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TMI Blog1974 (1) TMI 113X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... rplus pool intended for re-settlement by the State of ejected tenants, the agrarian reform measure would be reduced to a paper tiger or socioeconomic eyewash. Certainly, land reforms are so basic to the national reconstruction of the new order envisaged by the Constitution that the issue raised in this case deserves our anxious attention. We have to bear in mind, the activist, though inarticulate, major premise of statutory construction that the rule of law must run close to the rule of life and the court must read into an enactment, language permitting, that meaning which promotes the benignant intent of the legislation in preference to the one which perverts the, scheme of the statute on imputed legislative presumptions and 'assumed social values valid in a prior era. An aware court, informed of this adaptation in the rules of forensic interpretation, hesitates to nullify the plain object of a land reforms law unless compelled by its language, and the crux of this case is just that accent when double possibilities in the chemistry of construction crop up. A breif survey of the relevent facts leading up to the legal controversy seeking resolution in these appeals will help fo ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... key date in 1953 and if later they did not keep their possession (abandoned or surrendered) the tenancy terminated and on the facts of this case the lands came into the actual possession of the land holder, Mst. Lachhman, no other legal inference being possible than that the leases were extinguished and the lands reverted to the landlady on general principles of law. In short, we have to proceed on the assumption that one plot, namely, khasra No. 177 had always. been in the self-cultivation of the landlady and that the two tenanted plots, namely, khasras Nos. 265 and 343, came into the khas possession of the landlady subsequent to the crucial date. Apprehending the statutory peril to these lands which were admittedly outside her "reserved areas" Mst. Lachhman went through the exercise of making a gift of the three lands to her daughter Smt. Shanti (vide mutation No. 445 decided on December 24, 1953 and referred to in Annexure B). Subsequently, it is seen that Amar Singh, husband of Shanti and Indraj, brother of Amar Singh purported to apply for purchase of the landholders right in these three plots under s. 18 of the Act making Lachhman and Shanti co-respondents and alleg ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... now. A flash back to the genetic evolution of the act and the legislative mutations by amendatory effort to make the law effective, and to unmake judicial decisions which weakened the working of it will help understand the current biochemistry of the Act. Any interpretation unaware of the living aims ideology and legal anatomy of an Act will miss its soul substance--a flaw which we feel, must be avoided particularly in socio-Economic legislation with a dynamic will and mission. Now to the legislation itself. A brief introduction is found in the reference order of the Full Bench (Shamsher Bahadur, J.) in Mam Raj v. State of Punjab : "The Act passed on 15th of April, 1953, was not the first legislation on the subject and the contours of many of the concepts had already taken shape in the two earlier enactments on the subject, namely, the Punjab Tenants (Security of Tenure) Act, 1950 (Act No. 22 of 1950) and Punjab Tenants (Security of Tenure) Amendment Act, 1951 (President's Act 5 of 1951). The Act, which at once consolidated and amended the existing law on the subject, was designed "to provide for the security of land tenure and other incidental matters". As is ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... area" landowners who exceeded this area were allowed to reserve for themselves the best lands they desired to keep and this parcel or parcels of land was meaning fully designated as "reserved area". Of course, if he failed to intimate his selection within six months from the commencement of the Act to the Patwari concerned, the prescribed authority was empowered to select the parcel or parcels of land which such person was entitled to retain for himself. The legislature found that many land-owners had failed to make the reservation in time and so by the Amending Act 46 of 1957 a further period of six months from the commencement of the later Act was given for selecting the land/lands they meant to keep, and further again gave the prescribed authority power to select the parcel or parcels of land on behalf of the defaulting landholders. The intendment of the statute was that the reserved area war, to be self cultivated and so land-owners were competent to eject tenants from the reserved area, although, generally speaking, evictions had been barred. As a matter of fact, landholders were directed to start self cultivation within six months from the date of reservation o ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ers starts off in the statement of objects thus : "Some of the recent judicial pronouncements have the effect of defeating the objectives with which the Punjab Security of land Tenures Act, 1953, was enacted and amended from time to time. It was intended that the surplus area of every land-owner recorded as such