TMI Blog1969 (8) TMI 83X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... er village at a distant place. They came back to their village in the year 1949 when the conditions improved. At that time they found the appellants occupying that site after putting up a cow-shed on the site in which their residential buildings stood. Those residential buildings had been demolished and the site in question included as a part of the house of the appellants. As the appellants refused to deliver possession of the suit property, the respondents instituted a suit for possession of the same on January 9, 1951. On January 26, 1951, the Act came into force. Section 4 of the Act provided for the vesting of the Estates in the State. It prescribes that as soon as may be after the commencement of the Act, the State Government may, by notification, declare that as from a date to be specified, all Estates situate in Uttar Pradesh shall vest in the State and as from the beginning of the date so specified, all such Estates shall stand transferred to and vest, except as otherwise provided in the Act, in the State free from all encumbrances. Section 6 of the Act enumerates the consequences of the vesting of an Estate in the State. Section 9 deals with the buildings in the abadi. ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... buildings within the area appurtenant thereto should be deemed to have been settled with him by the State Government on such terms and conditions as may be prescribed. As seen earlier till about 1947, the respondents were lawfully holding the buildings and the site with which we are concerned in this case as Ryots. They never gave up their possession of the buildings voluntarily. The fact that they vacated those buildings and took shelter with their relations during the time of the communal disturbances cannot be considered as abandonment of the buildings. In law they continued to be in possession of the buildings. Hence the appellant's entry into the suit site was an unlawful act. In the eye of law they were trespassers. In demolishing the buildings put up by the respondents, they, committed the offence of mischief. The fact they had put up new structures cannot under the Transfer of Property Act, enhance their rights to the property. We have no material before us from which we can find out the value of the buildings. demolished by them and the value of the buildings put up by them unlawfully. From the description of the buildings given in evidence, it appears that the newly p ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ved that in enacting s.9, the legislature never meant to deprive the citizens of their lawful rights over the lands merely because a trespasser has succeeded in making some construction on it. Section 9 does not mean that if a person has made some construction whatsoever over any land lying within the limits of an estate, however wrongful or recent the possession might be, that construction must be deemed to have been settled with him by the State Government. The meaning of the word held in s.9 again came up before another Division Bench of the Allahabad High Court consisting of Desai and Takru, JJ. in Bharat and anr. v. Ch. Khazan Singh ant.(1) The learned judges declined to follow the decision in Pheku Chamar's case(2). They came to the conclusion that the legislature used a wide language in s.9 and it covers the case of buildings belonging to persons who constructed them lawfully or unlawfully. It is unfortunate that the latter. Division Bench should have thought it proper to sit in judgment over the correctness of a decision rendered by a Bench of co-ordinate jurisdiction. Judicial propriety requires that if a bench of High Court is unable to agree with the decision alr ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... cent the trespass might have been if only he happened to be in physical possession of the building on the date of vesting. We are also unable to discern any legislative policy in support of that construction. It was urged before us by the learned Counsel for the appellants that the legislature with a view to put a stop, to any controversy as to any rights in or over any building directed that whoever was in physical possession of a building on the date of vesting shall be deemed to be the settle of that building. He further urged that it would have been a hard and laborious. task for the State to investigate into disputed questions relating to title or possession before making the settlement contemplated by s. 9 and therefore the legislature cut the Gordian Knot by conferring title on the person who was in possession of the building. We see no merit in this argument. The settlement contemplated by s. 9 is a deemed settlement. That settlement took place immediately the vesting took place No inquiry was contemplated before that settlement. If there is any dispute as to who is the settle, the same has to be decided by the civil courts. The State is not concerned with the same. Section ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... s means held lawfully. But according to him that is because of the context in which the word is used. Mr. Misra is right in saying so but he overlooks the context in which that expression is used in s. 9. We have already made reference to that context. He failed to point out to us any section in the Act, leaving aside s. 9 for the time being where the word held has been used as meaning mere holding, lawful or otherwise. In K.K. Handique v. The Member, Board of Agricultural Income Tax, Assam(A.I.R. 1966 S.C. 1191.) this Court was called upon to consider the meaning of the word holds in ss. 12 and 13 of' the Assam Agricultural Income Tax Act. Subba Rao, J. (as he then was ) speaking for the Court observed that the expression holds includes a two-fold idea of the actual possession of a thing and also of being invested with a legal title though some times it is used only to mean actual possession. After reading ss. 12 and 13 together he observed that the word holds in those sections means holding by legal title. In Eramma v. Verrupanna Ors.( [1966] 2, S.C.R. 626.), this Court considered the meaning of the word possessed in s. 14 (1 ) of the Hindu Succession Act which la ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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