# NAm SINGH AND OTHERS v. THE BOARD OF REVENUE AND OTHERS

- **Citation:** [1968] 3 S.C.R. 498
- **Court:** Supreme Court of India
- **Decided:** 1968-03-21
- **Case number:** Civil Appeals Nos. 621 to 626 of 1965
- **Bench:** J. C. Shah, G. K. ~Itter
- **Source:** https://unisonlegal.in/judgment/supreme-court-of-india/nam-singh-and-others-v-the-board-of-revenue-and-others-4437
- **Pages:** 8

## Headnote

U.P. Zamindari and Land Reforms Act, 1952 s. 20(b)(i)-resp0ndents shown in record of rights for l356F c..r sub-tenants-if to be regarded as occupants entitled to 'Adhivasi~ rights-er whether inquiry to be
about pr.opriezy of entry.
In 1945 one R who was the thekadat of the proprietary rights of a
village, sued the appellants and the respondents, other than tho first res•
pondent Board of Revenue, far their ejectment under section 171 Of the
U.P. Tenancy Act. alleging that the appellants bad illegally sub-let the
lands tp the respondents. The appellants and tbe respondents made a
common case denying the alleged sub-letting and stating that the entries
in the villa8'e records about the respondents being sub-tenants were erroneous.
The suit was dismissed in March, 1946, I.e., towards the end of
1353 F on the ground that there was no sub-letting and the entries were
not correct No attempt was made by anyone to bring the village records
in harmony with this decision and the respondents continued to figure as
suf>..tenants in these records.
On his attention being drawn to this, the
Lekbpal, on his own authority. removed the entries in favour of the respondents from the records for the year ending 1358 F, but the entries for
the year 1356 F were left undisturbed as it was not within the Lekhpal's
jurisdiction to alter these.
After the .U.P. Zamindari Abolition and Land Reforms Act came into
force in 1952 i.e .. at the beginning of 1360 F, on the strength of the
Khasra and Khatauni of 1356 F, the respondents claimed•.Afiiivasl rights
under section. 20(b) (i) of the Act and filed six suits praying for the recovery of possession of. the lands under s. 232 of the Act. They lost the.
suits before the sub Divisional Officer and ·Additional Commissioner . of
Varanasi ·but succeeded in appeals to the Board of Revenue.
The appellants thereafter filed writ petitions for quashing the Of\(ers
of the· Boatd; 1111d the High Court although of the view that the impugned
orders of the Board of Revenue were wrong, held that the Board had
jurisdiction to interpret section 20(b) as it thought proper; and as the
orders passed by it were final without being subject to any appeal. they
could not be quashed by certiorari as being mere errors of law.
In appeal to this Court, it was contended, inter alia, on behalf of
the appellants that (i) the correctness of the entry in the record of rights
of 1356 F could be ~one into and was capable of challenge in a court of
law exercising jurisdiction under Art. 226; (ii) in the present case there
was an adjudication in March 1946 that the respondents were not subtenants; consequently, unless they showed that they bad thereafter become
sub-tenants, the benefit of the entry in their favou'r in 1356 F could not
be availed of by them; (iii) in the Khasra of 1356 F
the respondents
were only recorded as sub-tenants but not as occupants and
could not
therefore get the benefit of s. 20(b)(i) of the Act.
HELD : Dismissing the appeals.
The record of rights for the year 1356 F
had not been corrected
afte'rwards. The court had to go by the entry in the record of rights and
A
B
c
D
F
G
i
H
B
c
.D
E
F
G
H
NATH SINGH v. BOARD OF REVENUE (Mitter, 1.)
499
no enquiry need be made as to when the respondents became sub-tenants
after the decision in the suit filed by R. As between the tenant and the
slJ!>.tenant, the entry in the record of rights in favour of the sub-tenant
made him the occupant entitled to the adhivcsi rights under s. 20 of the
Act. !504 G-Hl
The Upper Ganges Sugar Mills Ltd. v. Khalil-ul-Rahman and others,
[1961] 1 S.C.R. 564; Amba Prasad v. Abdul Noor Khan & Ors. [1964] 7
S.C.R. 800; Ram Dular Singh & Anr. v. Babu Sukh Ram & Ors., (1963]
A.L.J. 667; and Nanakchand v. Board of Revenue U,.P. [1955] A.L.J. 408;
applied.

## Text

NAm SINGH AND OTHERS
v.
