# IK. N. WANCHOO, C.J v. BHARGAVA AND G. K. MITTER, JJ.J

- **Citation:** [1967] 3 S.C.R. 712
- **Court:** Supreme Court of India
- **Decided:** 1967-04-19
- **Case number:** Civil Appeal No. 611 of 1964
- **Source:** https://unisonlegal.in/judgment/supreme-court-of-india/ik-n-wanchoo-c-j-v-bhargava-and-g-k-mitter-jj-j-4014
- **Pages:** 8

## Headnote

RENTALA LATCHAIAH & ORS.
·v.
cmMMAPUDI SUBRAHMANYAM
April 19, 1967
IK. N. WANCHOO, C.J., V. BHARGAVA AND G. K. MITTER, JJ.J
B
Hyderabad Tenancy & Agricultural Lands Act, 1950, ss. 2(13) a11d
5-Persons put Into PO!sesslon of land by
trespasser-Whether 'asami
s/ilkml' under s. 2(13)-Whether can claim benefit of s. S as lawful cu/ti•
valors of the land,
R died in 1941 leaving certain landed properties. His adopted son
filed a suit for a declaration in· favour of his adoption a~ainst R's widow
C
•
as defendant. During the pendency of the suit the widow was put in
·:.,,
possession of'.the lands by the revenue authorities. The plaintiff added a
r
prayer of possession to bis plaint. The court served the widow with an
injunction not to deal with the lands in any way during the pendency
<>f the suit. In 1951 the suit was decreed in favour of the adopted son
but nevertheless in 1952 the widow leased the lands to the appellants.
In execution of the decree of the court possession of the lands was given
in 1954 to the adopted son and the appellants were ejected. The appelD
Jan ts thereupon filed a claim under s. 32( 1) of the Hyderabad Tenancy
.& Agricultural Lands Act, 1950 to be put back in possession of the lands
<>n the plea tliat they had been lawfully cultivating the land as tenants.
The Tehsildat' and the Collec!Or held in their favour but the High Court
in revision decided against them. They came to this CQ_urt by special
leave.
HELD : The appellants were inducted on the land by R's widow after
.I
the decree in the suit for declaration of title and possession in favour
•
<>f the adopted son. After the passing of the decree the possession of
the widow could only be that of a trespasser and it was not open to her
to create any right in the land in favour of anybody.
The appellants
could not get the benefit of s. 5 of the Act as they could not be said to
<:,
be lawfully cultivating the land. They could not call in aid the definition
of 'asami shikmi' in s. 2(13) of the Act. When the person who inductF
ed the tenants-Ori the land was found to be a trespasser on the date of
the induction, the tenants could not continue to have a right to be on
the land against the will of the true owner. [714 G-H; 715 A-C; 719 G]
Dahya Lal v. Rasul Mohammed Abdul Hakim,
[1963] 3 S.C.R. 1,
Mo/1ima Chunder Shafi•' v. Hazari Pramanik, I.L.R. 17 Calcutta 45 and
Binad Lal Pakrashi' v. Kalli Pramanik, I.L.R. 20 Calcutta 708, distin_-guished.
C1v1L APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Civil Appeal No. 611 of
1964.
Appeal by special leave from the judgment and order dated
September 10, 1962 of the Andhra Pradesh High Court in
C.R.P. No. 1128 of 1959.
A. V. Rangam, for the appellants.
P. Ram Reddy, Triyambak Rao Deshmukh and R. Vasutlev
Pillai, for the respondent.
G
H
LATCHAIAH v. SUBRAMANIAM (Mitter, J.)
'13
A

## Text

RENTALA LATCHAIAH & ORS.
