TMI Blog1964 (8) TMI 68X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... th respect to abadi deh the same reasoning must apply 'The settling of a body of agricultural artisans (such as the village carpenter, the village blacksmith, the village tanner farrier, wheelwright, barber, washerman etc.) is a part of rural planning and can be comprehended in a scheme of agrarian reforms. It is a trite saying that India lives in villages and a scheme to make villages self-sufficient cannot but be regarded as part of the larger reforms which consolidation of holdings, fixing of ceilings on lands, distribution of surplus lands and utilising of vacant and waste lands contemplate. The four Acts, namely, the Con- solidation Act, the Village Panchayat Act, the Common Lands Regulation Act and the Security of Tenure Act are a part of a general scheme of reforms and any modification of rights such as the present had the protection of Art. 31-A. The High Court was thus right in its conclusion on this part of the case also. Appeal dismissed. - C.A. 743 OF 1963 - - - Dated:- 20-8-1964 - P.B. GAJENDRAGADKAR, K.N. WANCHOO, M. HIDAYATULLAH, K.C. DAS GUPTA AND N. RAJAGOPALA AYYANGAR, JJ. JUDGMENT This judgment will dispose of Civil Appeal No. 743 of 1963 and Civi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... r preventing the fragmentation of agricultural holdings. Section 18 of the Act provided that notwithstanding anything contained in any law for the time being in force, it shall be lawful for any Consolidation Officer to direct inter alia: (a) that any land specifically assigned for any common purpose shall cease to be so assigned and to assign any other land in its place; (b) (c) that if in any area under consolidation no land is reserved for any common purpose including extension of the village abadi, or if the land so reserved is inadequate, to assign other land for such purpose to Section 46 of the Consolidation Act conferred powers on the State Government to make rules for carrying out the purpose of the Act and in particular to provide for : (e) the manner in which the area is to be reserved under section 18 and the manner in which it is to be dealt with and also the manner in which the village abadi is to be given to proprietors and non-proprietors (including scheduled castes, Sikh backward classes, artisans and labourers) on payment of compensation or otherwise; On March 3, 1956 the Punjab Government, by a notification, added rule 16 to the Rules for reserva ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... wing purposes (i) extension of the village abadi; (ii) provide income for the Panchayat of the village concerned for the benefit of the village community-. (iii) village roads and paths; village drains; village wells, ponds or tanks; village watercourses or water channels; village bus stands and waiting places; manure pits; hada rori; public latrines; cremation and burial grounds; Panchayat Ghar; Janj Ghar; grazing grounds; tanning places; mela grounds; public places, of religious or charitable nature; and (iv) schools and playgrounds, dispensaries, hospitals and institutions of like nature, water-works or tub---wells, whether such schools, play grounds) dispensaries, hospitals, institutions, water-works or tube- wells may be managed and controlled by the State Government or not. It also added a new section (s. 23-A) in the Consolidation Act as follows :- 23A. As soon as-, a scheme comes into force, the management and control of all lands assigned or reserved for common purposes of the village, under section 18,- (a) in the case of common purposes specified in sub-clause (iv) of clause (bb) of section 2 in respect of which the management and control are to be ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the provisions of this Act shall be utilised or disposed of by the panchayat for the benefit of the inhabitants of the village concerned, in the manner prescribed. Section 6 provided Any income accruing from the use and occupation of the lands vested in a panchayat shall be credited to the panchayat fund and shall be utilised in the manner prescribed. Finally, section 7 provided : No person shall be entitled to - any compensation for any loss suffered or alleged to have been suffered as a result of the coming into force of this Act. The Common Lands Regulation Act was challenged in Hukam Singh v. State of Punjab() I.L.R. [1955] Punjab 1334.) but was upheld. The High Court, however, observed that Art. 31(2) would have rendered the Act void but for the enactment of Art. 31-A. The last Act to which a brief reference may be made is the Punjab Security of Land Tenures Act, (10 of 1953) and its amendment by Act 57 of 1953 and Act II of 1955. By that Act security of land tenures, fixing of areas for self- cultivation was provided and there was conferment of rights on tenants to purchase lands under their cultivation from the landholders. The validity of these Acts was ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... The