THE BOARD OF REVENUE AND OTHERS
March 21, 1968
[J. C. SHAH AND G. K. ~ITTER, JJ.J
U.P. Zamindari and Land Reforms Act, 1952 s. 20(b)(i)-resp0ndents shown in record of rights for l356F c..r sub-tenants-if to be regarded as occupants entitled to 'Adhivasi~ rights-er whether inquiry to be
about pr.opriezy of entry.
In 1945 one R who was the thekadat of the proprietary rights of a
village, sued the appellants and the respondents, other than tho first res•
pondent Board of Revenue, far their ejectment under section 171 Of the
U.P. Tenancy Act. alleging that the appellants bad illegally sub-let the
lands tp the respondents. The appellants and tbe respondents made a
common case denying the alleged sub-letting and stating that the entries
in the villa8'e records about the respondents being sub-tenants were erroneous.
The suit was dismissed in March, 1946, I.e., towards the end of
1353 F on the ground that there was no sub-letting and the entries were
not correct No attempt was made by anyone to bring the village records
in harmony with this decision and the respondents continued to figure as
suf>..tenants in these records.
On his attention being drawn to this, the
Lekbpal, on his own authority. removed the entries in favour of the respondents from the records for the year ending 1358 F, but the entries for
the year 1356 F were left undisturbed as it was not within the Lekhpal's
jurisdiction to alter these.
After the .U.P. Zamindari Abolition and Land Reforms Act came into
force in 1952 i.e .. at the beginning of 1360 F, on the strength of the
Khasra and Khatauni of 1356 F, the respondents claimed•.Afiiivasl rights
under section. 20(b) (i) of the Act and filed six suits praying for the recovery of possession of. the lands under s. 232 of the Act. They lost the.
suits before the sub Divisional Officer and ·Additional Commissioner . of
Varanasi ·but succeeded in appeals to the Board of Revenue.
The appellants thereafter filed writ petitions for quashing the Of\(ers
of the· Boatd; 1111d the High Court although of the view that the impugned
orders of the Board of Revenue were wrong, held that the Board had
jurisdiction to interpret section 20(b) as it thought proper; and as the
orders passed by it were final without being subject to any appeal. they
could not be quashed by certiorari as being mere errors of law.
In appeal to this Court, it was contended, inter alia, on behalf of
the appellants that (i) the correctness of the entry in the record of rights
of 1356 F could be ~one into and was capable of challenge in a court of
law exercising jurisdiction under Art. 226; (ii) in the present case there
was an adjudication in March 1946 that the respondents were not subtenants; consequently, unless they showed that they bad thereafter become
sub-tenants, the benefit of the entry in their favou'r in 1356 F could not
be availed of by them; (iii) in the Khasra of 1356 F
the respondents
were only recorded as sub-tenants but not as occupants and
could not
therefore get the benefit of s. 20(b)(i) of the Act.
HELD : Dismissing the appeals.
The record of rights for the year 1356 F
had not been corrected
afte'rwards. The court had to go by the entry in the record of rights and
A
B
c
D
F
G
i
H
B
c
.D
E
F
G
H
NATH SINGH v. BOARD OF REVENUE (Mitter, 1.)
499
no enquiry need be made as to when the respondents became sub-tenants
after the decision in the suit filed by R. As between the tenant and the
slJ!>.tenant, the entry in the record of rights in favour of the sub-tenant
made him the occupant entitled to the adhivcsi rights under s. 20 of the
Act. !504 G-Hl
The Upper Ganges Sugar Mills Ltd. v. Khalil-ul-Rahman and others,
[1961] 1 S.C.R. 564; Amba Prasad v. Abdul Noor Khan & Ors. [1964] 7
S.C.R. 800; Ram Dular Singh & Anr. v. Babu Sukh Ram & Ors., (1963]
A.L.J. 667; and Nanakchand v. Board of Revenue U,.P. [1955] A.L.J. 408;
applied.
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION:
Civil Appeals Nos. 621
to 626 of 1965.
Appeals by special leave from the judgment and order dated
March 6, 1964 of the Allahabad High Court in Civil Misc. Writs
Nos. 1428 to 1433 of 1961.
1. P. Goyal and Sobhag Mal Jain, for the appellants (in all
the appeals).
S. P. Sinha and M. I. Khuwaja, for respondents Nos. 2 to
4 (In all the appeals).
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by
Mitter, J. These six appeals by special !.:ave arise from a
common judgment of the Allahabad High Court rejecting six writ
petitions fifed by the appellants in that court for quashing the
orders of the Board of Revenue arising out of cases filed under
section 232 of the U.P. Zamindari Abolition and Land Reform>
Act.