in the revenue records should be made utilisable for the settlement of ejected tenants." Certain specific decisions and their impact on the legislative operation were mentioned, and then the statement of objects proceeded : "In order to evade the provisions of s. 10-A of the Parent Act interested persons, being relations, have obtained decrees of courts for diminishing the surplus area. Clause (4) of the Bill seeks to provide that such decrees should be ignored in computing the surplus area." We. mention this only to emphasize that the legislature has been anxious to, guard against erosion of the surplus pool by alienatory maneouvres or even decrees and orders obtained through judicial or quasi-judicial processes. The Act defines "permissible area" "in relation to landowner or a tenant as 30 standard acres and where such 30 standard ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... d in the surplus area. Immunity from eviction of tenants is conferred by s. 9 but a landlord is entitled to eject a tenant from the area reserved under this Act. However, such ejectment shall not be given effect to by way of disposession unless the displaced tenant"is accommodation surplus are a in accordance with the provisions of s. 10-A or......' Of course, if the tenant is a close relation of the landlord within the prescribed category this protection does not enure to him as per the second proviso to s-9-A. It is note worthy that a son-in law is not one such relative. It is obvious that a large number of tenants would be ejected by small landholders and large landholders from their reserved areas under s. 9 of the Act. Naturally, legislative concern for their rehabilitation found expression in s. 10-A(a) which runs thus 10-A(a) The State Government or any officer empowered by it in this behalf, shall be competent to Utilize any surplus area for the resettlement of tenants ejected, or to be ejected, under clause (i) of sub-section (1) of s. 9." The success of the scheme, therefore, depends on the extent of the surplus pool. For one thing, large landholders, when ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the effect of diminishing the area of such person which could have been declared as his surplus area shall be ignored." It is extremely important to remember that while this provision was enacted in 1962 and while s. 10-A(b) prohibiting alienations was passed in 1955, both these provisions were given retrospective effect as from the decisive date, namely, April 15, 1953. The deep concern of the legislature is clear from all this. Right from the beginning one of the primary objects of the statute had been to enable tenants to purchase the Landlord's right and become full owners and in this behalf was enacted S. 18 which has figured very much in the controversy in these appeals, It states : "18(1) Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in any law, usage or contract, a tenant of a landowner other than a small land-owner (i) who has been in continuous occupation of the land comprised in his tenancy for a minimum period of six years, or (ii)........ (iii)....... shall be entitled to purchase from the landowner the land so held by him but not included in the reserved area of the landowner, in the case of a tenant falling within clause (i) or clause (ii ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... de binds the other authority determining the surplus area and so the question is whether one officer under the Act could ignore an order by another officer under a different provision of the Act, having regard to comity of courts and jurisdictions. As indicated already, the principal discussion in the judgment under appeal has turned on the claim to primacy of s. 18 as against s. 10-A and so it is as well that we state right now what stand we propose to take in resolving apparent conflicts in the provisions of a socially-oriented, projectimplementing legislation. Every such statute has a soul and an integrated personality-minor deformities may mar this unity, especially when piecemeal amendments and unskilled drafting occur. The basic judicial approach must be to discover this soul of the law and strive to harmonise the many limbs to subserve the pervasive spirit and advance the social project of the enactment. Seeming confrontations between provisions must be resolved into a cooperative coexistence. This interpretative activism persuades us in this case to reconcile what the High Court has conceived to be a conflict between s. 10-A and s. 18. Here, there are 3 khasra nos., two of ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nt of its forming the subject matter of the holding of a tenant in occupation (who is not related to the landowner in the prohibited manner) on the 15th of April, 1953, the mere subsequent change of the holder of the tenancy will not make the tenancy premises revert to the surplus area of the landowner. It is, therefore, clear that the land comprised in Khasras Nos. 265 and 343 (subject matter of the tenancy in favour of Amar Singh) could not fall within the definition of surplus area in the hands of the landowner and Section 10-A of the Act could not apply to it." We are afraid there is a fallacy in this reasoning. It is true that a mere change in tenancy by transfer of the lease as such, as distinguished from a landlord inducting a new tenant on land the prior lease over which has been terminated and possession restored to the lanlord, may not perhaps offend s.10-A although situations may arise even in such cases leading to a different conclusion. We need not investigate this possibility further. In the present case, the exclusion of the two khasras from the surplus area depends on their being part of the permissible area of Chandu and Sri Chand. To salvage the lease in his ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... s if every bit of land that is with a tenant on the relevant date is his permissible area. it has to fulfil the requirement of s.2(3). No such test has been satisfied here. Nor can it be argued that even if a tenant gives up his interest in the holding the statute will haunt him with rights. 