Court reassembled on July 20, 1964 but on June 20, 1964 the Constitution (Seventeenth Amendment) Act, 1964, received the assent of the President. That amendment inter alia substituted retrospectively from January 26, 1950, a new sub-clause (a) in clause (2) of Art. 31-A and added a proviso to cl. (1). These cases were decided in the High Court under Art. 3 1 -A as it was formerly. The appeals were set down to be mentioned on July 20/23, 1964 before a different Bench, and counsel were asked if, in view of the amendment, they wished to say anything. Surprisingly enough none of the parties -wished to argue the appeals and though we cannot now refer to sub-cl. (a) of cl. (2) of Art 31-A as it was formerly, because that sub- clause must be deemed to have never existed, we are in the unhappy position of not being able to express any opinion on Art. 31 -A as it must be deemed to have been all the time. In view of the attitude of learned counsel the Bench before which the statements were made recorded the following order:- These appeals were set down for hearing today to enable the learned counsel appearing for both the parties, to argue whether the provisions of Art. 31-A, as they ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... was pointed out that Art. 31 -A cl. (b) must be read with cl. (1) (a) and as the impugned Act did not contemplate any agrarian reform or seem to regulate the rights inter se between landlords and tenants or modify or extinguish any of the rights appertaining to janmam right, leaving all the characteristics intact, it did not come within the purview of Art. 3 1 -A of the Constitution. In Jagat Singh's case([1962] 64-P.L.R 241) the Full Bench of five Judges agreed that the impugned provisions did come within the conception of agrarian reforms but conflicting views were expressed regarding the ambit of Art. 31-A as expounded in the Kochuni case((1960] 3 S.C.R. 887). A part of the statement of objects and reasons which accompanied the Fourth Amendment has been set out in the Kochuni case ((1960] 3 S.C.R. 887 ) but from the lines of operations which were in contemplation in the proposed amendment only one appears to have been quoted there. Perhaps No. (ii) is also important to consider in this connection and it reads: (ii) The proper planning of urban and rural areas require the beneficial utilisation of vacant and waste lands and the clearance of slum areas. Consolidation of ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... and the quit rent was treated as a right in an estate and its extinguishment, or modification, was considered to protected by Art. 31-A. Similarly, in Ram Narain Medhi v. State of Bombay([1959] Supp. 1.S.C.R. 489) the Bombay Tenancy and Agricultural Lands (Amendment) Act 1956 (which amended Bombay Act LXVII of 1948) was in question. It sought to distribute equitably the lands between the landlords and tenants by way of compulsory purchase of all surplus lands by tenants in possession thereof from April 1, 1957 (known as the Tillers' Day). The fundamental idea was the prevention of concentration of lands in the hands of a few landholders. It was pointed out that this was protected by Art. 31-A. No doubt the redistribution of lands so that a few may not monopolise the land is the cardinal principle on which agrarian economy in a socialistic pattern of society rests. But certain observations in the case show that abolishing intermediaries or modifications of the tenures was not the only objective open under Art. 31-A. It was observed: With a view to achieve the objective of establishing a socialistic pattern of society in the State within the meaning of Articles 38 and 39 of th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... aning to the terms 'estate', 'rights in at estate' and 'extinguishment and modification' of such rights in Art. 31-A. No doubt Kochuni's case([1960] 3 S.C.R. 887) considered a bare transfer of the rights of the sthanee to the tarwad without alteration of the tenure and without any pretence of agrarian reform, as not one contemplated by Art. 31 -A however liberally construed. But that was a special case and we cannot apply it to cases where the general scheme of legislation is definitely agrarian reform and under its provisions something ancillary thereto in the interests of rural economy, has to be undertaken to give full effect to the reforms. In our judgment the High Court was right in no applying the strict rule in Kochuni's case(3) to the facts here. The High Court was also right in its view that the proposed changes in the shamlat deh and abadi deh were included in the general scheme of planning of rural areas and the productive utilisation of vacant and waste lands. The scheme of rural development today envisages not only equitable distribution of land so that there is no undue imbalance in society resulting in landless class on the one hand ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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