The relevant facts are as follows.
In 1945 one Ram Dhari
Singh who was the thekadar of the proprietary rights of a village
sued the appellants and the respondents other than the Board of
Revenue for their ejectment under section 171 of the U.P. Tenancy
Act alleging that the appellants had illegally sublet the lands to
the said respondents. Tire appellants and the respondents made
a common cause denying the alleged subletting and stating that
the entries in the village records about the respondents being subc
tenants were erroneous.
On 3rd March 1946 i.e., towards the
end of 1353 F. the suit was dismissed on the ground that there
had been no subletting and that the entries regarding the subletting in. the village records were not correct. No attempt was,.
however made by anyone to- bring the village records in harmony
with the said decision with the result that the said respondents
continued to figure therein as sub-tenants as before. On his
attention being drawn to this fact, the Lekhpal on his own authority removed the entries in favour of the said respondents showing
them as sub-tenants from the records of the year ending 1358 F.
I
500
SUPREME COURT REPOllTS
(1968) 3 S.CR.
The entries in the year 1356 F. were left undisturbed and it was
A
not within the jurisdiction of the Lekhpal to make any alterations
therein.
The U.P. Zamindari Abolition and Land Reforms Act (hereinafter referred to as the 'Act') came into force· with the commencement of 1360 F. i.e. 1st July, 1952. Under s. 20(b)(i)
B
every person who . was recorded as occupant in the Khasra or
Khatauni of 1356 F. prepared under sections 28 and 33 respectively of the U.P. Land Revenue Act was to be called an
"adhivasi" and was subject to the provisions of the Act, to be
entitled to take or retain possession of the land (unless he would
become a bhumidar or an asami). The second Explanation to
the section provided that where any entry in the records referred
C
to in clause (b) of section 20 had been corrected before the date
of vesting under or in accordance with the provisions of the U.P.
Land Revenue Act, 1901, the entry so corrected was to prevail
for the purposes of the said clause. The third Explanation provided that for the purposes of the second Explanation an entry
shall be deemed to have been corrected before the date of vestfitg
D
if an order or decree of a competent court requiring any correction in the records had been made before the said date and had
become final even though the correction may not have been
incorporated in the records.
On the strength of the Khasra and Khatauni of 1356 F. the
respondents claimed adhivasi rights under s. 20(b)(i) of the Act E
They filed six suits praying for recovery of possession under s. 232
of the Act.
According to their case, the appellants were never
in possession of the lands in dispute at any time. They lost the
suits before the Sub Divisional Officer and the Additional Commissioner of Varanasi but they ultimately succeeded in appeals
to the Board of Revenue.
P
The appellants filed the writ petitions for quashing the orders
of the Board of Revenue.
The High Court went elaborately into
the procedure for making entries in the records of rights and examined the question as to whether an entry recording a person as
a sub-tenant was equivalent to an entry recording him as occilG
pant for the purpose of the Act. The High Court concluded
that the impugned orders of the Board of J!.evenue were wrong
but held that the Board had jurisdiction to interpret s. 20 (b) as
it thought proper . and as the orders passed by it were final without being subject to any appeal, they could not be quashed by
certiorari as being mere errors of law.
It is from this judgment
that the present appeals have been launched.
H
Learned counsel for the appellants. raised the following points
in his address :
A
B
c
D
E
F
G
H
NATH SINGH v. BOARD OF REVENUE (Mitter, l.)
501'
( 1) The correctness of the entry in the record of rights of
1356 F. can be gone into and is capable of challenge in a court
of law exercising jurisdiction under Art. 226.
(2) In the present case there was an adjudication in March
1946 and the respondents were not sub-tenants : consequently,
unless they showed that they had hereafter become sub-tenants
the benefit of the entry in their favour in 1356 F. could not be
-availed of by them.
(3) Under rule 183 of the rules framed under the Act it was
incumbent on the respondents to state in their applications the
dates of their dispossession and the failure to do so rendered their·
petitions defective.
( 4) In the Khasra of 1356 F. the respondents were only
recorded as sub-tenants but not as occupants and hence they
cannot get the benefit of s. 20(b )(i) of the Act.
Before entering into a discussion as to the merits of the points
raised, it is worthy of note that before the Board of Revenue i,e.
the ultimate fact-finding authority the contention on behalf of
the respondents who were the appellants before the Board, was
that they had been recorded as occupants in the revenue papers
of 1356 F. and hence they were entitled to be reinstated to pos·
session, it being unneeessary for them to prove that they were in
actual possession in 1356 F.
