TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1999 (4) TMI 577
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....eing the Zamindar of village Kamalpur, during the subsistence of the Zamindari, executed two mortgage-deeds dated 4.8.1947 and 5.1.1948 in favour of the defendant-appellant for securing thereunder a loan against movable property and houses, Zamindari and Khudkasht lands. The possession of the mortgaged property as the record shows was delivered to the mortgagee-defendant and in a suit filed for redemption of the mortgage, the trial court as noted above decreed the suit with an express finding that the plaintiff was entitled to redeem the mortgage. 4. Be it noted here that the Madhya Bharat Zamindari Abolition Act has been engrafted into the statute book for acquisition of rights of proprietors in villages, Muhals, Chaks or blocks settled on Zamindari system so as to subserve the public purposes of the improvement of agriculture and financial condition of agriculturists and came into force on 25th June, 1951. 5. Section 2c, defined "Khudkasht land" meaning thereby land cultivated by Zamindar himself or through employees or hired labourers and includes `sir' land. Section 3 of the Act provides for vesting of the proprietary rights in the State and Section 4 records the consequence ....
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....he High Court in paragraph 13 of the Judgment observed:- "True, for the view taken in Yakub's case (supra) reliance is placed mainly by the learned single judge, on a decision rendered by another learned single judge of this court in Bhagwant v. Ramchandra (1961 JLJ 286). In that decision also, a simplistic view of the definition was taken and relying on Section 2(a)(a) read with sub-clause (2) of section 2 of Qanoon Mal, Gwalior State, the rights of Zamindar/proprietor were subrogated to that of his mortgagee and the latter was even held entitled under Section 38 to claim to be a "Pakka tenant" and thereby to keep alive his interest in the mortgaged "Khudkasht" land in direct opposition to the object and purpose of Section 4(1)(f). Reference was also made in Yakub's' case (supra) to a Bench decision of this Court in Khumansingh v. Dhansingh (1971 RN 351), but, in our opinion, reliance thereon was misconceived. In that case, it was held that in "Z.A. Act" emphasis was on actual cultivation of the "Khudkasht" lands and not on entry ("so recorded") in the revenue record, while construing Sections 2(c) and 4(2) of the said Act. The scope and object of Section 4(1)(f) did not come up f....
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....ds on the basis of the provisions contained in sub- section (4) of Section 5 and sub-section (1) of section 29 of the Act. Sub-section (4) of Section 5 provides that notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (2) of Section 5 the Zamindar or Biswedar shall subject to the provisions of Section 29, continue to retain the possession of his Khudkasht, recorded as such in the annual registers before the date of vesting. The words "continue to retain the possession", imply that lands which are recorded as Khudkasht in the annual register before the date of vesting should also be in possession of the Zamindar or Biswedar on the date of vesting and if he is in possession of such lands he can continue to retain the possession of the same subject to the provisions of of Section 29. Sub-section (1) of Section 29 prescribes that as from the date of vesting of an estate, the Zamindar or Biswedar thereof shall be a malik of any Khudkasht land in his occupation on such date and shall, as such malik, be entitled to all the rights conferred and subject to all the liabilities imposed on a Khatedar tenant by or under the Rajasthan Tenancy Act. Under this provision Khatedri rights have been con....
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....have been dealt with on the basis thereof and in the event, a different view is expressed today, so far as this specific legislation is concerned, it would unsettle the situation in the State of Madhya Pradesh and it is on this score also that reliance on the doctrine of `stare decisis' may be apposite. While it is true that the doctrine has no statutory sanction and the same is based on a Rule of convenience and expediency and as also on `Public Policy' but in our view, the doctrine should and ought always to be strictly adhered to by the courts of law to sub-serve the ends of justice. 12. This Court in Muktul v. Mst. Manbhari & Ors. (1959 SCR 1099), explained the scope of the doctrine of stare decisis with reference to Halsbury's Laws of England and Corpus Juris Secundum in the manner following:- "The principles of `Stare Decisis' is thus stated in Halsbury's Laws of England: "Apart from any question as to the Courts being of co-ordinate jurisdiction, a decision which has been followed for a long period of time, and has been acted upon by persons in the formation of contracts or in the disposition of their property, or in the general conduct of affairs, or in legal procedure or ....
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....ion of a local statute, the view taken by the High Court over a number of years should normally be adhered to and not disturbed. A different view would not only introduce and element of uncertainty and confusion, it would also have the effect of unsettling transactions which might have been entered into on the faith of those decisions. The doctrine of stare decisis can be aptly invoked in such a situation. As observed by Lord Evershed M.R. in the case of Brownsea Haven Properties v. Poole Corpn., there is well established authority for the view that a decision of long standing on the basis of which many persons will in the course of time have arranged their affairs should not lightly be disturbed by a superior court not strictly bound itself by the decision." 16. Recently in Bishamber Dass Kohli v. Satya Bhalla (1993 (1) SCC 566) J.S. Verma, J. (as he then was) observed in respect of a provision of the East Punjab Urban Rent Restriction Act, 1949 as follows:- "This is how this provision appears to have been understood at least ever since then and the people in the State have arranged their affairs on that basis. Apart from the fact that this view commends to us as the correct vie....
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.... House of Lords observed:- "In Corpus Juris Secundum, a contemporary statement of American Law the stare decisis rule has been stated to be a principle of law which has become settled by a series of decisions generally is binding on the courts and should be followed in similar cases. It has been stated that this rule is based on expediency and public policy and should be strictly adhered to by the courts. Under this rule courts are bound to follow the common law as it has been judicially declared in previously adjudicated cases and rules of substantive law should be reasonably interpreted and administered. This rule has to preserve the harmony and stability of the law and to make as steadfast as possible judicially declared principles affecting the rights of property, it being indispensable to the due administration of justice, especially by a court of last resort, that a question once deliberately examined and decided should be considered as settled and closed to further argument. It is a salutary rule, entitled to great weight and ordinarily should be strictly adhered to by the courts. The courts are slow to interfere with the principle announced by the decision, and it may be up....