·v.
cmMMAPUDI SUBRAHMANYAM
April 19, 1967
IK. N. WANCHOO, C.J., V. BHARGAVA AND G. K. MITTER, JJ.J
B
Hyderabad Tenancy & Agricultural Lands Act, 1950, ss. 2(13) a11d
5-Persons put Into PO!sesslon of land by
trespasser-Whether 'asami
s/ilkml' under s. 2(13)-Whether can claim benefit of s. S as lawful cu/ti•
valors of the land,
R died in 1941 leaving certain landed properties. His adopted son
filed a suit for a declaration in· favour of his adoption a~ainst R's widow
C
•
as defendant. During the pendency of the suit the widow was put in
·:.,,
possession of'.the lands by the revenue authorities. The plaintiff added a
r
prayer of possession to bis plaint. The court served the widow with an
injunction not to deal with the lands in any way during the pendency
<>f the suit. In 1951 the suit was decreed in favour of the adopted son
but nevertheless in 1952 the widow leased the lands to the appellants.
In execution of the decree of the court possession of the lands was given
in 1954 to the adopted son and the appellants were ejected. The appelD
Jan ts thereupon filed a claim under s. 32( 1) of the Hyderabad Tenancy
.& Agricultural Lands Act, 1950 to be put back in possession of the lands
<>n the plea tliat they had been lawfully cultivating the land as tenants.
The Tehsildat' and the Collec!Or held in their favour but the High Court
in revision decided against them. They came to this CQ_urt by special
leave.
HELD : The appellants were inducted on the land by R's widow after
.I
the decree in the suit for declaration of title and possession in favour
•
<>f the adopted son. After the passing of the decree the possession of
the widow could only be that of a trespasser and it was not open to her
to create any right in the land in favour of anybody.
The appellants
could not get the benefit of s. 5 of the Act as they could not be said to
<:,
be lawfully cultivating the land. They could not call in aid the definition
of 'asami shikmi' in s. 2(13) of the Act. When the person who inductF
ed the tenants-Ori the land was found to be a trespasser on the date of
the induction, the tenants could not continue to have a right to be on
the land against the will of the true owner. [714 G-H; 715 A-C; 719 G]
Dahya Lal v. Rasul Mohammed Abdul Hakim,
[1963] 3 S.C.R. 1,
Mo/1ima Chunder Shafi•' v. Hazari Pramanik, I.L.R. 17 Calcutta 45 and
Binad Lal Pakrashi' v. Kalli Pramanik, I.L.R. 20 Calcutta 708, distin_-guished.
C1v1L APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Civil Appeal No. 611 of
1964.
Appeal by special leave from the judgment and order dated
September 10, 1962 of the Andhra Pradesh High Court in
C.R.P. No. 1128 of 1959.
A. V. Rangam, for the appellants.
P. Ram Reddy, Triyambak Rao Deshmukh and R. Vasutlev
Pillai, for the respondent.
G
H
LATCHAIAH v. SUBRAMANIAM (Mitter, J.)
'13
A
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by
B
c
D
Mitter, J,
This is an appeal by special leave, from a judgment
in a batch of civil revision petitions
decided_ by the
Andhra
Pradesh High Court in September, 1962.
Th.~ facts necessary for the disposal of this appeal are as
follows.
One Ramalingayya died in the year 1941
possessed
of considerable properties includin~ the lands which formed the
subject matter of the above menlloned civil revision petitions.
Before his death, he had adop'.ed the petitioner before the High
Court one Chimmapudi Subrahman¥am, tl.e respondent before
this Court.
He came into possession of the l'roperties of his
adoptive father after the latter's death. ·Ramahngayya's widow
howev.~r raised a dispute about the facturn and validity of the
adoption and claimed the properties as the heir of her husband.
Subrahmanyam filed a suit in the court of the Dis'.rict Munsif,
Khanunam for a declaration that he was the adopted son of
Ramalingayya.
Pending the disposal of the
suit,
however,
Ramalingayya's widow. who was the. 4th respondent in C.R.P.