The arguments before the Board of Revenue on behalf of thepresent appeliants were : ( 1) as the appellants were not in possession, they were· not sub-tenants either in 1356 F. or before
and hence they _could not be regarded as occupants in 1356 F :
in support of this proposition reliance was placed on a decision
of this Court in The Upper Ganges Suirar Mills Ltd. v. Khalil-ulRahman and others(') which will be discussed later : (2) as both
the courts below and the Board of Revenue had concurrently
found that there was no contract of sub-tenancy, the respondents
could not be regarded as sub-tenants and could not rely on an
entry in the year 1356 F. in their favour, and (3) a sub-tenant
was not an occupant and as such not entitled to maintain an
application under s. 232 of the Act.
All these contentions were turned down by the Board of
Revenue.
As regards the first point the Board took the view that
the Upper Ganges Sugar Mills'(') case did not lay down that a
person had to be in actual possession before be could get the
benefit of the entry in the record of rights of 1356 F. With
regard to the second point, the Board held that even if the respondents had failed to prove that they were sub-tenants they could
(!) [1961] I S.C.R. 504.
'
.502
SUPREME COURT REPORTS
[1968] 3 S.C.ll.
still be treated as trespassers.
The third point was disposed of
by ae Board placing reliance on an earlier deci.sion of its own
to the effect that the entry of sub-tenancy should be held to be
an entry of a recorded occupant.
There are two decisions of this Court which negative the points
<:anvassed before us. In the Upper Ganges Sugar Mills'(') case,
the appellant company, a thekadar up to 1355 F. (June 1948)
had retained possession of the lands in dispute by virtue of stay
orders granted although the landlord had succeecled in the ejectment suit under the U.P. Tenancy Act in all the courts up to the
Board of Revenue.
During the pendency of the company's appeal to this Court, the Act came into force.
The company started
proceedings to recover actual possession under s. 232 of the Act
read with sections 12 and 20. The trial court decided in favour
·of the company and ordered delivery of possession under both the
sections. The landlords lost in appeal. Thereupon there was a
Se<:ond Appeal to the Board of Revenue which was dismissed in
January 1956. The landlords came to this Court on special leave,
The appeals were remanded by this Court for a finding whether
the company had acquired any rights under s. 20 of the Act. The
Board held that the company was entitled to such benefit and had
acquired Adhivasi rights thereunder.
Before this Court. at the final hearing, there was a good deal
of discussion as to the meaning of the expression "a person in
occupation". It was held that in order that the company could
take the benefit of s. 20 it should have been recorded as in occupation of the land in dispute in the year 1356 F. and the only
limitation placed by judicial decisions on the meaning of the word
"occupant" was that a person should be in occupation \n his own
right and not on behalf of some one else. On behalf of the landlords it was argued that the company was not in possession in its
own right firstly because there was an order for ejectment in
November 1948 and thereafter it remained in possession only on
account of the stay orders; and secondly, as L thekadar the possession of the company was on behalf of the landlords.
This
·Court held that on the landlords' own showing the company was
not in possession as a thekadar as the theka had expired before
1356 F. and consequently the nature of occupation of the company was on its own behalf and not on behalf of the court or of
the landlords. In the result, the company was held entitled to
Adhivasi rights.
-
This case establishes that a person recorded as an occupant
on the relevant date although found by courts of Jaw to have no
-ri!lht to possession even prior thereto, is not to be denied
<Odhivasi rights.
(I) [1961] 1 S.C.R. 564.
A
B
c
D
E
F
G
H
A
NATH SINGH v. BOARD OF REVENUE (Mitter, !.)
503
The case of Amba Prasad v. Abdul Noor Khan and others(1)
is more in point.
Amba Prasad was a zamindar of a village
before the coming into operation of the Act. The opposite parties
were persons whose names had been recorded in column 23 (miscellaneous) in the Khasra for the year 1356 F. as persons in
possession . and they claimed to be recorded as occupants of the
B
fields in dispute and to have obtained Adhivasi rights under s. 20.
c
The case of the respondents was that they were in occupation of
the land and had been dispossessed after June 30, 1948 by the
appellant and as they were recorded occupants i11 1356 F. they
were not required to prove actual possession.
The appellant's
stand was that the entry was fraudulently made after July 1, 1949.