'Permissible area' is not a concept in the abstract but, as s.2(3) mentions, is 'in relation to a landowner or a tenant'. In relation to Chandu and Sri Chand no claim to permissible area or consequential rights has been set up and Amar Singh is not a transferee from them but a de novo tenant. It follows that the two khasras should be computed as part of the surplus area of Mst. Lacchman and s.10-A(b) operates to invalidate the alleged lease to Amar Singh as its clear impact is to diminish the surplus area of the landowner. He had, therefore, no right as a tenant to purchase under s. 18. The more serious question raised turns on the effect of the purchase orders, Annexure A, on s.10-A(c). The High Court reasoned-and this was repeated before us as counsel's argument-that while it is true that for determining the surplus area of a person 'any judgment, decree or order of a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ambit of "other authority" in the manner the High Court has done. "Other authority" is every other authority within or without the Act. The reason given by Narula, J., to exclude the officer passing orders under s. 18 from "other authorities" is that "the result would be that the benefit sought to be conferred by s. 18 on the tenants would be completely nullified and obliterated". In this connection he further observed : "In every case, order under section 18 of the Act, would be passed after the Act came into force. If an order under section 18 has to be ignored by the operation of clause (c) of section 10-A, every order under section 18, must be ignored while declaring the permissible area of the Landowner. There is no discretion in the authorities to apply the provisions of clause (c) of s. 10-A or not to apply them. The provision is mandatory, if, therefore, clause (c) of section 10-A could be utilised for abrogating the effect of an order under section 18 of the Act, the whole scheme of the Act of distribution of land to the tenants and for conferring a right on a tenant to purchase the land within the limits of permissible area, ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... with six years' ending, be it before or after the commencement of the Act, will be entitled to buy the ownership. Of course. if he is within the reserved area he is liable to be evicted even before he purchases but if he is outside the landlord's reserved area he can move for purchase. Such a purchase being from the permissible area of the tenant is outside the surplus area of the landlord and does not diminish "the area of such person which could have been declared as his surplus area". Ex hypothesi "surplus area" excludes a tenant's permissible area. Therefore, even if that land falls outside the reserved area of the landowner, if it is within the tenant's permissible area, its purchase by the tenant cannot diminish the landowner's surplus area. (emphasis supplied) Another substantial category, who may buy under s. 18 without reducing the surplus area, is the re-settled tenants. When the State acting under s. 10-A(c) accommodates an ejected tenant the utilization of the surplus land pro tanto is fulfilled. Such a rehabilitated tenant of the landlord, after the six years' term, can qualify to buy under s. 18. Such a purchase only fulfils ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... s (Amar Singh's case) and said that it dealt with the scope of s. 10-A and did not bear upon the point before them. The last point urged by Shri Dhingra for the respondent-and accepted by the High Court-is that the order, Annexure A, having become final could not have been ignored in Annexure 'B'. Here it serves the discussion to remember that the leases in question have been found by the Collector to have been collusively got up to dwindle the surplus area of the landowner. The Collector in Annexure 'B' finds: A " ......and it is crystal clear that Amar Singh and Indraj had not been in continuous cultivating possession of this land for full six years, the other copy of Khasra Girdawari put in this case and which is to be found at page 27 of the file, shows the possession over this land of Indraj and Amar Singh only from the year 1957-58, and so their possession over it for full six years is not complete as yet." He has also stated that he was convinced "that the landowner has conspired with her son-in-law Amar Singh and his brother Indraj to retain this area in contravention of the law." A third pregnant fact is that the proceedings under s ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... to be, but legally is one.