TMI Blog1988 (9) TMI 343X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... basis thereof the Additional Collector, Kanpur issued notices to these respondents under Sections of the U.P. Bhoodan Yagna Act requiring them to how as to why the settlement obtained by them be not cancelled On following grounds: (i) As the petitioners did not reside in the village where the plots were situated they had obtained the grant fraudulently and by misrepresenting facts. (ii) As the petitioners did not fall in the category of land-less persons it was not proper to make the grant in their favour. (iii) The grants had not been approved by the Government of U.P. After considering the objections filed by the respondents. the Additional Collector came to the conclusion that the Order of the Bhoodan Yagna Samiti settling the land could not be justified as it could only be made in favour of poor landless agricultural labourers and not in favour of persons like the respondents who were quite well off and who reside in the city of Kanpur, owned propery there and carried on business. In his opinion such persons did not PG NO 862 fall in the category of landless persons as contemplated under the Act and the grants made in their favour in the year 1968 were irregular a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... g that they are landless persons and on the basis of this the allotments were made which could not be justified. Before the High Court it was contended that Sec. 14 of the U.P. Bhoodan Yagna Act which provides for allotment of land only talks of landless persons. Sec. 14 as it stood in the year 1968 enabled the Samiti to settle the land vested in it with landless persons. Section neither specifies that such landless persons should also be agricultural labourers nor it provided that they have to be residents of a place in which the concerned lands were located. It was also not provided that the persons must be such whose source of livelihood is agriculture. The High Court on the basis of its earlier decision felt that Section 14 as it stood in 1968 did not provide any one of these qualifying clauses and therefore the respondents who admittedly had no land in that village and the district, they were covered by the definition of landless persons, in spite of the fact that they may be traders and paying income-tax, may have properties in the City of Kanpur, still the learned Judges of the High Court felt that they fell within the ambit of the definition of landless persons as it sto ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... losophy of Bhoodan Yagna and therefore it was contended that such a view which has been taken by the learned Judges of the High Court is contrary to law and the interpretation put by the High Court on the language of Sec 14 could not be justified. It was contended that landless person has to be interpreted in the background of the law which was enacted and the movement and the philosophy behind the movement which was the basis of the enactment of this law and it is only in that background that these words landless persons could be properly interpreted. It was also contended that if there was any doubt left. Sec. 15 makes the things still clearer. Sec. 15 reads: Grants to be made in accordance with Bhoodan Yagna Scheme--All grants shall be made as far as may be in accordance with scheme of the Bhoodan Yagna. Sec. 15 provides that all grants shall be made so far as may be in accordance with the scheme of the Bhoodan Yagna, and it could not be disputed that Bhoodan Yagna scheme only contemplated allotment of lands in favour of those landless agricultural labourers who were residing in the villages concerned and whose source of livlihood was agriculture and who were landless and ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... he law to meet those PG NO 866 situations was enacted. The Bhoodan Yagna movement used generally a term Bhoomihin Kissan and it is this term which gained momentum and virtually was understood to mean those agricultural labourers whose main source of livlihood is agriculture but Who have no lands of their own or who have no lands (agricultural) recorded in their names in the revenue record and it is this problem of Bhoomihin Kissan that this movement went on to to settle and this Act was enacted to remedy that problem but our draftsman while drafting the law borrowed the phrase landless person in place of Bhoomihin Kissan and this unfortunately led to the present interpretation put by the High Court in the impugned judgment as the High Court followed the rule of interpretation which in my opinion has become obsolete. At the time when Acharya Vinoba Bhave started his movement of Bhoodan Yagna our rural society had a peculiar diversity. There were some who owned or had leasehold rights in vast tracks of agricultural lands whereas on the other hand there were those who were working on agriculture as labourers in the fields and depending on what little they got from their masters. Somet ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... intended to be met by what was said and it is only when you take into consideration all this background, circumstances and the problems which have to be tackled that you could really understand the real meaning of the words. This exactly is the principle which deserves to be considered. When we are dealing with the phrase landless persons these words are from English language and therefore I am reminded of what Lord Denning said about it. Lord Denning in The Discipline of Law at Page No. 12 observed as under: Whenever a statute comes up for consideration it must be remembered that it is not within human powers to foresee the manifold sets of facts which may arise, and, even if it were, it is not possible to provide for them in terms free from all ambiguity. The English language is not an instrument of mathematical precision. Our literature would be much the poorer if it were. This is where the draftsmen of Acts of Parliament have often been unfairly criticized. A Judge, believing himself to be fettered by the supposed rule that he must look to the language and nothing else, laments that the draftsmen have not provided for this or that, or have been guilty of some or other ambigu ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... onference at Sevapuri has been quoted as under: PG NO 869 The fundamental principle of the Bhoodan Yagna movement is that all children of the soil have an equal right over the Mother Earth, in the same way as those born of a mother have over her. It is, therefore, essential that the entire land of the country should be equitably redistributed anew, providing roughly at least five acres of dry land or one acre of wet land to every family. The Sarvodaya Samaj, by appealing to the good sense of the people, should prepare their minds for this equitable distribution and acquire within the next two years at least 25 lakhs of acres of land from about five lakhs of our villages on the rough basis of five acres per village. This land will be distributed to those landless labourers who are versed in agriculture, want to take to it, and have no other means of subsistence. (Underlining for emphasis by us) This would clearly indicate the purpose of the scheme of Bhoodan Yagna and it is clear that Sec. 15 provided that all allotments in accordance with Sec. 14 could only be done under the scheme of the Bhoodan Yagna. In the light of the discussion above therefore, the judgment of the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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