Govt. of
U.T. of Pondichery Vs. Mohammed Husain [1994] INSC 349 (30 June 1994)
Agrawal, S.C. (J) Agrawal, S.C. (J) Punchhi, M.M. Jeevan Reddy,
B.P. (J)
CITATION:
1994 SCC (5) 121 JT 1994 (7) 1 1994 SCALE (3)77
ACT:
HEAD NOTE:
The
Judgment of the Court was delivered by S.C. AGRAWAL, J.- Leave granted in SLP
(C) No. 6468 of 1980.
2.These
appeals raise a common question involving the interpretation of Section 9(2)(a)
of the Pondicherry Land Reforms (Fixation of Ceiling on Land) Act, 1973
(hereinafter referred to as 'the Act'). The question is : Whether Section
9(2)(a), which provides that for the purpose of calculating, after the
appointed day, the ceiling area of a family holding land on the appointed day
in excess of 6 standard hectares, the authorised officer shall take into
account only those members of that family who are alive on the notified date,
requires that in cases where on the appointed day one of the members of the
family is an unmarried daughter or a minor son and the said unmarried daughter
gets married or the minor son attains majority after the 123 appointed day and
before the notified date, the share of the said daughter or son inthe family
holding should be excluded for the purpose of fixing the ceiling area of the
family.
3. The
Act has been enacted to provide for the fixation of ceiling on agricultural
land holdings and for certain other matters connected therewith in the regions
of Pondicherry and Karaikal. Under sub-section (4)
of Section 2, the expression "appointed day" has been defined to mean
the 24th day of January 1971. The expression "family" has been
defined in sub-section (10) of Section 2 as under :
"family',
in relation to a person, means the person, the wife or husband, as the case may
be, of such person and his or her minor sons and unmarried daughters."
4."Notified date" has been defined in Section 2(24) to mean the date
specified in the notification issued by the Government under sub-section (1) of
Section 7. Section 4 fixes the ceiling area as 6 standard hectares in the case
of every person and in the case of every family consisting of not more than
five members. Where the family consists of more than five members the ceiling
area is enhanced by 1.2 standard hectares for every member of the family in
excess of five but the total extent of land held by any family shall in no case
exceed twice the ceiling area, i.e., 12 standard hectares. In subsection (4) of
Section 4 it has been laid down "4. (4) In calculating the extent of land
held by any person, any land which was transferred by sale, gift or otherwise
or partitioned by that person after the appointed day but before the
commencement of this Act, shall be taken into account as if such land had not
been transferred or partitioned as the case may be." Section 6 provides as
under:
"6.
On and from the appointed day, no person shall, except as otherwise provided in
this Act, but subject to the provisions of Chapter VI, be entitled to hold land
in excess of the ceiling area :
Provided
that in calculating the total extent of land held by any person, the authorised
officer may, for reasons to be recorded in writing permit any person to hold
land in excess of the ceiling area if the extent of excess of land does not
exceed 0.2 hectare in the case of wet land and 0.4 hectare in the case of dry
land."
5.
Section 7 requires that within thirty days from such date as may be specified
in the notification issued by the Government in this behalf, every person, who,
on the appointed day, held land in excess of the ceiling area shall, in respect
of all land held by such person on such day, furnish to the authorised officer
within whose jurisdiction the holding of such person or the major part thereof
is situated, a return containing the particulars specified in clauses (i) to
(viii) of sub-section (1). In case where a person who has held land in excess
of the ceiling area fails to furnish the return under Section 7 or furnishes an
incorrect or incomplete return sub-section (1) of Section 8 124 empowers the authorised
officer to issue a notice requiring such a person to furnish the return or the
additional particulars, as the case may be, within the time specified in the
notice. Where a person on whom notice has been served under sub-section (1) of
Section 8, fails to furnish the return, or the additional particulars, as the
case may be, within the time specified in that notice, or within the further
time allowed by the authorised officer, the authorised officer is empowered by
sub-section (2) of Section 8 to obtain necessary information either by himself
or through such agency as he thinks fit. Under sub-section (1) of Section 9 the
authorised officer is required to prepare a draft statement in respect of each
person holding or deemed to have held land in excess of the ceiling area. The
said draft statement is required to contain the particulars mentioned in
sub-clauses (i) to (xi) of clause (b) of Section 9(1).
6.