No. 36 of 1952 before the High Court, claimed, to have her
name registered in the register maintained under the Hyderabad
Land Revenue Act of 1317 F. by virtue of the provisions of
s. 59 of that Act.
The land revenue authorities registered the
widow Kaveramma as pattedar and dispossed the adopted son
of all the lands putting Kaveramma in possession thereof.
The
E . adopted son amended his plaint by including a prayer for pos- .
session.
During the pendency of the suit, the widow Kaveramma was prohibited by an order of injunc'.ion from dealing
with the lands in any way.
This was sometime in the year
1944. The suit of the adopted son was decreed by the trial court
on March 24, 1951 both with regard to the declaration of the
right of adoption and succession as also . -possession over the
lands mentioned in the schedule to ihe plaint. Thereafter, some
time in the year 1952 (the exact dafe aoes not appear from the
records before us) Kaveramrna leased the lands which were the
subject matter of the civil revision petitions to the appellants
before this court. This is borne out by the judgment of the
District Collector, Khammam dated March 19 1959 and the petition for special leave to this Court dated October 18
1962.
Kaveramma preferred an appeal from the deCree passed ' against
0
H
her and this was dismissed by the High Court in 1954. The
adopted son put the decree in execution and got delivery of possession through the court in August 1954. It appears that very soon
t~ereafter, in September 1954 the appellants surrendered possession of the lands to him and executed a deed in respect thereof.
~otwithstanding that, about a year afterwards, they filed a petition on October 7, 1955 for possession of the lands alleging
that they had bf>.en in possession for "the last six years in the
714
SUPREME COURT REPORTS
[1967j 3 S.C.R.
capacity of tenants".
Their allegation further was
that the
A
adopted son and his mother had dispossessed them from the suit
lands and they therefore prayed for being put back into possession. This claim was preferred under s. 32 (1) of the Hyderabad
Tenancy and Agricultural Lands Act, 1950.
The Tahsildar
made an ord.er in favour of the appella11ts in July 1958 which
was upheld in appeal to the Collector in March, 1959. This
B
led to the revision applications before the Andhra Pradesh High
Court.
The High Court allowed the Civil Revision Petitions
"'
and this has led to the appeal.
Under s. 32(1) of the Hyderabad Tenancy and Agricultural
Lands Act, 1950 (hereinafter referred to as the 'Act') "a tenant
or an agricul~ural labourer or artisan entitled to possession of
any land or dwelling house under any of the provisions of this
Act may apply to the Tahsildar in writing in the prescribed
form for such possession." "Tenant" has been defined in s. 2_(v)
of the Act as meaning an asami shikmi who holds lands on lease
and includes a p.~rson who is deemed to be .a tenant under the
provisions of the Act.
The relevant portion of s. 5 of the Act
provides as follows :-
"A person lawfully culti~Jting any land belonging
to another person shall be deemed to be a tenant if
such land is not cultivated personally by the land-holder
if such person is not-
( a) a member of the landholder's family, or
(b) a servant on wages payable in cash or kind,
but not in crop share or a hired labourer cultivating
the land under the personal supervision of the landholder or any member of the landholder's family, or
( c) a mortgagee in possession :
"
c
D
E
F
The appellants before th.is Court never were the t~nan!s of
Ramalingayya.
They were mduc'.ed on the land by his widow
-after the decree of the suit for declaration of title and possession
in favour of the adopted son. After the pas_sing of the decree,
G
the possession of the widow could only be that of a trespasser
and it was not open to her to create any right in the land in
favour of anybody.
It was argued however hoth before th_e
High Court and before this Cour! that the appellants were enutled to the benefit of s. 5, as they were lawfully cultivating the land
and should therefore be deemed to be tenants of such la!ld. It H
was contended that the word "lawfully" was to 1J<: taken 1.n conjunction ~i!h the words "cultivating" a~d the ~eg1slature mtended to oro!Cdt-1he actual tillers of the sot! even 1f the person wh~
A
B
c
D
E
F
G
H
LATCHAL.\H v. SUBRAMANIAM (Mitter, 1.)
