TMI Blog2009 (7) TMI 1340X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ny courtyard, compound, attached garden, orchard and out-building and includes any out-building for the purpose connected with agriculture or horticulture and any tank, library and place of worship appertaining to such dwelling house. Explanation II. - Land perennially submerged under water shall not include submerged in the bed of a river. 2. The appellant is a land-holder. Proceedings were initiated in the year 1973 for determination of the surplus land held by it. The appellant filed a return showing the extent of land in its possession as 379.12 acres. The Circle Officer submitted a report to the Land Reforms Deputy Collector, Jamshedpur, showing the extent of land in the possession of appellant as 443.09 acres. The appellant filed the objections contending that certain tanks which did not fall under the definition of land in all measuring 43.29 acres had been wrongly included in the draft publication. By order dated 9.10.1982, the Addl. Collector held that the tanks covering an area of 43.29 acres fell within the definition of land and therefore, had to be taken into account for determining the surplus area. The challenge to the inclusion of the tank area was rejecte ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... will be 'land'. He submits that the additions of certain categories by use of the words and includes land which is an orchard, karhur or pasturage or forest land or even land perennially submerged under water or the homestead of land holder merely accentuates the requirement that the land should be used or capable of being used for agricultural or horticultural purposes. He points out that each of the categories of land referred to in the inclusive definition is also land which is used or is capable of being used or incidental to the use of land for agriculture or horticulture; that orchard refers to a garden of trees devoted to cultivation of fruit trees; karhur refers to land producing thatching grass or shrubs; pasturage refers to land covered with grass or herbage and grazed or suitable for grazing by livestock; homestead of the land-holder means dwelling house together with courtyard, compound, attached garden, orchard and includes any out-building for the purpose of connected with agriculture or horticulture and any tank, library and place of worship appertaining to such dwelling house; even land perennially submerged under water refers to level land cove ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... . We have caused a copy thereof to be placed before us and we find therefrom that the word 'doba' in Bengali means immersed, low and swampy of inundated land. The depth of such land perhaps comes to cause a distinction between a 'doba' and a 'tank'. Apparently the High Court was of the view that if surface waters be shallow, then the land even though inundated will retain the character of the land, bearing at the back of its mind that paddy crop can be grown in puddled lands. Correspondingly, if the depth is more which prevents the land being put to agricultural use then it would be 'tank' for the purposes of the West Bengal Land Reforms Act and in particular Section 2(7) thereof, which defines 'land' to be agricultural land, tank being an exception thereto. Now here the land has been described as 'Matsyasheho Pushkarini' which apparently would mean a pond with sufficient water, abounding in fish and seemingly it was so described in the deed of sale in favour of the respondent. Thus the area owned by the respondent did not come within the ambit of the word 'land' for the purposes of Section 2(7) of the West Bengal Land Reforms ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... used for any other horticulture purpose (class IV land); or (e) 37.5 acres of Diara land or chaur (class V land); or (f) 45 acres of hilly, sandy, forest land, even land perennially submerged under water or other kind of land, none of which yields paddy, rabi or cash crop (class VI land). 8. At the outset we should clear certain red-herrings. First is the amendment to the Act in Bihar whereby the words even land has been substituted by the words also the land in the year 2002. The said amendment cannot be applied or extended to the State of Jharkhand as that State has not made such amendment. Secondly, it is not possible to treat the said amendment as mere clarification or re-statement of the pre-amendment position. There are sufficient indications in the Act to show that the word 'even' was not used to mean 'also'. The Hindi version of the Act uses the words Barhaon mahine jalmagan Samtal Bhoomi for the English words even land perennially submerged under water . The use of the word 'Samtal' for 'even' shows the word 'even' was not intended to mean also , but to mean level surface . Further, Section 4(f) lists even land pe ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the decision of Arsed Ali (supra) where it was held that a pond abounding with fish was not land. But general meanings and perceptions, or decisions rendered with reference to statutes containing different definitions will not be of any assistance in interpreting a word which is clearly, specially and exhaustively defined in the Act itself. We will have to find out the meaning of the word, with reference to its definition in the Act. While the object of the Act can be one of the indicators used in interpretation, clear and specific words used cannot be ignored. In fact the learned Single Judge keeping in view the object of the Act, has held that only tanks used for agricultural purposes will be 'land' for purposes of the Act and not all tanks in general. Let us now examine the provisions of the Act to find out whether a 'tank' used for agricultural purposes is land, as held by the High Court, keeping the above principles in view. 11. It is no doubt true that the word 'land' would not have included a tank, in the normal sense, but for its definition specifically including even land perennially submerged under water . The word 'tank' is defined in ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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