-Here who has granted the lease ? Mst. Lacchman? How could she, after gifting away to her daughter? And no lease from daughter Shanti is set up although obscurely both mother and ,daughter are made respondents. Secondly, s.18 qualifies for purchase ,only those tenants who had 6 years continuous occupation. Here, on the Collectors finding, Amar Singh and Indraj came by possession ,only in 1957-58 and, as he points out in Annexure 'B', the six year period is not complete at the time of application. The reason why ,even before the proceedings began parties presented a compromise ,and avoided an enquiry is not far to seek. In short, the State could and did make out the incompetence of the respondents to purchase under s. 18 and Annexure 'A', being also stricken by the vice of s. 10-A (b) and (c). Shri Dhingra urged that s.18(1)(iii) did contemplate purchase rights for persons who had no possession when the Act came into force and their purchases must necessarily diminish the surplus area. This seeming attractiveness vanishes when we notice that s.18(1) (ii) ,and (iii) provide for two classes of hard cases where unjust evictions prior to the Ac ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... an office attached to a temple is against public policy. Hence, if in a suit against the holder of such an office a compromise is arrived at whereby the holder of the office consents to the office being sold in satisfaction of the debt due to the plaintiff, and a decree is passed on the compromise, the Court should not withstanding the consent decree refuse to sell the office in execution. It is clear that if the matter had rested in contract only, the Court could not have enforced the sale in a suit brought for that purpose. The mere fact that the contract is embodied in a decree does not alter the incidents of the contract." it may be right to conclude that any authority, like the Collector here, enjoined to apply s. 10-A(b) and (c) may decline to act on a compromise which has ripened into an order if the agreement between the parties disposes of property in violation of a statutory mandate. He can and must lift the veil and look the agreement of the parties in the face. The vice of contravention of s. 10-A(b) is writ large in Annexure 'A.' A few decisions of this Court bearing on the efficiency of consent decrees were cited at the bar and they are exhaustively deal ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... cree of eviction against the tenant. Representations to the same effect were also made by the counsel for both parties. The court passed the following order : " In view of the statement of the parties counsel and the written compromise, a decree is passed in favour of the plaintiff. against the defendant." The tenant did not vacate the premises within the time mentioned as per the compromise memo. On the other hand, he filed an application under s. 47, C.P.C., pleading that the decree is void as being in contravention of s. 13 of the Delhi statute. The High Court held 'that the decree was a nullity, as the order was passed solely on the basis of the compromise without indicating that any of the statutory grounds mentioned in s. 13 existed. Following the decision in Bahadur singh v. Muni Subrat(supra), this Court upheld the order of the High Court. In Ferozi Lal Jain v. Man Mal(2), the landlord's grounds for eviction were denied by the tenant but they reported compromise with prayer for a decree for eviction. This Court ruled "From the facts mentioned earlier, it is seen that at no stage, the Court was called upon to apply its mind to the question whethe ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... atisfied that Annexure 'A' is unavailing against the State and its officers in accommodating ejected tenants on the lands in question. The public policy of s. 10-A cannot be outwitted by consent orders calculated to defeat the provision and without the statutory authority charged with the enquiry being satisfied about the bona fides of and eligibility for the purchase. So viewed, the respondents in these appeals cannot on the strength of the purchase orders exclude those lands from the operation of s. 10-A(a) of the Act. The legislature, charged with the constitutional mandate of art. 38 and art. 39 has passed the Act and amended it from time to time in furtherance of the major purpose of distributive justice. The judicial wing of the State, viewing the law in the same wavelength, interprets and applies it. But the Executive instrumentality of the State has an activist role to play if the arm of the law were not to hang limp and social justice is not to be a cynical phrase. Good laws and correct interpretations are not enough. Quick, conscientious and public minded enforcement, of the provisions is the responsibility of Government and its officers. In the present case the A ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... n favour of a tenant, which order has become final either at its original stage or at the appellate or revisional stage; and (iii) In case of conflict between section 10-A and section 18 of the Act, which of the two provisions has supervening effect or overrides the other." To the above, I may add a fourth question which arises in Amar Singh's case (C.A. 1755 of 1967) and has been dealt with by the High Court. (iv) Whether any land held by tenants on April 15, 1953 within the permissible area of those tenants, can be included in the 'surplus area' of the