715
put them in possession was found not to have any title to the
land. . This would indeed be a very strange provision of the law
and would, if upheld, amount to encouraging trespass on the
land by persons who had no shadow of title and creating rights
in favour of others although they themselves had no title to the
land. The meaning of the word 'asami shikmi' in the definition
of the tenant in s. 2(v) does not appear from any provision of
the Act but our attention was drawn to the Hyderabad Land
Revenue Act, s. 2 (13), according to which " 'asami shikmi'
means a lessee, whether holding under an instrument or under
an oral. agreement, and includes a mortgagee of an asami
shikf!1.i's .rights with possession, but does not
~~lude 8: lessee
holding directly under Government". In our op1mon, this does
not help the appellants for the definition shows that a person
who claims to be an asami shikmi had to be a lessee either holding under a document of lease or under an oral agreement.
The position might have been different if the appellants had
been inducted on the lands by the widow after her recognition
as a pattedar by the revenue authorities and before the disposal
of the suit against her; but, we are not concerned with that situation. · The High Court had considered at some length the question whether she c.ould create any tenancy rights when there was
an injunction restraining her from alienating any -property. We
do not think it was necessary to go into
tha~ question for
normally the order of injunction which was passed as an interlocutory measure would not survive the decree of the trial court.
Learned counsel for the appellants cited the judgment of this
Court in Dahya Lal v. Rasul Mohammed Abdul Hakim(') and
it was argued that the object of the Hyderabad Act of 1950
was to afford similar protection as was given to the tenants inducted by mortgagees under the Bombay Tenancy and Agricultural Land Act, 1948. Under s. 2 (18) of the ~om bay Act of
1948 as the same stood at the material time, a tenant was defined as "an agriculturist who holds lands on lease and includes
a person who is deemed to be tenant under the provisions of the
Act."
S. 1.4 of the Act provided that "notwithstanding any
agreement, usage, decree or order of a Court of Law, the tenancy of any land held by a tenant shall not be detern1ined unless
the conditions specified in that section were fulfilled."
In that
case, it was common ground. that the tenancy of the respondent
was ;11ot so~ght to ~ determmed on any of the grounds in s. 14
but 1t was m execution of an award made by the Debt Relief
Court that the respondent was dispossessed. The relevant portion of s. 4 of that Act provided:
"A person lawfully culth:ating any land belonging
to another person shall be deemed to be a tenant if
(I) (1963) 3 S.C.R. I.
716
SUPREME COURT REPORTS
(1967) 3 S,C.R,
such land is not cultivated personally by the owner
and if such perso11 is not
(a) a member of the ~wner's family or
( b) a servant on wages payable in cash or kind
but not in crop share or a hired labourer cultivatinl!'
the land under the personal supervision of the owner's
family, or
(c) a mortgagee in possession."
A
B
It was found in that case that the respondent was cultivating the
land which belonged to another peoon, that he was lawfully
cultivating the land because he derived his right to. cultivate Jt ..
from the mortgagee of the land and did not fall within the ex· · C
cepted categories.
In these circumstances, it was held by this
Court that he was a "deemed tenant" within the meaning of s. 4
of the Act. This Court observed in that case:
"A mortgagee in possession is excluded from the
class of deemed tenants on ground of public. policy: to
confer that status upon a mortgagee in wssession
would .be to invest him with rights inconsistent with his
fiduciaiy character. A transferee of the totality of .the
rights of a mortgage in possession may also be deem- ·
ed to be a mortgagee in possession. But a tenant of
the mortgagee in pQSsession is inducted o.n the land
in the ordinary course o( lllj\nagement under authority
derived from tfte mortgagor and so long as the mortgage subsists, even under the ordinary law he is not
liable to be evicted by the mortgagor."