The suits were dismissed by the Sub-Divisional Officer but in
appeal the Additional Commissioner held that the respondents had
acquired Adhivasi rights.
This was upheld by the Board of
Revenue. The appellant then filed appeals to
this
Court.
The
real dispute as noted by this Court was, whether
a person who was recorded as 'Qabiz' but not as a tenant or subtenant would get the advantage of s. 20 of the Act and claim
D
Adhivasi rights. Examining the scheme of s. 20 along with its
Explanations, it was observed :
E
G
H
"The section, speaking generally, says that certain
persons "recorded" as "occupants" of lands (other than
grove lands or lands to which section 16 applies) shall
be known as adhivasis and shall be entitled to retain or
to regain possession of them after the date of vesting
which was July 1, 1952. . . . . . . Su.ch persons
must be recorded as occupants in the Khasra or
Khatauni for 1356 F. (1-7-48 to 30-6-49).
If such a:
person
is
in
possession
he
continues
in
possession.
U
he
is
evicted after June
30,
1948 he is to be put back in possession notwithstanding
anything in any order or decree. By fiction such persons
are deemed to be entitled to regain possession (Explanation I). The emphasis has been laid on the record
of khasra or khatauni of 1356 F. and June 30 1948 is
the datum line. The importance of an entry' in these
two documents is further apparent from Expl!!nations
Il and III. Under the former if the entry is corrected
before the date of vesting (1-7-52) the corrected
entry is to prevail and under the latter the entry is deemed to be corrected (even though not actually corrected) if an order or decree of a competent court
ordering the correction had been made before the date
of vesting and the order or decree had become final.
There are thus two date lines. They are June 30,.
(I) [1964] 7·S.C.R. 800.
504
SUPREME COURT REPORTS
[1968] 3 S.C.R.
1948 and July 1, 1952, and the title to possession as
A
adhivasi depends on the entries in the khasra or
khatauni for the year 1356 F."
The Court went on to add that the word 'occupant' had not been
defined in the Act and said ;
"Since khasra records possession and enjoyment the
word 'occupant' must mean a person holding the land
in possession or actual enjoyment The khasra, however, may mention the proprietor, the tenant, the subtenant and other person in actual possession, as the case
may be. If by occupant is meant the person in actual
possession it is clear that between a propri_etor and a
tenant, the tenant, and between a tenant and the subtenant the latter and between him and a person recorded in the remarks column as "Dawedar · qabiz" the
dawedar qabiz are the occupants. . . . . . . . . The section eliminates inquiries into disputed possession by accepting the records in the khasra or khatauni of 1356
F. or its correction before July 1, 1952. It was perhaps
thought that all such disputes would have solved them- ·
selves in the four years between June 30, 1948 and
June 30, 1952."
With regard to the question as to whether a mere entry in
1356 F. without possession in that year was sufficient, reference
was made by this Court to the Full Bench decision of the Allahabad
High Court in Ram Dular Singh and another v. Babu Sukh Ram &
others( 1) which had endorsed the earlier view in N anakchand v.
Board of Revenue, U.P.(
2 )~ In the last mentioned case the Allahabad High Court had observed that the words in the section were
not "every person who was an occupant in 1356 F." nor were the
words "every person who was recorded as an occupant in the year
1356F. and who was in possession in that year." According to
the Allahabad High Court there was no warrant for introducing
words in the section which were not there. This Court felt that
in view of the Jong established line of cases, there was no justification for reopening this question and the decision of the Board of
Revenue was right.
These decisions negative the first, second and the fourth points
sought to be raised on behalf of the appellants. The record of
rights for the year 1356 F. had not been corrected afterwards. We
have to go by the entry in the record of rights and no enquiry need
be made as to when the respondents became sub-tenants after the
decision in favour of the landlord, Ram Dhani Singh. The last
decision of this Court also shows that as between the tenant and
the sub-tenant the entry in the record of rights in favour of the
.(!) i1963J A.L.J. 667.
(2) [195S] A.L.J. 408.
B
c
D
E
F
G
H
;
·.
A
NATH SINGH v. BOARD OF REVENUE (Mitter, !.)
505
sub-tenant makes him the occupant entitled to the adhivasi rights
under s. 20 of the Act.
With regard to the point as to the violation of rule 183 it is
enough to say that the point was not canvassed before the Board
of Revenue and as such we need not look into it.
B
In the result, the appeals fail and are dismissed with costs.
One hearing fee.
R.K.P.S.
Appeals dismissed.