TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1987 (4) TMI 484
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....cres. "Court" was defined to mean the court of Munsif within the local limits of whose jurisdiction the land was situate. "Family holding" was defined as meaning land equal to six standard acres. "Small holder" was defined to mean a land owner owning land not exceeding two basic holdings whose total net annual income including the income from such land did not exceed one thousand two hundred rupees. "Standard acre" was defined to mean one acre of the first class of land or an extent equivalent thereto consisting of any one or more classes of land specified in Part A of Schedule 1 determined in accordance with the formula in Part B of the said Schedule. Chapter II (Sections 4 to 43) contained 'General provisions relating to Tenancies' and Chapter III (Sections 44 to 62) dealt with 'Conferment of owner-ship on tenants'. Section 5 prohibited the creation or continuation of any tenancy in respect of any land after the appointed day and barred the leasing of land for any period whatsoever. It was, however, provided that (a) any small holder might create or continue a tenancy or lease the land owned by him and (b) any land owner who was a minor, a widow, an unmarried woma....
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....nbsp; X X X X X X X X (3) x x x x x x x x x (4) In respect of tenancies existing on the appointed day, as soon as may be after the expiry of fifteen months from the appointed day, as soon as may be after the statement under sub-section(1) is filed, the Court shall after such inquiry as it deems fit, determine the lands which will be non-resumable lands leased to tenants for purposes of this Act. (5) x x x x x....
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....; x x (8) x x x x x x x x x Section 15 provided for resumption of land by soldiers and seamen. Section 16 prescribed the conditions restricting resumption of land under s. 14. It is necessary to extract the whole of s. 16. It was as follows: "16. Conditions restricting resumption of land under section 14. The right of a landlord to resume for cultivating the land personally under section 14, shall be subject to the following conditions, namely: (1) If....
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....al source of income for the maintenance of the landlord. (10) If as a result of the resumption of land under section 14, a fragment is created, the person entitled to the larger part of the land shall be entitled to the fragment also. (10 A) If any person has after the 18th November, 1961 and before the appointed day transferred any land, otherwise than by partition, then, in calculating the extent of land owned by such person for purposes of the preceding clauses, the area so transferred shall be taken into consideration, and land exceeding the resumable area so calculated shall be deemed to be non-resumable land, and such person shall not be entitled to resume such non-resumable land. Explanation-For purposes of this clause, a land shall be deemed to have been transferred, if it has been transferred by act of parties (whether by sale, gift, mortgage, with possession, exchange, lease or any other disposition) made inter vivas. ( 10 B) Notwithstanding anything contained in clauses (1) to (10) (both inclusive)., or s, 142, the extent of land, if any, resumable, by any landlord in Bombay Area shall be subject to the restrictions and conditions specified in sections 31A, 3lB ....
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....t, Section 72 provided for payment of compensation for lands surrendered to and vested in the State Government. We are not concerned with Chapters V, VI, VII, and VIII. Chapter IX dealt with 'Procedure and Jurisdiction of Court and Appeals'. Section 112 prescribed the duties of the court and among the duties were "(g) to issue a certificate relating to reservation of land for resumption under sub-section (1) of s. 14 and (h) to determine the non-resumable lands under sub-sec. (4) of sec. 14." Sections 113, 114 and 115 provided for enquiry by the court and the procedure to be adopted. Section 118 provided for an appeal from the Court to the District Court. The broad scheme of the provisions mentioned or set out above was that there was not only to be a ceiling on the holding of land, the system of leasing of land was to be abolished and cultivating tenants were to be invested with rights of ownership. However, certain limited classes of cases were recognised where leases were permitted on the one hand and on the other tenants were deprived of the right to remain in possession of the land. It was provided that leases were permissible in cases when the landlord was under some ....
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.... legal practitioner shall be allowed to appear in any proceeding before the Tribunal. Section 48A dealt with the procedure to be adopted by the Tribunal in its enquiry into applications made under s. 45 for registration of a person as an occupant. Sec. 112A provided for the duties of the Tahsildar and s. 112B provided for the duties of the Tribunal. The provision for an appeal from the decision of the court and the further right of revision under the amended Act were taken away and there was no right of appeal or revision against the decision of the Tribunal. Thus, we see that the 1974 Amending Act took away the right which was saved by the original Act in favour of the widow, unmarried woman, minor and disabled person to create a tenancy or lease the land. The more important right which was taken away by the 1974 Amendment was the right of the landlord to resume the land if he bona-fide required the land for personal cultivation or for a nonagricultural purpose. The right to resume the land if he bona-fide required the land for personal cultivation was denied by the Amending Act even if the income by the cultivation of the land which he was entitled to resume was the principal sou....
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....ment. (2) Section 5 of the Constitution (First Amendment) Act 1951 introduced Article 3lB into the Constitution which reads thus: "3lB x x x x x x x x x In Keshvananda Bharati (1973, Suppl., SCR 1) decided on April 24, 1973 it was held by the majority that Parliament has no power to amend the Constitution so as to damage or destroy its basic or essential features or its basic structure. We hold that all amendments to the Constitution which were made before April 24, 1973 and by which the 9th Schedule to the Constitution was amended from time to time by the inclusion of various Acts and Regulations therein, are valid and constitutional. Amendments to the Constitution made on or after April ....
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....s well as poverty amongst tenants and afforded a measure of protection to the poorer sections of the landlords. We are unable to agree with the submission that the Amendment is not aimed at agrarian reform or at securing the objectives mentioned in Arts. 39(b) and (c) of the Constitution. It is too late in the day to contend that, in the existing system of economic relations, ownership of land to the tiller of the land is not the best way of securing the utmost utilisation of land, a material resource of the community for the common good of the entire community. It is now well recognised by leading economists everywhere that in the absence of common ownership of land and in the existing system of economic relations, the greatest incentive for maximum production is the feeling of identity and security which is possible only if the ownership of the land is with the tiller. It is obviously in recognition of this principle that 'landlordism' was sought to be totally done away with by the amendment of s. 5 of the Act, by the omission of secs, 14 and 16 and by the amendment of s. 44. If between a landlord who did not himself personally cultivate the land and a tenant who so culti....
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....liar questions. There can be no doubt that while the decision of some disputes require a trained judicial mind to be applied to it, there are many other questions which do not require the application of any trained judicial mind. The disputes contemplated by s. 48A do not appear to be disputes of a nature where the application of a trained judicial mind is absolutely essential. We also notice that Land Tribunals have functioned very well in West Bengal and Kerala where under the respecting State Acts more complicated questions than the ones under s. 48A are entrusted to Land Tribunals. The failure of the Land Tribunals to function efficiently in the State of Karnataka has been apparently taken note of by the Legislature itself and the Act has since been amended making provision for an appeal and revision. So much to the credit of the Karnataka Legislature. But we do not see how the failure of some of the land Tribunals to function efficiently can be said to be sufficient to stigmatise wholesale, the functioning of all the Tribunals constituted under the Act and to invalidate the provisions of the Act relating to Tribunals. The last submission was in regard to sub-sec. 8 of sec. ....