According to this Court
" .... the Legislature by restricting the
exclusion
·to mortgagees in possession from the class of deemed
tenants intended that the tenant lawfully inducted by
the mortgagee shall on redemption of the · mortgage
be deemed to be tenant of the mortgagor."
In Dahya Lal's case(') the ratio decidendi was that the
mortgagee in possession had the right to induct tenants on the
land: normally, the right of such tenants would come to an end
with the extinction of the rights of the mortgagee but the object
of the Act was to give proteetion to tenants who had been law·
fully inducted thereon, inter alia by the mortgagee and this class
of tenants could be said to be lawfully cultivating the land. Such
is not the position in the case before us. Kaveramma did not
induct the tenants on .the land in the normal course of manage·
(1) {196313 S.C.R. I.
D
E
F
G
H
LATCHAIAH v. SUBRAMANIAM (Mitter,/.)
717
A
ment of the property. She put them in possession when she
had lost her right to be there and consequently the decision of
this Court in Dahya Lat's case can be of no assistance to the
appc;llants before us.
B
c
TM appellants however sought to rely on two decisions of
the Calcutta High Court which turned on the interpretation of
some provisions of the Bengal Tenancy Act. In Mohima
Chunder Saha v. Hawri Parmanik(') the plaintiff, appellant
before the High Court sued to eject the defendants and recover
possession of the land pertaining to the estate of Char Bantai, of
which they stated that they and their predecessors had been for
many years in possession as . proprietors. It was alleged
by them that the land sued for was diluviated by the river in
1284 F. and subsequently re-formed on the old site when they
re-took possession of it; that Government and other zarnindars
of a neighbouring mouza had dispossessed them in 1284 F. and
the plaintiffs had, in a suit brought against those zarnindars, obtained a decree declaring their rights and got possession of the
D land.
They had repeatedly asked the defendants to quit the
land but the latter failed to do so. The Munsff found that the
defendants had not acquired a right of occupancy, and were
liable to be ejected. In appeal to the District Judge it was held
that although the defendants had not proved their acquisition of
a right of occupancy, they were non-occupancy ryots and not mere
trespassers and as such they were not liable to be ejected except
under s. 44 of the Bengal Tenancy Act on grounds which did
not exist in the case. Before the High Court it was contended
that the defendants were not non-occupancy ryots and as such
could be ejected a~ trespassers. The High Court held that the
defendants were cultivating ryots who were placed on the property
E
F
G
H
by the Collector and that they had held possession for many
years but not for a period sufficient to create a right of occupancy. Accordingly they were within the cll!SS termed in the
Bengal Tenancy Act as non-occupancy ryots.
Under s. 5(2)
of the Bengal Tenancy Act, a ryot means primarlly "a person
who has acquired a right to hold land for the purpose of cultivating it by himself, or by members of his family, or by hired
servants, or with the ai'd of partners, and includes also the successors in interest of persons who have acquired such a right."
S. 4 of the Act specified non-occupancy ryots as one of the
classes of tenants under that Act. Under s. 3 (3) of the Act a
tena~t means
"a perso'! who holas land under another per;on
and is, or but for a special contract would be, liable to pay rent
for that land to that person." The High Court held · that the
defendants were clearly liable ~o pay for use and occupation of
the land and in the light of the definition of "rent" in s. 3 ( S) it.
(I) I.L.R. 17 Calcutta 45 . • -
718
SUPREME COURT REPORTS
[1967] 3 s.c.R.
had to be held that the defendants were ryots and therefore nonoccupancy ryots within the terms of the Bengal Tenancy Act.
The High Court finally observed :
"It may seem anomalous that the defendants, who
have no title from the plaintiffs directly, or through
their predeco:ssors in estate, should thus be protected
as non:occupancy ryots from ejectment as trespassers at
the plaintiff's free will; but it seems to us that this is in
accordance with the general spirit of the Bengal Tenancy
Act, . which regards a landlord as a rent-receiver and
as able to ~ject a tenant or cultivator of the soil, not
an under-teilant, only for certain specified reasons
and conditions, none of which here exist.