landowner, if, at the time the surplus area collector takes up the determination of the matter, that land is found to be comprised in the tenancy of persons other than the original tenants." The material facts are these: On April 15, 1953 when the Act came into force, Smt. Lachhman (hereinafter referred to as the 'landowner') owned 101 .6 standard acres, equivalent to 404.10 ordinary acres, of land in the revenue, estates of two villages, namely, Darba Kalan and Nahran Wali. Out of this holding of the landowner, we are concerned only with Field Nos. 177, 265 and 343, situate in the area of Darb ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the case to the Collector for de novo enquiry regarding the area in occupation of Amar Singh and Indraj as tenants under the landowner. After the remand, in the course of de novo enquiry, the same Officer, Shri Hardyal Singh, as Collector, Surplus Area, passed the impugned order, dated May 11, 1962, whereby he declared 408 .10 ordinary acres equal to 101 .61 standard acres as the surplus area of Smt. Lachhman and included in that area the land in question (comprised in Field Nos. 265, 343 and 177) of which according to his earlier order Amar Singh and Indraj were deemed to have become owners by purchase under s. 18. He ignored his order, dated September 15, 1961 on the ground that Amar Singh and Indraj has not been in continuous occupation of these fields as tenants for the full terms of six years and that "in fact the landowner has conspired with her son-in-law, Amar Singh, and his brother, Indraj, to retain this area in contravention of the law". It was added that the said order was based on a compromise and was a "collusive one". Amar Singh and Indraj filed two separate writ petitions under Art. 226 of the constitution for the grant of a writ of certiorari ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ultivation ; and the protection against eviction was not available to tenants on the reserved area. The 1950 Act was amended by Punjab Tenants (Security of Tenure) Amendment Act, 1951 which reduced the permissible area of a landowner to 50 standard acres, and extended the tenure of the tenants from 4 to 5 years. The Acts of 1950 and 1951, were repealed and replaced by Act 10 of 1953 with which we are concerned. The preamble says that the Act is a piece of legislation "to provide for the security of land tenure and other incidental matters". The Act classifies landowners into "small landowners" and "other landowners". A "small landowner" as defined in s. 2(2), means a landowner whose entire land does not exceed the "permissible area". Owners other than small landowners fall in the second category. "Landowner" means a person defined as such in the Punjab Land Revenue Act, 1887 (Act XVII of 1887) and also includes an "allottee" and "lessee" as defined in clauses (b) and (c) respectively, of section 2 of the East Punjab Displaced Persons (Land Resettlement) Act, 1949. Under the Explanation added to the cla ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e area by intimating this selection in the prescribed form and manner to the patwari of the estate in which the land reserved is situate or to such other authority as may be prescribed within six months from the date of the commencement of the Act". Since, for one reason or the other many landowners could not exercise their right of reservation within the period of six months originally fixed by the 1953 Act, Sections 5-A, 5-B and 5-C were inserted by the Amending Act 46 of 1957 which came into force on December 20, 1957. Section 5-B enacts that "a landowner who has not exercised his right of reservation under this Act, may select his permissible area and intimate the selection to the prescribed authority within the period specified in sec. 5-A and in such form and manner as may be prescribed. The requisite form was prescribed by Punjab Government Notification No. 3223-LR-11-57/1624 published in the Gazette Extraordinary of March 22, 1958, consequently, a landowner could make the selection of his permissible area within six months of date. In Gurbax Singh v. State of Punjab (supra), this Court held that ,selection' in s. 5-B is similar to 'reservation' in s. ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... rea. A full Bench of Punjab and Haryana High Court in Dhaunkal v. Man Kauri, (1) speaking through Mehar Singh C. J. summed up the interconnection between these concepts thus: "According to these provisions (of sections 5, 5-A 5-B, 5-C read with Rule 6 of the 1956 Rules framed under the Act) a landowner or a tenant who has more than 30 standard acres of land has to select or reserve his permissible area and the excess is available as surplus area. The Collector attending to such cases has to determine, therefore, three things; (a), the permissible area of a landowner, (b) the permissible area of a tenant, and (c) the surplus area. The details for the determination of these matters are to be found in 1956 Rules Rule 6 is really material No doubt in the Act, there is no specific provision which says that a decision has to be given by any authority whether a permissible area has or has not been rightly reserved or selected by a landowner or tenant concerned, but when the provisions of the Act with the rules are considered, it becomes plain that while determining the surplus area with a landowner or a tenant the question of