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TMI Blog1970 (11) TMI 102X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... aling with the allegation of infringement of Arts. 14, 19 and 31, the High Court in addition to holding that there has been no infringement of those Articles has further held that the challenge to the validity of these Acts on the basis of those Arts. is precluded in view of Art. 31 (A). Dealing with the contention relating to the reduction of rent the High Court came to the conclusion that the legislature had power to enact the impugned provisions. The High Court also has given reasons for rejecting the other contentions advanced before it. Aggrieved by the decision of the High Court these appeals have been brought by special leave. The impugned statues deal with agrarian reforms. They purport to deal with Inam lands. It is profitless to go to the origin of Inams or about their early history. Suffice it to say that the Urdu word Inam means a gift. The Inams, rants were made by the Rulers for various purposes. Some of them were granted to institutions and some to individuals. Broadly speaking there were three types of Inams The first type consisted of the grant of the melwaram right alone. The second category consisted of the grant of both the melwaram as well as the kudivaram ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... me to the Madras Estates (Abolition and Conversion Into Ryotwari) Act, 1948 (Madras Act 26 of 1948). This Act applies to all estates i.e. Zamindari and under-tenure estates and all-Inam villages in which the grant consisted of melwaram alone. That Act as its preamble says is an Act to provide for the repeal of the permanent settlement, the acquisition of the rights of landholders in permanently settled and certain other estates in the Province of Madras and the introduction of the ryotwari settlement in such estates. To complete the agrarian reform initiated by this Act, the impugned Acts appears to have been enacted. The Preamble to Madras Act 26 of 1963 says that it is an Act to provide for the acquisition of all rights of landholders in Inam estates in the State of Madras and the introduction of the ryotwari settlement in such estates. That Act follows by and large the provisions in Act 26 of 1948. In Act 26 of 1963 Inams estates are divided into two categories namely (1) existing Inam estate and (2) a new Inam estate. The existing Inam estate refers to the estate consisting of the whole village and the new Inam estate means a part village Inam estate of Pudukkottai Inam estate. ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... adras Act 26 of 1963 cannot be applied to the same. We have not thought it necessary to go into the question whether as a result of Madras Act 40 of 1956, certain Inams have ceased to be Inams, as in our opinion, whether they continued to be Inams or not they are still estate within the meaning of Art. 31 (A) because they fall either under sub-clauses (1) or (II) or (111) of Clause (a) of Art. 31 (A) (2) and that being so the provisions of the impugned Acts cannot be challenged on the ground that they infringe Arts. 14, 19 and 31. The contention that as the State purported to abolish Inams and not other intermediaries the law cannot be held to be valid if the intermediaries sought to be removed are not Inamdars is an untenable one. If the impugned legislation can be traced to a valid legislative power, the fact that the legislature wrongly described some of the intermediaries sought to be removed does not make the law invalid. From the above observations, it should not be understood that we have come to the conclusion that the intermediaries concerned were not Inamdars. We have not gone into that question. From the provisions of The impugned Acts, it is quite clear that the in ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... n is agairt untenable. Those attears are either affairs of rent or debts due from agriculturists. It they are treated as affears of rent then the State legislature had legislative power to legislate in respect of the same under Entry 18 of List II of the VIIth Schedule. If they are considered as debts due from agriculturists then the State legislature had competence to legislate in respect of the same under Entry 30 of the same list. In regard to the Inams belonging to the religious and charitable institutions, the impugned Acts do not provide for payment of compensation in a lumpsum but on the other hand provision is made to pay them a portion of the compensation every year as Tasdik. This is only a mode of payment of the compensation. That mode was evidently adopted in the interest of the concerned institutions. We are unable to agree that the method is violative of Art. 31(2). At any rate that provision is protected by Art. 31-A. It was next urged that by acquiring the properties belonging to religious denominations the legislature violated Art. 26 (c) and (d) which provide that religious denominations shall have the right to own and acquire movable and immovable property ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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