If the defendants had acquired a right of occupancy by occupation for twelve years, they would have been protected from ejectment, and as
non-occupancy ryots
they are also protected, except as specially provided."
It will therefore be noticed that the scheme of the Bengal
Tenancy Act was entirely different from the provisions of the
Act. we have to construe. There occupancy ryots were protected
altogether from ejectment but so long as they were non-occupancy ryots they were also protected except under conditions
mentioned in s. 44.
Here too the Act would have protected
them if their original induction was lawful so that they could be
said to be lawfully cultivating the lands. ·
The other decision of the Calcutta High Court is that in
Binad Lal Pakrashi v. Kalu Pramanik(' ). In this case the plaintiffs who were proprietors sought to oust the defendants from
certain lands which they were cultivating in Barakahali village.
Previously thereto, there was a dispute regarding these lands
between the plaintiffs and the trustees of the late D. N. Tagore
who claimed them as the re-formed I.ands of village Modhupur.
The plaintiffs were dispossessed of the lands in consequence of
the order of a Magistrate who in a proceeding under s. 145
Cr.P.C. declared possession to be with the trustees.
The lower
courts found that the. defendants were settled on the land by
the. trustees but they had not acquired a right of occupancy at
the time the suits were brought against them by the plaintiffs in
January 1889. Meanwhile in 1878 the plaintiffs had sued the
trustees and obtained decrees which were confirmed in appeal
by the High Court.
In January 1886 the plaintiffs took possessipn of the .lands as against the trustees and then they brought
suits to eject the defendants as trespassers.
They had not received rent from the defendants or in any way admitted their
tenancy.
The trial court decreed the suits in favour of the
(I) J.L.R. 21 Calcutta 708.
A
B
c
D
E
F
G
H
A
B
c
D
F
G
H
LATCHAIAH v. SUBRAMANIAM (Mitter, 1.)
719
plaintiffs but these were upset in appeal by the District Court
on the authority of Moh/ma Chunder Saha's(') case. According
to the Full Bench:
"The possession of the land in question for the purpose of cultivating it was acquired a good many years
ago by the defendants from the persons who at that tllllc
were m actual possession of the zemindari within which
it was situated and who were then the only persons who
could give possession of the lands of the zemindari to
cultivators."
The Full Bench held that although they had established their
right to the zamindari the plaintiffs could not treat the cultivators as trespassers and obtain khas possession of the lands from
them.
Referring to s. 5(2) of the Bengal Tenancy Act, the
learned Chief Justice ~aid:
"The possession and interest in the land which
the defendants acquired from the persons in possession of the zemindari was a right io hold it for the
purpose of cultivating it as
against all the world
except the true owners of the zemindari, and against
them unless they proved a title to the zemindari paramount to that of the plaintiff's landlords.
This was, I think, a risJ!.t to hold the land for the
purpose of cultivating it within the meaning of section
5, cl. 2 .
.
.
. the defendants are ryots, and the
only right of the person who has obtained possession of
the zemindari is to the rent payable for the land, and
not to the khas possession of the land itself, unless they
- can do so under the provisions of the Tenancy Act."
The facts in the Calcutta cases were different from the case
bef~re 1:1s and the Bc':1gal. Tenancy Act gave protection to persons
cultivating the land m circumstances which do not obtain here.
~t would therefor~ not be right to hold, on the basis of the decisions
m the Calcutta High Court, that although the person who inducted
the tena1:1ts on. the land was found. to be a trespasser on the date
of such mduction, the tenants- continued to have a right to be on
the land against the will of the true owner.
1:he appeal therefore fails ~d is dismissed, but, on the facts
of this "Case, we do not make any order as to costs.
G.C.
Appeal dismissed.
(I) l.L.R. 17 Calcutta 45.