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TMI Blog1960 (4) TMI 48X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... these areas that followed the partition of India the position of these Thika tenants became even more insecure than before. With the sharply rising demand for accommodation the landlords found it possible and profitable to put pressure on these Thika tenants to increase their rents or to evict them so that other tenants who would give more rents and high premiums might be brought in. With a view to give some protection to these Thika tenants against eviction and in certain other matters, the West Bengal Legislature enacted in 1949 an Act called the Calcutta Thika Tenancy Act (hereinafter referred to as the Act ). Some features of the protection afforded by this legislation which deserve mention are that ejectment could be had only on one or more of the six grounds specified in s. 3 of the Act; special provisions as regards notice for ejectment were made in s. 4; in the same section provision was also made about payment of compensation as a necessary pre-requisite for ejectment in certain cases. Section 6 provides that no orders for ejectment on the grounds of arrears of rent shall be executed if the amount of arrears together with costs of proceedings and damages that may be allo ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ed or against whom cases were pending was however kept intact. The Ordinance by its s. 5 extended such special protection also to tenants whose cases were pending before a court on the date of the commencement of the Ordinance and those against whom decrees or orders had been made after the date of the Act and before the date of the Ordinance but possession had not been obtained. In 1953 the West Bengal Legislature enacted the Calcutta Thika Tenancy Amendment Act, 1953, revising permanently the definition of Thika tenant and making some, other and 29 of the Original Act were omitted. The principal question before us in this appeal is whether the provisions of s. 28 could be applied by a Court in a case where an application had been made by a tenant for relief under that section and such application was pending for disposal on the date the omission became effective, by reason of the Amendment Act coming into force. The decree for possession with which we are concerned in this case was made as far back as August 8, 1941, by a Munsif in Howrah. The tenant s appeal was dismissed on April 9, 1943. On February 28, 1949, on which date the Calcutta Thika Tenancy Act of 1949 came into ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... t would in view of the provisions of s. 8 of the Bengal General Clauses Act be entitled to have his application for relief under s. 28 of the original Act disposed of as if s. 28 still continued. If however a contrary intention has been expressed by the Legislature in its amending Act the contrary intention would prevail. What we have to decide is whether in s. 1, sub-s. (2), the Legislature has clearly expressed an intention that no relief under s. 28 of the original Act shall be given in cases like these. The principles that have to be applied for interpretation of statutory provisions of this nature are well-established. The first of these is that statutory pro. visions creating substantive rights or taking away substantive rights are ordinarily prospective; they are retrospective only if by express words or by necessary implication the Legislature has made them retrospective; and the retrospective operation will be limited only to the extent to which it has been so made by express words, or by necessary implication. The second rule is that the intention of the Legislature has always to be gathered from the words used by it, giving to ,the words their plain, normal, gramma ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... The Thika Tenancy Act, 1949, as amended by this Act, in the proviso; and there was no reason for the use of the words the provisions of the Thika Tenancy Act . We are not impressed by this argument. The Legislature might certainly have used the language as suggested by the learned counsel, and as be says, that would have meant an economy of words. But where there are two ways of saying the same thing it is useless to speculate why one way was adopted in preference to the other. It is not unusual to find draftsmen using the words provisions of the Act in many statutes where the words the Act would have been adequate; and it would be unreason. able to try to read too much in the use of the words the provisions of the Thika Tenancy Act instead of The Thika Tenancy Act in the proviso. Even so the learned counsel contends, there is no reason to read amendments so as to include omissions. The word amendment , he has submitted is sometimes used in the restricted sense of addition or a alteration as distinct from omission; and he asks us to read the word amended in the proviso, to mean only alterations or additions in the statute, and as not includi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... tained on the date of the commencement of the original Act but possession had not been actually recovered would be applied to pending applications. In other words, though the application originally was for relief under s. 28 no such relief could be granted, the section having ceased to exist retrospectively. It is helpful to remember in this connection the fact that while s. 28 of the original Act was giving certain tenants a right to relief which they would have had if the beneficent provisions of the new Act were available to them during the disposal of the suits the manner in which the right is given is by conferring on courts a power to rescind or vary decrees or orders to bring them into conformity with the provisions of the, Act. As soon as s. 28 was omitted the courts ceased to have any such power. The effect of the proviso in its strict grammatical meaning is that the courts shall be deemed never to have had this power in respect of applications which were still pending. The inevitable result is that the Court having been deprived of the power to give relief even in respect of applications made at a time when the power could have been exercised, was bound to dismis ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ing in this case the principles of interpretation which are applicable in cases of ambiguity. Nor is it possible to agree with Mr. Pathak s last contention that the strict grammatical interpretation would result in an absurdity or inconsistency. It is urged that it is unthinkable that the Legislature when undertaking a legislation to help tenants would do anything to deprive them of the existing benefits under s. 28. It is in our opinion useless to speculate as to why the Legislature thought it right to take away the benefit. One-reason that suggests itself is that the Legislature might have thought that where landlords had already been deprived of the fruits of the decrees they had obtained for a long period from the date when the original Act came into force up to the time when the Amendment Act came into force, it would not be right to continue that deprivation. But whatever the reasons may be the fact remains that the Legislature has used words which in their normal grammatical meaning show that they intentionally deprived this class of tenants, viz., those whose applications under s. 28 of the Act were undisposed of on the date the Ordinance came into force, and remained un ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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