Sub-section (2) of Section 9 provides as under (a)For the purpose of
calculating after the appointed day the ceiling area of a family holding land
on the appointed day in excess of 6 standard hectares, the authorised officer
shall take into account only those members of that family who are alive on the
notified day.
(b)For
the purpose of calculating after the appointed day, the ceiling area of any
other family, the authorised officer shall take into account only those members
of that family who are alive on the date of the preparation of the draft
statement under sub-section (1)."
7.The
draft statement prepared under sub-section (1) of Section 9 is required to be
published under sub-section (5) of Section 9 and a copy of the same is required
to be served on the person concerned as well as on persons who in the opinion
of the authorised officer are interested in the land together with a notice
stating that any objection to draft statement shall be preferred within 15 days
of such notice. Sub-section (6) of Section 9 prescribes that the objections
that are received must be considered by the authorised officer and the objector
should be given a reasonable opportunity of being heard and of adducing
evidence, if any. Section 11 prescribes that after the disposal of objections,
if any, the final statement specifying the entire land held by each person, the
land to be retained by him within the ceiling area and the land declared to be
surplus land, shall be published. Section 17(1) provides for acquisition of
surplus land after the publication of the final statement and for that purpose
a notification is required to be issued by the Government to the effect that
the surplus land is required for a public purpose. Section 17(3) provides that
on the publication of such notification the land specified in the notification
together with the trees standing on such land and buildings, machinery, plant,
apparatus, wells, filter points or power lines constructed, erected or fixed on
such land and used for agricultural purposes shall, subject to the provisions
of the Act, be deemed to have been acquired for a public purpose and vested in
the Government free from all encumbrances with effect from the date of such
publication and all right, title and interest of ail persons in such land
shall, with effect from the 125 said date, be deemed to have been extinguished.
Section 21 deals with ceiling on acquisition by inheritance bequest or by sale
in execution of decree, etc., after the appointed day and prescribes for filing
of a return by the person who has thus acquired the land before the authorised
officer. Subsection (2) of Section 21 provides as under :
"(2)
If, as a result of marriage or adoption on or after the appointed day, the
extent of land held by any person exceeds in the aggregate the ceiling area,
then, he shall, within thirty days from the notified date or from the date of
marriage or adoption, as the case may be, whichever date is later, furnish to
the authorised officer within whose jurisdiction his holding or the major part
thereof is situated, a return containing the following particulars, namely :
(i)particulars
of the land held before the date of the marriage or adoption;
(ii)particulars
of the land held after the date of marriage or adoption;
(iii) such
other particulars as may be prescribed."
The
facts in all the three appeals are similar. We will briefly refer to the facts
in CA No. 135 of 1979.
8.According
to the draft statement published under Section 8 of the Act, an extent of
18.10.08 standard hectares was shown in excess of the ceiling area as on the
appointed day. Respondent, Mohammed Hussain, filed an objection that the
holding of his minor sons, Sharafudeen and Abdul Hameed, who had become major
on the notified date should be excluded from the ceiling area of the family.
The said objection was rejected by the authorised officer but on appeal the
Land Tribunal (Subordinate Judge), Karaikal, upheld the said objection and held
that the holdings of the minor sons who became major in between the appointed
day and the notified date should be excluded from the holdings of the family of
the landowner in computing the ceiling area. In this connection, reliance was
placed on the decision of the Madras High Court (Kailasam J., as the learned
Judge then was) in Rajagopal Pillai v. State of T.N.1 The revision petition
filed by the appellant against the said order of the Land Tribunal was rejected
by the High Court (Ismail, J.) on the view that the order of the Tribunal is in
accordance with the judgment of the High Court.
9.In
the other two appeals also there was a minor son on the appointed day who
attained majority before the notified date and it was claimed that his share in
the family lands should be excluded while fixing the ceiling area of the
family. The said objections have been allowed by the Land Tribunal and the
revision petitions against the orders of the Land Tribunal have been dismissed
by the High Court.
