Usufruct rights over standing trees do not amount to a cultivating tenancy without lease of land or exclusive possession.

An arrangement that gave rights only over coconut trees and their produce, while prohibiting cultivation of other crops and denying exclusive possession of the land, was held not to be a lease of agricultural land. Limited permission to enter the land and maintain the trees did not convert the licence into a tenancy. Because protection under the Madras Cultivating Tenants Protection Act depends on a tenancy in respect of land used for agriculture or horticulture, the occupant was not a cultivating tenant and could not claim statutory protection against eviction; the decree for eviction was sustained.

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Issues: Whether the appellant was a cultivating tenant entitled to protection under the Madras Cultivating Tenants Protection Act, 1955; and whether the agreement amounted to a lease of the land for agricultural purposes.

Analysis: The agreement created rights only in respect of the coconut trees and the produce therefrom. It did not confer exclusive possession of the land, and the appellant was expressly prohibited from cultivating any other crop on it. A limited permission to repair or render the soil fit for the trees did not convert the arrangement into a lease of land. The arrangement was therefore one for enjoyment of usufruct coupled with a licence to enter upon the land, not a transfer of land by lease. Since protection under Section 3 depends upon a tenancy in respect of land used for agriculture or horticulture, the absence of a lease of the land was decisive.

Conclusion: The appellant was not a cultivating tenant and could not claim statutory protection against eviction.

Final Conclusion: The second appeal failed, and the decree for eviction was sustained.

Ratio Decidendi: An arrangement conferring only a right to enjoy the usufruct of standing trees, without transfer of the land itself or exclusive possession for agricultural use, does not make the occupant a cultivating tenant under the Act.

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