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TMI Blog1994 (7) TMI 348X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ate Legislature under Article 245(1) of the Constitution of India. The High Court upheld the validity of the provisions and dismissed the writ petitions. These appeals by way of special leave are against the judgment of the High Court. 2. The appellants are the owners of agricultural lands in the State of Gujarat. They also hold agricultural land in another part of India outside the State of Gujarat. Section 6(3-A) of the Act was inserted by the Gujarat Agricultural Lands Ceiling (Amendment) Act, 1972 which provides for computing the ceiling area of a person who also owns land in another part of India outside the State of Gujarat. It lays down that for computing the ceiling area of such a person in the State of Gujarat, his holding in an ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... te. It is clear from the plain language of Section 6(3-A) of the Act that for the purpose of computing the permissible area of a person in the State of Gujarat the area held by him in any other part of India, not exceeding the maximum area of land which such person is entitled to hold there, is to be excluded from the permissible ceiling area under the Act. In other words, the ceiling area of land permissible under the Act is reduced by deducting the area of the land owned by a person in another State not exceeding the maximum area of land which such person is entitled to hold in the other State and whatever is the balance would be the ceiling area in the State of Gujarat under the Act. If a person already holds land in other State/Stat ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 3-A) of the Act has been enacted as stated in the declaration contained in Section 2 of the Amendment Act for giving effect to the policy of the State towards securing principles specified in clauses (b) and (c) of Article 39 of the Constitution of India and in particular for providing that the ownership and control of the agricultural resources of the community are so distributed as best to subserve the common good, and also that the operation of the agricultural economic system does not result in the concentration of wealth and means of agricultural production to the detriment of the common people. The Act and the Amendment Act have been included in the Ninth Schedule to the Constitution of India and as such are immune from challenge on t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... gislative competence to make laws which have extraterritorial operation. Meaning of the words extraterritorial operation have been authoritatively laid down by this Court in various judgments. A State Legislature has plenary jurisdiction to enact laws in respect of subjects in Lists II and III, Seventh Schedule, Constitution of India. Such laws may be in respect of persons within the territory, of property immovable or movable situated within the State, or of acts and events which occur within its borders. So long as the law made by the State Legislature is applicable to the persons residing within its territory and to all things and acts within its territory, it cannot be considered extraterritorial. This Court over a period of three dec ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... olding such land within the territory of Gujarat to which the provisions of the Act are applicable. If a person has no land within the State of Gujarat the provisions of the Act are not applicable to him or to the land which he owns outside the territory of the State of Gujarat. The sine qua non for the application of the provisions of the Act is the holding of the land within the State of Gujarat. The territorial connection is thus, real and sufficient and the liability sought to be imposed under Section 6 (3-A) of the Act is directly in relation to that connection. The factum of a person holding land outside the State of Gujarat is undoubtedly an aspect pertinent to the question of his entitlement under the Act to hold land in the State o ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... have been validly enacted. 9. The learned counsel for the appellants have placed reliance on the Full Bench judgment of the Bombay High Court in Shankarrao v. State of' Maharashtra2 and other connected matters decided on 2-10-1980. We have been taken through the judgment of the Full Bench. Section 3(2) of the Maharashtra Agricultural Lands Act, 1961 Bombay Act) which was struck down by the Bombay High Court was as ,.rider: All land held by a person, or as the case may be, a family unit whether in this State or any other part of India in excess of the ceiling area, shall, notwithstanding anything contained in any law for the time being in force or usage, be deemed to be surplus land, and shall be dealt with in the manner hereinaf ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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