his permissible area comes to be determined so that, i ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... estored to his tenancy under the provisions of this Act and whose periods of continuous occupation of the land comprised in his tenancy immediately before ejectment and immediately after restoration of his tenancy together amount to six years or more, Or (iii) who was ejected from his tenancy after the 14th day of August 1947 and before the commencement of this Act, and who was in continuous occupation of the land comprised in his tenancy for a period of six years or more immediately before his ejectment,. shall be entitled to purchase from the landowner the land so held by him but not included in the reserved area of the landowner, in the case of a tenant falling within clause(i) or clause (ii) at any time, and in the case of a tenant falling within clause (iii)within a period of one year from the date of the commencement of this Act; Provided.. Provided further.... (2) A tenant desirous of purchasing land under subsection (1) shall make an application in writing to an Assistant Collector of First Grade having jurisdiction over the land concerned , and the Assistant Collector, after giving notice to the landowner and to all other persons interested in the land and after maki ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... and after restoration amounts to six years or more and (iii) a tenant who was ejected from his tenancy after-August 14, 1947 and before April 15, 1953, and who was in continuous occupation of the land comprised in his tenancy for a period of six years or more immediately before his ejectment." Category (iii) has become extinct and clause (iii) of s. 18(1) has become redundant because the exercise of the right of purchase by this category was limited to a period of one year, only, after the commencement of the Act. Only a small number of cases fall under category (ii). Most of the tenant-purchasers belong to category (i) which may be further divided into these sub-categories : (a) Tenants who were on the land on April 15, 1953 and continued to be in occupation of their land for the requisite period upto the date of the application ; (b) Tenants who were inducted on the surplus area by the landowner sometime after the determinative date and who thereafter remained in continuous occupation of the land for the requisite term ; (c) Tenants who were resettled on the surplus area by the Government, and thereafter remained in continuous occupation of the land for the requisite p ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nder any law for the time being in force or by any heir by inheritance) no transfer or other disposition of land which is comprised in a surplus area at the commencement of this Act, shall affect the utilization thereof in clause (a). Explanation--Such utilization of any surplus area will-not affect the right of the landowner to receive rent from the tenant so settled. (c) 'For the purposes of determining surplus area of any person under this section, any judgment, decree or order of a court or other authority, obtained after the commencement of this Act and having the effect of dimnishing the area of such person which could have been declared as his surplus area shall be ignored." Section 10-A with its sub-clauses (a) and (b) was added by Punjab Act XI of 1955. Punjab Act 4 of 1959 inserted the saving clause (within brackets) in clause (b) Later Punjab Act 14 of 1962, inserted clause (c) and gave retrospective effect to all the provisions of s. 10-A from April 15, 1953. The Statement of Objects and Reasons published in the Punjab Gazette Extraordinary on April 16, 1955, lists among others, the main objects of Act XI of 1955 : "to prevent large scale ejectment of ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... relation to the new Section 10-A, relegate s. 18 to a position of "subordinate alliance".. The non-obstante clause of s. 18 has not been touched. Indeed, the amendments of s. 18 inter alia, by providing for easier terms of purchase and reducing the qualifying period from 12 to 6 years, have made the machinery of the section more comprehensive, efficient and attractive for tenants desirous of purchasing their tenancies. The Amendments have not changed the basic scheme of the Act, according to which, the jurisdiction of the Prescribed Authority assessing the surplus area under ss. 5-B and 5-C read with Rule 6 of the 1956. Rules, and acting under S. 10-A is distinct and separate from the jurisdiction of the Assistant Collector 1st Grade dealing with an application under s. 18. "Collector" has been defined by Rule 2(iii-A) of the 1956 Rules, to mean "the Collector of the district or any other officer not below the rank of Assistant Collector 1st Grade empowered in this behalf by Government". (emphasis supplied) Rule 4-B provides that the Prescribed Authority for the purposes of Section 5B(12) and Section 5-C shall be (i) the Collector if the lands owned ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nces of the case so warrant. There is nothing in the Act or the Rules framed thereunder or in tie Tenancy Act saying as to who can file an appeal or revision against the decision or order of the Collector exercising jurisdiction under s. 18. But in view of the long array of judicial decisions including that of the Financial Commissioner, there can be no doubt that the State Government or its Department can, if aggrieved, or prejudiced by such a decision, go in appeal or revision against it. Firstly there is a catena of authorities which, following the doctrine of Lindley L.J. in re Securities Insurance Co.