TMI Blog1960 (2) TMI 59X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Pradesh) while one (No. 110) is by the Brijindar Singh, a jagirdar. The case of the petitioners in the Court of the Judicial Commissioner was that the Act was unconstitutional as various provisions in it placed an unreasonable restriction on the exercise of the fundamental rights guaranteed to the petitioners under Part III of the Constitution. The Judicial Commissioner held that the Act was constitutional, except for three provisions thereof, namely, S. 22(1), s. 37 and cl. (4) (e) of the Schedule to the Act. The seventy appeals by the 'State are with respect to this part of the order declaring these three provisions unconstitutional. The appeal of Brijindar Singh is against that part of the order by which the rest of the Act was held constitutional. We shall first deal with the appeal of Brijindar singh. Learned counsel for Brijindar Singh was unable-and in our opinion rightly-to challenge the constitutionality of the Act as a whole in view of art. 31-A of the Constitution and the decisions of this court in The State of Bihar v. Maharajadhiraja Sir Kameshwar Singh ([1952] S.C R. 889.), Visweshwar Rao v. The State of Madhya Pradesh ([1952] S.C R. 1020) Raja Suriya Pal Singh ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ve been resumed under this Act- (a) who is not allotted any sir or khudkasht land under sub-section (1), or (b) who had been allotted any such land which is less than the minimum area, may if he applies in this behalf, be allotted any other sir or khudkasht land in his personal cultivation at the date of resumption or where there is no such land or sufficient area of such land any unoccupied cultivable waste land in the jagir-land subject to availability of such land, so that- (i) in a case falling under cl. (a), the total area allotted to him under this sub-section is equal to the minimum area, and (ii) in a case falling under cl. (b), the area allotted to him under this sub-section together with the area allotted under sub-section (1) is equal to the minimum area. Explanation-In this sub-section, the expression minimum means ten per cent. of the total cultivated land in the jagir-land at the date of resumption or 30 acres whichever is greater:Provided that in no case the minimum area shall exceed 250 acres. Chapter V deals with rights of tenants, grove holders and occupants in jagir-land and confers certain benefits on them. Chapter VI provides for the machinery a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Judicial Commissioner seems to be of the view that as a period of three years' continuous cultivation is made a condition of allotment under s. 22(1), there is discrimination between jagirdars and other occupants of land in whose case s. 28(1) provides that every person who is entered in the revenue record as an occupant of any jagir-land at the date of resumption, shall be deemed to be pattadar tenant in respect of such land which shall be assessed at the village rate. The learned Judicial Commissioner was not unconscions of the provisions of art. 31-A which lays down that no such legislation would be struck down on the ground of discrimination under art. 14. He however thought that this was an extra condition which had been imposed so that the jagirdar might.be deprived of as much sir and khudkasht land as possible subject to the minimum and that this was done to create in- convenience to the jagirdars whom the legislature did not like. He therefore thought that such legislation was altogether outside the power of the legislature and was invalid as a colourable piece of legislation. In the first place we cannot see how any discrimination can arise in circumstances like this, ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... asthan) ((1959] Suppl (1) C.R. 478). The provisions of s. 22 as a whole provide a scheme for carrying out the intention of the legislature expressed in s. 7(a) of the Act and are in our opinion perfectly constitutional. We now turn to s. 37 of the Act. That section appears in the procedural part of the Act and is as follows:- (1) No civil court shall have jurisdiction to settle, decide or deal with any question which is, by or under this Act, required to be settled, decided or dealt with by the Tahsildar, the Deputy Commissioner, the Land Reform Commissioner, or the Board of Revenue. (2) Except as otherwise provided in this Act no order of a Tahsildar, a Deputy Commissioner, the Land Reform Commissioner, or the Board of Revenue under this Act shall be called in question in any court. Sub-s. (1) thus takes away the jurisdiction of the civil court to decide any matter which under the Act is to be decided by the Tahsildar, the Deputy Commissioner, the Land Reform Commissioner or the Board of Revenue. Sub-s. (2) provides that no order passed by any of these authorities shall be called in question in any court. The learned Judicial Commissioner has held this section inval ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... rtain deductions. One of these deductions is in sub-cl. (e) of this Clause, which is as follows:- Where the jagirdar is allotted any sir. or khudkasht or other land or any grove under this Act an amount equal to the valuation of rent for such land or grove for the basic year at the current settlement rates (less the land revenue paid by him in respect of such land and grove in the basic year to be ascertained in such manner as may be prescribed). This sub-clause is in fact a contra entry to sub-cl. (b) (i) of cl. (3). The method of calculation provided by these two clauses is that the gross income is first arrived at without taking into account the land which remains with the jagirdar under s. 7 (a). Thereafter in order to arrive at the net income for the purpose of compensation the rent for sir and khudkasht land which remains with the jagirdar is taken into account and its value determined under el. (3)(b) (i) minus the revenue payable in respect thereof. This is then deducted from the gross income, for the reason that this land remains, with the jagirdar. The learned Judicial Commissioner thinks that the arithmetical result of this provision is that so far as these la ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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