10.In Rajagopal
Pillai v. State of T.N. 1, the provision under consideration was
Section-10(2)(a) of the Madras Land Reforms (Fixation of 1 AIR 1973 Mad 68:
(1972) 2 Mad LJ 507: 85 Mad LW 829 126 Ceiling on Land) Act, 1961. In that case
the family included a daughter who was unmarried on the appointed day but got
married thereafter but before the notified date. It was held that since Section
10(2) postulates that the authorised officer shall take into account only those
members of the family who are alive on the notified date which means that the
ceiling area of the family should be fixed with reference to the state of
affairs on the notified date and that just as in the event of a death in the
family between the date of the commencement of the Act and the notified date,
that person will have to be excluded in fixing the family holding similarly it
would logically mean that the authorised officer could fix the members of the
family as on the notified date by taking into account the subtraction by the
minor becoming major or by the unmarried daughter getting married who are by
virtue of the definition 'family' excluded from the said definition. In taking
this view the learned Judge has placed reliance on an earlier unreported judgment
of the High Court (Ramanujam, J.) in CRP No. 854 of 1967 wherein it was held
that when a minor on the date of the commencement of the Act becomes a major
before the notified date, his share should be excluded in fixing the family
ceiling area. It appears that in Thirumathi Rajam Sivasubramaniam alias Muthu Meenakshi
Veeralakshmi Nagammal v. Authorised Officer (Land Reforms) Tirunelveli2, Ismail,
J. has taken the same view as was taken by Kailasam, J. in Rajagopal Pillai v.
State of TN.1 11.In the appeal arising out of SLP (C) No. 6468 of 1980 the High
Court has observed that the provisions of Section 9(2)(a) and (b) are in pari materia
with the provisions of Section 40(2)(a) and (b) of the Tamil Nadu Land Reforms
(Fixation of Ceiling on Land) Act, 1961 which were considered by Kailasam, J.
in Rajagopal
Pillai v. State of TN. 1 and that by reading of the provisions contained in
Section 9(2)(a) and (b) of the Act and Section 10(2)(a) and (b) of the Tamil Nadu
Act, the conclusion is inescapable that whatever changes or alterations in
situation take place between the appointed day and before the notified date
they will have to be recognised and calculations must be done on the basis of
these changes and alterations in the situation. It has been held that Section 6
of the Act, which makes a reference to the appointed day, merely provides
statutory bar against future acquisition and that the relevant date for the
purpose of computation, preparation and publication of the draft statement
under Section 9 is only the notified date.
12.Shri
A.S. Nambiar, the learned Senior Counsel appearing for the appellants, has
urged that the High Court was in error in ignoring the significance of the
appointed day and in laying emphasis on the notified date and on that basis in
holding that a change which takes place in the family between the appointed day
and the notified date on account of a minor son attaining majority or unmarried
daughter getting married has to be taken into account while calculating the
extent of land which can be retained by a landowner. The submission of Shri Nambiar
is that in view of the clear provisions contained in Sections 6 and 7(1) of the
Act the surplus land has to 2 1979 LW 527 127 be determined with reference to
the appointed day only and any change in the family subsequent to the appointed
day will not have any effect on the ceiling area that can be retained by the
members of the family and that the High Court was in error in construing the
provisions of Section 9(2)(a) to mean that the ceiling area has to be
calculated by taking into account the change in the family that takes place
after the appointed day but before the notified date by reason of a minor son
attaining majority or an unmarried daughter getting married. On the other hand,
Shri G. Vishwanatha Iyer, the learned Senior Counsel appearing for the
respondents, has supported the view of the High Court and has urged that the
High Court has rightly construed the provisions of the Act and in holding that
a change in the family occurring after the appointed day but before the
notified date has to be taken into account while calculating the ceiling area
of the family.
13.The
High Court was, in our opinion, in error in not attaching sufficient importance
to the expression "appointed day" in the matter of calculation of the
ceiling area and determination of the surplus land. It has to be borne in mind
that even though the Act came into force on 5-10-1973 the appointed day is
24-1- 1971, a date much anterior to the date of the coming into force of the
Act. The reason being that the Act has been enacted in pursuance of the
recommendations made by the Central Committee on Land Reforms regarding the
fixation of ceiling on agricultural holdings. 24-1-1971, which has been fixed as the appointed day, has reference
to the said meeting of the Central Committee on Land Reforms. The significance
of the appointed day in the matter of calculation of ceiling area and
determination of the surplus land is evident from the provisions contained in
Section 6 of the Act which prescribes that on and from the appointed day no
person shall, except as otherwise provided in the Act, be entitled to hold land
in excess of the ceiling area. Similarly sub-section (1) of Section 7 requires
a person who on the appointed day held land in excess of the ceiling area to
furnish to the authorised officer return in accordance with the provisions of
the said section. Sub-section (4) of Section 4 excludes land which was
transferred by sale, gift or otherwise or partitioned by a person after the
appointed day but before the commencement of the Act. The aforesaid provisions
clearly indicate that the crucial date for determination of the celling area
that can be retained by a person holding land in excess of the ceiling limit is
the appointed day.