(1) have laid down the rule that a person who is not a party to a decree or order may with the leave of the Court, prefer an appeal from such decree or order if he' "is either bound by the order or is aggrieved by it or is prejudicially affected by it." As a rule, leave to appeal will not be refused to a person who might have been made ex nominee a party-see Province of Bombay V. W. 1 Automobile Association(2) Heera Singh v. Veerka(3) and Shivaraja v. Siddamma(4); Executive Officer v. Raghavan Pillai(5) In re B. an Infant (6); Govinda Menon v. Madhavan. Nair (7). Se ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... lus area, and as such, was Mt by clause (b) of of s. 10-A, and the orders obtained on the basis of that lease could not stand on a better footing; (b) the expression "transfer" in clause (b) of this section includes. involuntary transfers, also, brought about by operation of law, with only two exceptions which are specifically mentioned in that clause; (c) these orders were consent orders and were not based on any independent finding of the Collector as to the existence of the the essential condition viz., that the applicants were in continuous occupation of the lands,' as tenants, for the requisite period, but were the result of compromise and collusion between the landlady and her relation-tenants, and as such, were null and void ; (d) these orders had the effect of diminishing the surplus area and as such, were orders of "other authority" bit by clause (c) of s. 10A; (e) Section 18 has to be construed in a manner which does not defeat the object of s. 10-A. These two sections can be reconciled only if the operation of s. 18 is confined to those purchases which do not adversely affect the extent or utilization of surplus area. In reply, Mr. S. K. Dhin ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... tted Amar Singh's averment as to his being a tenant of the land for the requisite period. Even the Surplus Area Authority, it is pointed out, conceded in his impugned order that according to the copy of the Khasra Girdawari on the file, Amar Singh and Indraj were in occupation of the land as tenants since 1957-58, though such occupation was held to be of less than six years. In these circumstances proceeds the argument, the order dated September 15,1961, passed by the Collector under s. 18, on the basis of compromise, could not be treated as totally void and non-est; at the most ,they were erroneous orders passed by the Collector in the exercise of the distinct jurisdiction particularly conferred on him by s. The only remedy-adds the Counsel-of the aggrieved person or the 'State was by way of appeal or revision as provided by the statute and since those orders were not so challenged, they had become final. The Prescribed Authority, Surplus Area-it is emphasised, while assessing the surplus area, had no jurisdiction to sit in appeal or revision over the orders of the Asstt. Collector, 1st Grade passed under s.18. Reference in this behalf has been made to ss. 24 and 25 of ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... in May 1961, when the purchase applications were made, Field Nos. 263 and 343 were comprised in the tenancy-of Amar Singh and Field No. 177 in that of Indraj. According to the observation of the Surplus Area Collector, the copy of the Khasra Girdawri on the file showed that their possession as tenants was from 1957-58 i.e. for about 4 1/2 years only, preceding the applications and thus according to him they had failed to show their continuous possession for the requisite period of six years. It is important to note further that Amar Singh in para 2 of his writ petition pleaded: "That on the 2nd of May 1961, the petitioner having been in continuous occupation of land comprised in his tenancy for a period of six years applied under s. 18 of the.. ..Act for purchase of the above land, and by his order dated 15th September 1961, Shri Hardial Singh, Assistant Collector 1st Grade Sirsa District Hissar, allowed the petitioner to purchase the above land at a price of ₹ 13,590/-.. .. " This averment of Amar Singh was admitted in the counteraffidavit filed on behalf of the State in these terms "Para 2 of the petition is admitted" In the written statement filed b ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 73] 1 S.C.C. 761). That was a case of a compromise order of eviction passed by the Rent Control Court under s. 10 of the Madras Building (Lease and Rent Control) Act, 1960. But by analogy, the ratio of that decision is an apposite guide for the present case. There the landlord brought an action under said Rent Act, for eviction of his tenant, Seshadri from a house on the ground that he required it for his bona fide use and occupation. The tenant at first controverted the landord's claim but subsequently, both the parties filed a compromise in terms of which the court passed a decree of eviction. The tenant resisted the execution of that decree, on the ground that the decree was based on compromise or consent without the court having satisfied itself by an independent consideration regarding the bona fide requirement of the property by the landlord for his own occupation; and as such the decree contravened s. 10 of that Act, and was a nullity. The Bench unanimously rejected this objection of the judgement-debtor tenant. Vaidialingam J. (Dua J. concurring) laid down the law thus The true position appears to be that an order of eviction based on consent of the parties is not neces ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... id courts have jurisdiction to decide right or to decide wrong and even though they decide wrong the decrees rendered by them cannot be treated as nullifies........ It merely makes an error or law (which) can be corrected only (on appeal) in the manner laid down in the Civil Procedure Code." The above principle are applicable with greater force to the present case. The Prescribed Authority, surplus Area, and the Collector competent to make an order under s. 18 are both Assistant Collectors of the 1st Grade, that is coordinate authorities exercising separate and distinct jurisdictions. One cannot sit in appeal or revision over the orders of the other. If one feels that a certain order passed by the other in the exercise of distinct jurisdiction is erroneous it is open to get it rectified in the appropriate manner provided by the Act i.e. by way of appeal, review or revision. As has already been observed earlier, the State or the Department. if aggrieved or prejudiced by a decision of an authority under this Act can avail of theremedy of appeal available under the Act in any case, it can move the Financial Commissioner to set right the illegality or impropriety in revision. The ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... sit in appeal over them. It was all the more disconcerting in this case because the Collector who passed the orders under s.18 and the Collector who ignored those orders as Prescribe Authority, Surplus Area happened to be the same Officer. This takes me to the next question viz, if the orders dated September 15, 1961 were not a nullity could they be ignored under s. 10 A on the around that they amounted to "transfer" or orders of "other authority" affecting the utilisation or causing the diminution of surplus area? Before embarking upon a consideration of this question, it is necessary to remember two fundamental canons of interpretation applicable to such statutes. The first is that if choice ties between two alternative constructions, "that alternative is to be chosen which will be consistent with the smooth working of the system which the statute purports to be regulating; and that alternative is to be rejected which will introduce uncertainty, friction or confusion into the working of the system" (see Maxwell 12th Edn. page 45). The second is that if there is an apparent conflict between different provisions of the same enactment, they should be ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... de by the landowner, and cannot be extended to cover involuntary transfers brought about by operation of law or circumstance beyond the control of the landowner. The two type of involuntary transfers, namely, acquisition of land by Government under legal compulsion or by an heir by inheritance which were inserted by the Amending Act 4 of 1959 in the saving clause of this provision and were later given a retrospective effect from April 15, 1953, are only clarificatory or illustrative of the original intent of the Legislature. These two instances are not exhaustive of the involuntary transfers which are outside the sweep of clause (b). This interpretation of "transfer" has been consistently adopted by the Punjab and Haryana High Court in several cases. Some of them in which involuntary transfers of a kind other than those specifically mentioned in the saving clause of clause (b) came up for consideration are reported in Bhajan Lal v. Punjab State(1) & BishanSingh v. State (2). This case decided pretation of the same words and Agricultural Lands Act, 10-A of the Punjab Act; Lakshmi Raj v. State of Haryana (3) Punjab by Mahajan j. proceeds on an interused in s. 32-FF of the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ned by a tenant under the Act is 30 standard acres. That is to say, the permissible limit of the area which could be held in common by Sri Chand and Nathu, was 60 standard acres. Since it has been no-body's case that Sri Chand and Nathu held any other area, and the land comprised in these two fields being 10.5 standard acres, was far less than their permissible limit, the High Court presumed-and I think, not wrongly that Field Nos. 265 and 343 were held by the tenants Sri Chand and Nathu within their permissible area. It is well settled that surplus area has to be determined with reference to the situation as it obtained on April 15, 1953 when the Act came into force. This proposition is clear from s.19-F, also, which says that the Prescribed Authority shall be competent to determine the surplus area, referred to in s. 10-A, of a landowner out of the lands owned by such land-owner immediately before the commencement of the Act. If there still remained any doubt on this point, the. same must be deemed to have been authoritatively dispelled by the decision of this Court in Bhagwan Das v. The State of Punjab([1966] 2 S. C. R. 511). A plain reading of the definition of 'surplu ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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