TMI Blog2001 (8) TMI 1396X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... enants of the lands held by religious institutions or endowments resulting in putting an end to their tenancy rights; that the said classification was not only unreasonable but also it had no nexus to the object sought to be achieved (i) as to payment of rent or augmentation of the revenue of the religious institutions inasmuch as the rents stood frozen by reason of the Tenancy Acts in force in the State of Andhra Pradesh; (ii) that sale of lands is not a feasible proposition; (iii) that there is no exclusion of application of the tenancy Acts and the lands held by religious institutions or endowments in treating the tenants in question differently suffers from the vice of discrimination by putting an end to their leases. For the aforesaid reasons, sub-section (1) of Section 82 was declared void as violative of Article 14 of the Constitution. While the question as to the enforceability of Section 82(2) of the Act is concerned, the Division Bench observed that sub-section (2) puts an end to tenancy rights of the landless poor persons too though in name sub-section (2) purports to save them from the cancellation. The learned Judges of the Division Bench proceeded to illustrate that i ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Court to reach this conclusion is that the tenancy Acts, namely, the Andhra Pradesh (Andhra Area) Tenancy Act, 1956 [hereinafter referred to as the Andhra Act] and Andhra Pradesh (Telangana Area) Tenancy and Agricultural Land Act, 1950 [hereinafter referred to as the Telangana Act] are still in force. These enactments have not been excluded in the application to lands held by tenants of the agricultural lands of the institutions in question. Therefore, the view of the High Court is that the rents are frozen and eviction of the tenants are not possible and unless the operation of the Tenancy Acts are excluded insofar as the lands held by the institutions in question are concerned, the objectives cannot be fulfilled. It would only result in displacing one tenant by another tenant and would not achieve the objectives of the Act. Thus there is no nexus in making the classification. Smt. K.Amreshwari, learned Senior Advocate appearing for the appellants, strongly contended that this approach of the High Court is plainly unsustainable in view of the fact that the law on the matter is very clear that charitable or religious institution or endowment fall into a separate category and fo ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... same would be violative of Article 14 of the Constitution. The legislation in question is preceded by a report made by a Commission headed by Justice C.Kondaiah, former Chief Justice of the Andhra Pradesh High Court. It was noticed in para 1.18.1 of the said report as under: It is stated that all concerned who are interested in the charitable or religious institutions have stated that the temple authorities are facing innumerable difficulties in the management of the landed properties of the institutions, the income is very meagre, not worth-mentioning, and in some cases it is nil, although the institution owns large extent of lands. Reasons thereof is the provisions of the Tenancy Act, attitude of the persons in possession and enjoyment for several years, the lands belonging to these institutions are mostly in the hands of the rich and powerful sections against whom the concerned authorities are experiencing difficulties to dispossess them from the lands. The trustees or archakas are in enjoyment of the lands kept Benami in the names of their relations, etc. The authorities also are in the collusion with them. The rents paid by the tenants are nominal fixed decades back. The ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ete. A classification would be justified unless it is patently arbitrary. If there is equality and uniformity in each group, the law will not become discriminatory, though due to some fortuitous circumstance arising out of peculiar situation some included in a class get an advantage over others so long as they are not singled out for special treatment. In substance, the differentia required is that it must be real and substantial, bearing some just and reasonable relation to the object of the legislation. We may notice the effect of the two Tenancy Acts in force in the State of Andhra Pradesh. Under Section 18(2) of the Andhra Act provisions of Sections 3 to 7 are made inapplicable to leases of lands belonging to or given or endowed for the purpose of any charitable or religious institution or endowment falling within Section 74(1) of the A.P.Act 17 of 1966. Section 18(2) of the Andhra Act further provides that rent payable by the tenants in respect of such property will be the rent in force at the commencement of the Andhra Tenancy (Amendment) Act, 1974 and where reasonable rent has been fixed under Section 74(1)(e) of the A.P.Act 17 of 1966, such reasonable rent. Sections 3 to ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ges stated that protecting the right of tenants is equally important just as protecting the interest of the institutions or the endowments. Cancellation of the tenancy, by itself, will not achieve the ends. First, the High Court considered whether augmentation of income is possible in view of the rents having been frozen which was obtained on the date of the commencement of the Andhra Pradesh Tenancy Act, 1974. They felt that it is not possible to augment the income of the institutions at all. Except referring to the enactments arising under the tenancy Acts, there is no material before the High Court to support the view as to what are the rents payable at present and what would be the rent that becomes payable after the leases are put to an end in terms of Section 82 of the Act and fresh tenancies commence if the lands are leased to others as provided under the provisions of the Act. When the material is not clear before the court, the court cannot hazard a guess as to the manner in which the enactment would operate. How the tenancy Acts will have effect upon the new tenancies would be a matter to be worked out appropriately. Therefore, at the stage of enacting Section 82 or exami ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... is clear that the tenants under the religious institutions form a special class by themselves and such classification is made, so far as tenants are concerned, to achieve the object of protecting the interests of the religious institutions. Therefore, we do not think, any of the principles which result in hostile discrimination would be applicable to the present case. So far as the validity of Section 82(1) in classifying the landless poor persons is concerned, the High Court felt that the provisions themselves are inconsistent and that the illustration given by them, to which reference has already been made earlier, will show how discrimination will result. It is settled law that it is open to the legislature to state as to who should be exempt from the application of the law and, in the present case, there is definition of landless poor person whose total extent of land held by him either as owner or as cultivating tenant or as both does not exceed two and half acres of wet land or five acres of dry land having been identified as landless poor person and he is enabled to purchase the land at 75% of the prevailing market value by paying in four equal instalments as may be prov ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... uld be exempt in its application to the charitable or religious institution or endowment in their entirety. 6. The identification of landless poor persons and protection given to them is justified as enunciated earlier. 7. It will be very difficult to predict at this stage that the result of Section 82 of the Act would be so hazardous as not to achieve the object for which it was enacted. It would not only result in displacing the old tenants by new tenants, it may also achieve other social objectives in another manner. If appropriate provisions are made under the Rules and if the leases are given to small holders of land, another social objective could be achieved. 8. In what manner charitable or religious institution or endowment would deal with matters of this nature is a mere guess work at this stage. On some hypothetical approach the High Court could not have declared a law to be invalid. In the light of the discussion made above, we hold that the tenants of the institutions in question fall into a separate class which is identifiable. If that is so, what is to be next considered is whether the cancellation of the lease in their favour would achieve the objectives ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ption thereof after cancellation of the leases. It is possible to read that Section 80 of the Act is an independent provision though falling under Chapter X with the heading Alienation of any Immovable Property and Resumption of Inam Lands and contention advanced on behalf of the Petitioners is that there is a discernable difference between the applicability of the Act which is for agricultural lands and other properties and Section 80 of the Act which is applicable to only other properties. Prima facie, Section 80 of the Act does not appear put such a restriction. The tenants covered either by the Andhra Act or the Telangana Act may fall into two different categories but insofar as their holdings with reference to the institutions are concerned, they fall into the same category. Therefore, the aspect that they had different kinds of rights arising under different enactments and make them distinct class in the present circumstance will not be of much relevance. Therefore, this contention also does not hold water. The question of tenancy being inheritable or not would arise if the leases are maintained but if the leases are themselves cancelled, such a question will not arise at all ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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