14.The
Act envisages consideration of changes taking place after the appointed day in
the following provisions :
(i)Section
9(2)(a) which applies to a family holding land on the appointed day in excess
of 6 standard hectares and requires the authorised officer to take into account
only those members of the family who are alive on the notified date for the
purpose of calculating, after the appointed day, the ceiling area of the
family;
128
(ii)Section 9(2)(b) which applies to a family other than that covered by
Section 9(2)(a ) and requires the authorised officer to take into account only
those members of the family who are alive on the date of the preparation of the
draft statement for the purpose of calculating after the appointed day the
ceiling area of the family;
(iii)Sub-section
(1) of Section 21 which deals with acquisition of land by a person after the
appointed day either by inheritance or bequest from any person and acquisition
after the appointed day but before the notified date by sale in execution of a
decree or order of a civil court or of an award or order of any other lawful
authority and provides that if such land together with the land, if any,
already held by him exceeds in aggregate the ceiling area then he shall within
30 days from the notified date or from the date of such acquisition, whichever
is later, furnish to the authorised officer within whose jurisdiction his
holding or the major part thereof is situated, a return containing the
particulars mentioned to in clauses (i) to (vii) of sub-section (1).
(iv)Sub-section
(2) of Section 21 which deals with a situation where the extent of land held by
any person exceeds in the aggregate the ceiling area as a result of marriage or
adoption on or after the appointed day. Such a person also must within 30 days
from the notified date or from the date of marriage or adoption, as the case
may be, whichever is later, furnish to the authorised officer within whose
jurisdiction his holding or the major part thereof is situated, a return
containing the particulars set out in that sub- section.
15.From
the aforesaid provisions it would appear that while clauses (a) and (b) of
sub-section (2) of Section 9 seek to curtail the ceiling area of the family by
taking into account the death of a member of the family after the appointed
day, sub- sections (1) and (2) of Section 21 deal with cases where holding of a
person exceeds the ceiling area after the appointed day on account of
acquisition of land by inheritance or bequest or sale in execution of a decree,
etc., or as a result of the marriage or adoption and require such a person to
file return to the extent of land in excess of the ceiling area. There is no
provision in the Act which provides for recalculation of the ceiling area as a
result of a change taking place in the family after the appointed day on
account of a minor son attaining majority or an unmarried daughter getting
married before the notified date. Section 9(2)(a) which deals with changes in
the family on account of death of a member of the family after the appointed
day but before the notified date cannot be construed to cover a change in the
family on account of a minor son attaining majority or an unmarried daughter
getting married after the appointed day but before the notified date. Moreover
the object underlying Section 9(2)(a) is to further reduce the ceiling area by
taking into account a change taking place between the appointed day and the
notified date on account of death of a member of a family. The said provision
cannot be invoked so as to enlarge the ceiling area by taking into account a
change in the family as a result of a minor son 129 attaining majority or an
unmarried daughter getting married. We cannot lose sight of the fact that the
Act is a piece of legislation enacted with a view to achieve a more equitable
distribution of land for common good so as to subserve the Directive Principles
contained in Article 39 of the Constitution.
The
provisions of such a legislation have to be so interpreted as to further the
object of the legislation and not defeat the same.
The
construction placed by the High Court on the provision of Section 9(2)(a) of
the Act runs counter to the object of the Act and we do not find any indication
in the provisions of the Act which justifies placing such an interpretation on
Section 9(2)(a). We are, therefore, unable to uphold the view taken by the High
Court. In our view any change in the family on account of a minor son attaining
majority or an unmarried daughter getting married after the appointed day is
not required to be taken into account while calculating the ceiling area of the
family.
16.In
the result, the appeals are allowed, the judgments of the High Court under
appeal as well as the orders passed by the Land Tribunal holding that the share
of the minor son attaining majority after the appointed day must be excluded
from the holding of the family are set aside and the orders passed by the authorised
officer are restored. No orders as to costs.
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