TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1971 (11) TMI 167
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.... High Court by its common judgment dated 30th January, 1967 disposed of all these petitions. The High Court came to the conclusion that "Chapter III of the Amending Act is a valid piece of legislation or in other words, it does not suffer from any invalidity; but Chapter IV of the Amending Act is unconstitutional and invalid and accordingly it is struck down." The High Court accordingly allowed the petitions in part and directed the State not to give effect to the provisions of Chapter IV of the Amending Act. 3. The State filed a number of appeals against that judgment and this Court (Shah and Vaidialingam, JJ.) allowed the appeals and set aside the order passed by the High Court declaring Chapter IV of Act XIII of 1965 amending Act XVI of 1960 ultra vires (State of Orissa v. Chander Sekhar) [1970]1SCR593 . Civil Appeals No. 1028, 1033 & 1907/1968, 1865-67 & 2487/1969 are by the State of Orissa (hereinafter referred to as the State appeals) but these could not be heard by this Court (Shah and Vaidialingam, JJ.). The present appeal (C.A. No. 854 of 1968) was also not heard with the other appeals. 4. In Civil appeal No. 854 of 1968 the appellant urged : (1....
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....mended into force. No notification has as yet been issued under Section 1(3) of the Act bringing the provisions of Chapter IV into force. This fact was also noticed in the judgment of this Court in State of Orissa v. Chander Sekhar(1) but the Court nevertheless went into the question of validity of Chapter IV of the Act as amended because the High Court had held Chapter IV to be ultra vires. 10. It seems to us that the Courts ordinarily ought not to go into the question of the validity of an Act or a provision of an Act unless it has been brought into force. Till then, such a question would be academic. No body can be aggrieved by a provision of law which; is dormant and which cannot be enforced. The Constitution has provided for an advisory opinion being given by the Supreme Court, when the question is of such a nature and of such public importance that it is expedient to obtain the opinion of the Supreme Court. The High Court should not have embarked upon an academic question. In view of this we are not inclined to go into the question whether the provisions of Chapter IV were rightly held to be intra vires by this Court. The respondents in the State appeals can raise this que....
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.... (a) either a share of the produce of such land; or (b) the estimated value of a portion of the crop raised on the land; or (c) a fixed quantity of produce irrespective of the yield from the land; or (d) produce or its estimated value partly in any of the ways described above and partly in another; 12. Chapter II deals with Raiyats and Tenants. The heading of Chapter III is "Resumption of Land for Personal Cultivation." Section 24(1) gives a right to the landlord and the tenant to have the resumable and non-resumable lands determined in accordance with the provisions of the Chapter. The expression "resumable land", by virtue of the Explanation, refers to land which can be resumed for personal cultivation by a landlord from a tenant. We are not concerned with Section 24(2). Section 25 fixes the extent of the resumable land which shall not be more than one-half of the lands in respect of each tenant, measured in standard acres only. Section 26 enables the landlord to make a sele....
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....he correctness of the contents thereof in respect of all disputes between the tenant and the persons whose rights stand extinguished in pursuance of Section 31. Section 33 provides for determination of fair and equitable rent for non-resumable land and the persons to whom it is payable. Section 34 provides that on the determination of the resumable lands the tenant on such land shall cease to have the right to continue in cultivation thereof with effect from the date of expiry of-the year next following the date of issue of the certificate under Section 29. Section 35 provides for the contingency when both the landlord and the tenant in respect of any land fail to apply in accordance with the provisions of Section 26, and enables the Revenue Officer to determine resumable and non-resumable lands and other matters required to be determined under Sections 27 and 28. Section 36 provides for eviction of a landlord and a tenant who fail to personally cultivate the land without sufficient cause. 13. The learned Counsel challenged the provisions of Chapter III on the ground that they are not protected by the provisions of Article 31A(1) because they do not provide for the acquisition b....
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....tion thereof. It is, therefore, clear that the provisions of Article 31A save the impugned Act from any attack based on the provisions of Articles 14, 19 and 31 of the Constitution. 15. It seems to us that this Act also modifies the landlord's substantive rights in various respects inasmuch as it enables the determination of resumable land which the land-owner would be entitled to cultivate himself and regarding the non-resumable land the tenant is given the right to acquire it on payment of compensation. This falls within the protection given by Article 31A(1). 16. The learned Counsel then referred to the second proviso to Article 31A(1) which reads : Provided further that where any law makes any provision for the acquisition by the State of any estate and where any land comprised therein is held by a person under his personal cultivation, it shall not be lawful for the State to acquire any portion of such land as is within the ceiling limit applicable to him under any law for the time being in force or any building or structure standing thereon or appurtenant thereto, unless the law relating to the acquisition of such l and, building or structure p....