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TMI Blog1953 (2) TMI 47X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... he Bihar Legislature passed an Act called the Sathi Lands (Restoration) Act, 1950. The genesis of this legislation is thus explained in the counter-affidavit filed on behalf of the State of Bihar, the first respondent herein. 3. Report against the settlement of these lands with the petitioners as well as some other lands to Sri Prajapati Mishra and the unlawful manner in which these settlements were brought about, was carried to the Working Committee of the Indian National Congress, which body, after making such enquiry as it thought fit, came to the conclusion that the settlement of these lands with the petitioners was contrary to the provisions of law and public policy and recommended that steps should be to taken by the State of Bihar to have these lands restored to the Bettiah Estate. In pursuance thereof a request was made to the petitioners and to the said Prajapati Mishra to return the lands to Bettiah Estate. While Sri Prajapati Mishra returned the land settled with him, the petitioners refused to do so. 4. The Statement of Objects and Reasons of the Sathi Lands (Restoration) Bill runs thus : As it has been held that the settlement of Sathi lands in the District o ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ugh it adversely affected the rights and interest of the shareholders of a particular joint stock company, because the mismanagement of the company's affairs prejudicially affected the production of an essential commodity and caused serious unemployment amongst a section of the community. Mr. Justice Das and I took the view that legislation directed against a particular named person or corporation was obviously discriminatory and could not constitutionally by justified even if such legislation resulted in some benefit to the public. In a system of government by political parties, it was apprehensive of the danger inherent in special enactments which deprive particular named persons of their liberty or property because the Legislature thinks them guilty of misconduct, and I said in my dissenting opinion : Legislation based upon mismanagement or other misconduct as the differentia and made applicable to a specified individual or corporate body is not far removed from the notorious parliamentary procedure formerly employed in Britain of punishing individual delinquents by passing bills of attainder, and should not, I think receive judicial encouragement. 8. My apprehension ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ment would seem to think that it is not necessary for the police to step in to protect him in his enjoyment until he is evicted in due course of law, but the Legislature could intervene by making a law to oust the person from his possession. Legislation such as we have now before us is calculated to drain the vitality from the rule of law which our Constitution so unmistakably proclaims, and it is to be hoped that the democratic process in this country will not function along these lines. B.K. Mukherjea, J. 9. This appeal, which has come before us on a certificate granted by the High Court of Patna under article 132(1) of the Constitution, is directed against a judgment of a Division Bench of that court, dated 3rd January, 1952, by which the learned Judges dismissed a petition of the appellants under article 226 of the constitution. The prayer in the petition was for a writ in the nature of mandamus, directing the opposite party, not to take any action, under an Act passed by the Bihar Legislative Assembly in 1950 and known as The Sathi Lands (Restoration) Act which was challenged as void and unconstitutional. 10. To appreciate the points in controversy between the par ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ovide for restoration of certain lands belonging to the Bettiah Wards Estate which were settled contrary to the provisions of law in favor of certain individuals. Section 2, which is the only material section in the Act, enacts in the first sub-section that the settlement of Sathi lands (described in the schedule to the Act) on behalf of the Bettiah Court of Wards Estate with the appellants, as per order of the Manger of the Estate dated the 18th November, 1946, is declared null and void and no party to the settlement or his successor-in-interest shall be deemed to have acquired any right or incur any liability under the same. The second sub-section embodies a direction to the effect that the said lessees and their successor-in-interest shall quit possession of the lands from the date of the commencement of the Act and if they fail to do so, the Collector of Champaran shall eject them and restore the lands to the possession of the Bettiah Estate. The third and the last sub-section provides that the Bettiah Wards Estate shall on restoration to it of the lands pay to the lessees the selami money paid by them and also such amount as might have been spent by them in making improvements ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ned Judge was further of opinion that it was not a fit case for interference by the High Court under article 226 of the Constitution. The other learned Judge expressed considerable doubts as to whether a legislation of this type, which in form and substance was a decree of a court of law, was within the competence of the legislature and warranted by the Constitution. He agreed, however, with his learned colleague that the case was not such as to justify an interference of the High Court in exercise of its discretionary powers under article 226 of the Constitution. The remedy of the petitioners might lie, according to him, in a regularly constituted suit. The result, therefore, was that the appellants' petition was dismissed and it is the propriety of this judgment that has been assailed before us in this appeal. 16. Mr. P. R. Das, who appeared in support of the appeal, put forward at the forefront of his arguments, the contention raised on behalf of his client in the court below that the impugned legislation was void by reason of its violating the fundamental rights of the appellants under article 14 of the Constitution. The point appeared to us to be of substance and after ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... reasonable classification ? 18. The appellants, it is not disputed, are only two amongst numerous leaseholders who hold lands in raiyati right under the Bettiah Wards Estate. It cannot also be disputed that the lands were settled with them on the recommendation of the Board of Revenue after due consideration of the respective views put forward by the Manager of the Estate on the one hand and the Collector and the Divisional Commissioner on the other. The appellants are admittedly paying rents which are normally assessed on lands of similar description in the locality. The learned Attorney-General referred in this connection to the provisions of section 18 of the Court of Wards Act and argued that the lease in dispute was granted in contravention of that section. Section 18 of the Court of Wards Act provides as follows : The Court may sanction the giving of leases or farms of any property under its charge ... and may direct the doing of all such other acts as it may judge to be most for the benefit of the property and the advantage of the Ward . 19. Apparently it makes the Court of Wards the sole judge of the benefit to the estate or advantage of the ward. But it is said ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... interesting to note that the respondents themselves in paragraph 10 of their counter-affidavit mentioned the name of Shri Prajapati Mishra as one of the persons with whom similar settlement of lands was made by the Bettiah Estate. It is stated in that paragraph that the cases of the appellants as well as of Prajapati Mishra were brought to the notice of the Working Committee of the Indian National Congress the Committee came to the conclusion that both the settlements were contrary to the provisions of law. Thereupon a request was made to both these sets of lessees to restore their lands to the Estate, but whereas Prajapati Mishra returned his lands to the Bettiah Estate, the appellants refused to do so. In reply to this statement, the appellants stated in their rejoinder that the said Prajapati Mishra did not vacate the lands but created a trust in respect of the same, he being the chairman of the board of trustees and the lands were still in possession of the board of trustees. Strangely, as it seems, the State of Bihar raked up this matter again in a further affidavit where it was admitted that the said Prajapati Mishra did execute a trust and that the trustees took possession o ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... is fellow subjects and visits him with a disability which is not imposed upon anybody else and against which even the right of complaint is taken away. The learned Attorney-General, who placed his case with his usual fairness and ability, could not put forward any convincing or satisfactory reason upon which this legislation could be justified. It is true that the presumption is in favour of the constitutionality of a legislative enactment and it has to be presumed that a Legislature understands and correctly appreciates the needs of its own people. But when on the face of a statute there is no classification at all, and no attempt has been made to select any individual or group with reference to any differentiating attribute peculiar to that individual or group and not possessed by others, this presumption is of little or no assistance, to the State. We may repeat with profit what was said by Mr. Justice Brewer in Gulf Colorado etc. Co. v. Ellis 165 U.S. 150, that to carry the presumption to the extent of holding that there must be some undisclosed and unknown reason for subjecting certain individuals or corporations to hostile and discriminatory legislation is to make the pro ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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