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TMI Blog1982 (2) TMI 322X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ficial Gazette under section 21 of the Act and possession of such surplus land is taken over by the authorities concerned. An extent of land measuring 21 A, 28 G, bearing Survey No. 34 situated in village Manori, Taluka Rahuri of Ahmednagar district in the State of Maharashtra belonged to respondents 1 to 4 but was in the possession of their tenant by name Bhikoba on the date of the commencement of the Act, i.e. January 26, 1962, which was the appointed day as defined by section 2(4) of the Act. The Act was passed for the purpose of imposing a maximum limit (or ceiling) on the holding of agricultural land in the State of Maharashtra; to provide for the acquisition and distribution of land held in excess of such ceiling; and for matters connected with the purposes aforesaid. Section 2(16) of the Act defined the expression "land" as land which was used or capable of being used for purposes of agriculture and included the sites of farm buildings on, or appurtenant to such land and land on which grass grows naturally. Chapter II of the Act contained the provisions (Sections 3 to 7) prescribing the ceiling on holding of land, Chapter III contained the provisions (Sections 8 ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ced and were pending immediately before the commencement of the said Amending Act. Hence reference will be made hereafter to the provisions contained in Chapters II and III as they stood before their substitution. Section 3 of the Act as it was originally enacted read as follows: "3. In order to provide for the more equitable distribution of agricultural land amongst the peasantry of the State of Maharashtra (and in particular, to provide that land-less persons are given land for personal cultivation), on the commencement of this Act, there shall be imposed to the extent, and in the manner hereinafter provided, a maximum limit (or ceiling) on the holding of agricultural land throughout the State." Section 4 of the Act prohibited holding of land by any person in excess of the ceiling area and declared that subject to the pro-visions of the Act, all land held by a person in excess of the ceiling area should be deemed to be surplus land and dealt with in the manner provided by the Act. Sections 5 to 7 of the Act laid down the principles for the computation of the ceiling area in various cases. As required by section 12 of the Act as it stood at the commencement of the Ac ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... esh determination was then made there would be no surplus land at all in their hands, which had to be surrendered. They, therefore, prayed that the proceedings which were commenced with the return filed by Bhikoba should be dropped as they had become infructuous. The Special Deputy Collector accepted the plea of the heirs of Bhikoba and dropped further proceedings as prayed for by them by his order dated March 13, 1973. The respondents 1 to 4 who would have become entitled to claim relief under the Act at the time when the distribution of surplus land held by Bhikoba was taken up for consideration preferred an appeal against the order of the Special Deputy Collector dropping the proceedings as mentioned above before the Maharashtra Revenue Tribunal. The Tribunal by its judgment dated January 31, 1975 dismissed the appeal following the decision of the High Court of Bombay (Nagpur Bench) in Dadarao Kashiram v. The State of Maharashtra(1). Aggrieved by the decision of the Tribunal, respondents 1 to 4 filed a petition under Article 227 of the Constitution in Special Civil Application No. 1931 of 1975 before the High Court of Bombay. That petition was allowed by the High Court by its j ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... der the Indian Income-tax Act, 1922. We do not have provisions corresponding to the Indian Income-tax Act, 1922 in the Act. It is very hazardous to decide cases in which proprietary rights arise for determination on the basis of decisions rendered under taxation laws which have their own peculiarities. The Act is not one levying tax on the income during the previous year or previous years or of a period other then the previous year in the hands of an assessee but a law imposing a ceiling on the holding of a person or a family as on a specified date. The Act has to be construed in accordance with its scheme and object which, as stated earlier, is equitable distribution of land amongst the landless by taking over surplus land in the hands of those who held land in excess of the ceiling limit on the appointed day, or those who would acquire subsequently land in excess of the ceiling or those who own lands which exceed the ceiling limit by reason of their conversion into a different class. In order to achieve that object, the Legislature enacted sections 3 and 4 of the Act declaring that no person could on or after the appointed day hold land in excess of the ceiling area and compellin ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ribed period from the appointed day furnishing to each of the Collectors within whose jurisdiction any land in his holding is situated, in the form prescribed containing the particulars of all land held by him. If any person acquires, holds or comes into possession of any land including any exempted land in excess of the ceiling area on or after the appointed day, such person has to furnish a return as stated above within the prescribed period from the date of taking possession of any land in excess of the ceiling area. If any person whose land is converted into another class of land in the circumstances described in section 11-A (formerly numbered as section (11) thereby causing his holding to exceed the ceiling area then such person has to file a return as mentioned above within the prescribed period from the date of such conversion (such date being a date to be notified in the Official Gazette by the State Government in respect of any area). It is obvious from the foregoing requirements prescribed under section 12 of the Act that the crucial date with reference to which the extent of the surplus land held by a person is to be determined is the appointed day in the case of person ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ointed day until the land in excess of the ceiling is determined under the Act. Section 10 provides that if any person after the 4th day of August, 1959 but before the appointed day transferred or partitioned any land in anticipation of or in order to avoid or defeat the objects of the Act or any land is transferred or partitioned in contravention of provisions of section 8 then in calculating the ceiling area which that person is entitled to hold the area so transferred or partitioned should be taken into consideration and land exceeding the ceiling area so calculated should be deemed to be in excess of the ceiling area for that holding-notwithstanding the land remaining with him may not in fact be in excess of the ceiling area. The expression 'holding' used in sections 3, 5, 6 and 10 shows that the statute treats a holding as a unit for purposes of determination of surplus land which can be acquired from such holding. Section 2(14) which defines the expression to hold land' as 'to be lawfully in actual possession of land as owner or tenant' requires that the expression 'holding' should be construed accordingly. Section 3 of the Act expressly imposes a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ean an almost perpetual fixation and re- fixation in the ceiling area by the Revenue authorities, a state of affairs hardly to have been contemplated by the legislature. The argument would also mean that where a surplus area is already determined and allotted to the land less persons such area would have to be taken back and given to a family, the number of whose members subsequently has augmented by fresh births." The above view supports our conclusion that the surplus land in the case of a person who at any time after the fourth day of August, 1959 but before the appointed day held any land (including any exempted land) in excess of the ceiling area has got to be determined as on the appointed day even though such person may die before the actual extent of surplus land is determined and notified under section 21 of the Act. The persons on whom his 'holding' devolves on his death would be liable to surrender the surplus land as on the appointed day because the liability attached to the holding of the deceased would not come to an end on his death. The heirs of the deceased cannot be permitted to contend to the contrary and allowed to get more land by way of inheritan ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... excess of the ceiling on the appointed day. It provides that the death of the person or the death of a member of the family unit as the case may be should be ignored. One of the contentions urged before this Court in that case was that the Tribunal was wrong in not taking into consideration the three children born in the family after the appointed day while determining the ceiling area to which the family of the appellants therein was entitled to. This Court rejected that plea and upheld the decision of the Tribunal observing that "the argument that every addition or reduction in the number of the members of the family requires redetermination of the ceiling area of such a family would mean an almost perpetual fixation and re-fixation in the ceiling area by the Revenue authorities, a state of affairs hardly to have been contemplated by the Legislature". This conclusion was reached by this Court without the aid of any provision in the Act at the relevant time corresponding to the second paragraph of the new section 3(2) of the Act. This case was no doubt one relating to a claim based on the birth of three children. In principle it applies to the case where the number of m ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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