously entered in the n:_cords, or in the
absence of specified class in the records, of the
lowest barani land; and
( c) in the case of cultivated thur land subject to
waterlogging, one-eighth of the value of the
class of land shown in the records or in the
absence of any class, of the lowest barani land".
D In the table, Annexure A, land is classified under four heads
which are : "Irrigated (nehri)", "Irrigated Chahi" "Unirrigated"
and "Sailab".
Irrigated nehri is further classified as "perennial"
and "non-perennial".
In Col. 3 is given the valuation for irri·
gated nehri land.
For Hansi tehsil valuation of the land which
is perennially irrigated by canals is given as 16 which means 16
E
annastin. the rupee per acre and of non-perennial as 10 annas
in 'the rupee per acre.
The valuation for irrigated chahi land
in the entire tehsil is I 0 annas in the rupee per acre and of unirrigated land as 5 annas in the rupee per acre.
There is no
valuation for sailab land which apparently means there is no land
of this category in the tehsil. From Table A it would appear that
F land which falls under one classification at the time of allotment
or ·at the time of coming into force of the Act may weli fall under
some other head later on because the quantity of yield is liable
to •ary. For instance, if irrigation facilities come to be provided
in land which is unirrigated at the time of coming into force of
the Act or making the allotment the land may receive the benefit
G of irrigation later either perennially or non-perennially and its yield
thetefrom may accordingly increase.
Provisions relating to the valuation of lands under the Act
are to be found in s. 19F thereof which reads thus :
H
"For the removal of doubts it is hereby declared,-
( a) that the State Government or any officer empowered in this behalf shall be competent and
520
SUPREME COURT REPORTS
[1966] 2 S.C.R.
shall be deemed always to have been competent,
to determine in the prescribed manner the surplus area referred to in section 10-A of a landowner out of the lands owned by such landowner immediately before the commencement
of this Act; and
(b) that for evaluating the land of any person at any
time under this Act, the land owned by him
immediately before the commencement of this
Act, or the land acquired by him after such
commencement by inheritance or by bequest or
gift from a person to whom he is an heir, shall
always be evaluated for converting into standard
acres as if the evaluation was being made on the
date of such commencement and that the land
acquired by him after such commencement in
any other manner shall always be evaluated for
converting into standard acres as if the evaluation was being made on the date of such acquisition."
A
B
c
D
Now, surplus area would fall to be determined only where the
land-owner is in possession of land in excess of the permissible
E
area.
I have already given the definition of permissible area.
Where, as here, the landlord is a displaced person and the land
allotted to him is Jess than SO acres the permissible area so far
as he is concerned would be the area actually allotted to him.
In the case of the appellant it would thus be 42 standard acres
and 11 units. Out of this he alleges that he has sold 18 standard
F
acres.
As, however, no argument was advanced before us on
this basis I leave this circumstance out of account and proceed
on the footing that the appellant is in possession not of an area
less than the permissible area but of an area equal to the permissible area.
Surplus area means an area other than the reserved
area and, where no area is reserved, the area in excess of th8
G
permissible area.
Where there is no reserved area or where the
area held by a person is not in excess of the permissible area
the provisions of s. 4 which deal with the reservation of area or
those of ss. SA to SC which deal with selection of permissible
area or those of s. 10-A which deal with the utili:l!ation of surplus
area are not attracted. Therefore, the provisions of s. 19F(a)
H
which are attracted to a case falling under s. 10-A will also not
.apply. Moreover the provisions of s. 10-A have no_ bearing on
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BHAGWAN DAS V. STATE (Mudho/kar, J.)
52 I
A a case like the one before us.
For, they contemplate the ascer·
tainment of surplus area held immediately before the commence- ·
ment of the Act.
Obviously, therefore, the determination must
refer to the classification of the land at that time.
Apart from
that, the appellant does not possess any surplus area since what
is in his possession is merely the permissible area. The question
B of utilization of any surplus area cannot thus arise in his case.
That being so, no question can arise of evaluating his lands afresh.
Indeed, fresh evaluation at any time is permissible only under
s. 19-F(b), but that provision deals with only special types of
cases. It may be mentioned that ss. 5-A to 5-C which deal with
the selection of permissible area do not contemplate a case where
C the classification of land held by the landlord has undergone a
change because of rise in the yield therefrom and the standard
acreage of the land in his possession could be said to have
increased. Section 19-A of the Act specifically prohibits the future
acquisition by the landlord of land by transfer, exchange, lease,
D agreement or settlement any land which with or without the land
already held by him exceeds the permissible area. Similarly the
Act has made specific provisions to deal with a case of augmentation to the land held by the landlord subsequent to the commencement of the Act by inheritance, bequest or gift. These are
to be found in s. 19-B. What is to be done in a case of that
E type is provided for by s. 19-F(b). The power to evaluate land
conferred by this provision is exerciseable at 'any time' but
obviously that power is exerciseable only in the context of the circumstances set out therein, that is to say where the landlord obtains
land after the commencement of the Act by inheritance, bequestor gift and in no other circumstance. It would, therefore, seem that
F where the provisions of s. 19F are not attracted the Revenue
Assistant before whom an application under s. 14-A for ejectrnent
of a tenant is made by a landlord, is not entitled to evaluate the
land of the landlord afresh for ascertaining whether he is in possession of land in excess of the permissible area. Elaborate rules
have been framed under the Act and elaborate provisions are also
G contained in the Act with a view to extend its protection as far
as possible to tenants cultivating land. The omission, therefore,
to make any provision as to what has to be done, if as a result
of improvements made by the landlord or by reason of the rise in
the yield of the land through other causes would point only to
one conclusion and that is that this circumstance is not to be taken
H into account for evaluating the land afresh and re-calculating the
standard acreage. If that is so, then it would follow that the
High Court and the Assistant Commissioner were in error whereas
522
SUPREME COURT
REPORTS
[1669] 2 S.C.R.
the Collector, Commissioner and the Financial Commissioner
A
were right in deciding this case. For these reasons I set aside
the order of the High Court and restore that of the Financial
Commissioner upholding the orders of the Commissioner and
the Collector. In the particular circumstances of the case I,
however, direct that costs throughout will be borne by the parties
as incurred.
B
Appeal allowed.
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