TMI Blog1961 (9) TMI 92X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the respondents had no manner of right or title to the said lands and had never cultivated them. From the notice given by them to the appellant, however, it appeared that the respondents wanted to enter upon the lands forcibly and to remove the standing crop therefrom. This they desired to do by setting up a false claim that they were the tenants of the lands and as such were entitled to the protection of the Act. The appellant alleged that the respondents were local rowdies and were known for their high-handed action in the neighbourhood. On these allegations the appellant claimed a permanent injunction against the respondents. The respondents admitted the title of the appellant to the lands in suit but pleaded that they were the tenants in respect of separate portions of the said lands. Their version was that they had cultivated their holdings and raised the paddy crop thereon in the year in question. According to them they had been in cultivating possession of their respective holdings as tenants long before September 1, 1947, and so they were entitled to remain in possession as such tenants under the they had filed petitions under the Act before the Sub- Collector, Berhampu ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... esult of the finding that the civil court bad no jurisdiction to entertain the suit the second appeal preferred by the respondents has been allowed and the appellant s suit dismissed with costs throughout. It is against this decree that the appellant has come to this Court with the certificate granted by the High Court; and the short point which has been raised before us on his behalf by Mr. Viswanatha Sastri is that in holding that the present suit is outside the jurisdiction of the civil court the High Court has misconstrued the scope and effect of the Provisions of s. 7(1) of the Act. The Act received the assent of the Governor General on February 5, 1948 and was published on February 14,194S. It is a temporary Act and by s.1(4) it has been provided that it shall cease to have effect on April 15, 1949 except is respects things done or omitted to be done before the expiration thereof. It has been passed in order to provide for temporary protection to certain classes of tenants in the Province of Orissa. Legislature thought that the said tenants deserved protection and so as a beneficent measure the Act has been passed. Section 2(c) of the Act defines landlord and s. 2(g) defin ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... should be tried not by ordinary civil courts but by tribunals specially designated by it, and so in dealing with the scope and effect of the jurisdiction of such tribunals the relevant words used in the section should receive not a narrow but a liberal construction. While bearing this principle in mind we must have regard to another important principle of construction, and that is that if a statute purports to exclude the ordinary jurisdiction of civil courts it must do so either by express terms or by the use of such terms as would necessarily lead to the inference of such exclusion. As the Privy Council has observed in Secretary of State v. Mask Co., (1940) L. R. 67 1. A. 222, 236) it is settled law that the exclusion of the jurisdiction of the civil courts is not to be readily inferred, but that such exclusion must either be explicitly expressed or clearly implied . There can be no doubt that ordinarily a dispute in regard to the relationship between the parties such as that between a landlord and a tenant would be a dispute of a civil nature and would fall within the competence of the civil court. If the respondents contend that the jurisdiction of the civil court to deal ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... eem necessary, order the tenant, by a notice served in the prescribed manner and specifying the grounds on which the order is made, to cease to cultivate the land. It is significant that the making of the enquiry and its mode are left to the discretion of the Collector. If a serious dispute as to the existence of the relationship of landlord and tenant between the parties had been covered by s. 7(1) it is difficult to imagine that the Legislature would have left the decision of such an important issue to the Collector giving him full freedom to make such enquiries as he may, deem necessary. As is well known, a dispute as to the existence of the relationship of landlord and tenant raises serious questions of fact for decision, and if such a serious dispute was intended to be tried by the Collector the Legislature would have provided for an appropriate enquiry in that behalf and would have made the provisions of the Code of Civil Procedure applicable to such an enquiry. Section 7(2) can be easily explained on the basis that the relationship between the parties is outside s. 7(1) and so the disputes that are covered by s. 7(1) are not of such a nature as would Justify a formal enqu ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... tried by the Collector and not by the civil court. However, the question about the construction of s. 8(1) has been incidentally raised before us. In appreciating the scope and effect of s. 8(1) it is necessary to bear in mind the provisions of s. 13 of the Act. The said section provides that the Act shall, as far as may be, read and construed. as forming part of the Madras Estates Land Act, 1908, or as the case may be, of the Orissa tenancy Act, 1913. Therefore reading the provisions of s. 8(1) and s. 13 tog-other it follows that all that s. 8 (1) provides is that except for the disputes covered by s. 7 (1) all disputes arising between landlord and tenant shall be cogniscible by the revenue court and to the trial of such disputes by the revenue court the relevant provisions of the Orissa Tenancy Act, 1913 would apply. It is true that disputes to which s. 8(1) applies are entrusted to the exclusive jurisdiction of the revenue courts and are excluded from the jurisdiction of civil courts, but the effect of this the other relevant provisions of the parent Act of which this temporary Act forms a part. Now, if we turn to some of the relevant provisions of the, parent Act it would be c ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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