TMI Blog1968 (12) TMI 109X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the Mysore Legislature and received the assent of the President on the 18th March, 1955 and published in the Mysore Gazette on 19th March, 1955. The Act was subsequently amended by Mysore Act 7 of 1956, which received the assent of the President on 28th June, 1956, and which was published in the Mysore Gazette on 5th July, 1956. By virtue of a notification, dated 2nd October, 1956, under Section 1, clause (iv) of the impugned Act, the two Inam villages vested in the State of Mysore under Section 3 of the impugned Act. Compensation of the various items was the subject matter of dispute between the petitioners and the Special Deputy Commissioner who was appointed to assess compensation under the machinery of the Act. Awards of compensation were made under Section 17 and 20 of the impugned Act by the Special Deputy Commissioner. The petitioners preferred Miscellaneous Appeal Nos. 89 and 130 in there High Court of Mysore under Section 31 of the impugned Act. These appeals were heard and decided by the Mysore High Court by a consolidated order of the 27th October 1960. Against that decision two appeals were brought to this Court in Civil Appeals 196 and 197 of 1965. These appeals were h ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... lands, uncultivated lands, whether assessed or not, waste lands, pasture lands, forests, mines and minerals, quarries, rivers and streams, tank and irrigation works, fisheries and ferries, shall cease and be vested absolutely in the State of Mysore, free from all encumbrances; X X X X Section 9 enacts : Lands and building to vest in the Inamdar : (1) Every Inamdar shall, with effect on and from the date of vesting, be entitled to be registered as an occupant of all lands other than - (i) communal lands, waste lands, gomal lands, forest lands, tank beds, mines, quarries, rivers, streams, tanks and irrigation works; (ii) lands in respect of which any person is entitled to be registered under Section 4, 5, 6, 7 or 8; and (iii) lands upon which have been erected building owned by any person other than the Inamdar. (2) Every building situated within the limits of the Inam which was owned immediately before the date of vesting by the Inamdar shall, with effect on an from such date, vest in the Inamdar. Explanation : In this section 'Inamdar' means an Inamdar other than a holder of a minor Inam referred to ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... competent authority; (b) the income from royalty on minerals or from mining lease shall not be included in the annual income unless the right to such minerals or mines was expressly conferred on the Inamdar by a competent authority and such right was recognised under Section 38 of the Land Revenue Code; (c) the income from ferries shall not be included unless the right to such ferries was expressly granted to the Inamdar by a competent authority. X X X X 6. On behalf of the petitioners learned counsel stressed the argument that the Inamdar of the estate was completely deprived of any sort of compensation in regard to the category of lands mentioned in Section 9(1)(i). It was said that in regard to the permanent tenants, the compensation was fixed at 20 times of the land revenue, but in the case of quasi-permanent tenants the compensation is 75 per cent of the value payable by the quasi-permanent tenants under Section 6(2). That is to say, the Government recovers a premium under Section 6(2) at 40 times the land revenue and hands over 75 per cent as compensation to the holder of the Inam estate. It was contended that compensation was not fixed on ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ds as follows :- (2) No property, movable or immovable, including any interest in, or in any company, owning, any commercial or industrial undertaking, shall be taken possession of or acquired for public purposes under any law authorising the taking of such possession or such acquisition, unless the law provides for compensation for the property taken possession of or acquired and either fixes the amount of the compensation, or specifies the principles on which, and the manner in which, the compensation is to be determined and given. 9. But Article 31A was added in the Constitution with retrospective effect by Section 4 of the Constitution (1st Amendment) Act, 1951, which provides as follows :- 4. After Article 31 of the Constitution, the following article shall be inserted, and shall be deemed always to have been inserted namely : 31-A. Saving of laws providing for acquisition of estates etc. - (1) Not withstanding anything in the foregoing provisions of this Part, no law providing for the acquisition by the State of any estate or of any rights therein or for the extinguishment or modification of any such rights shall be deemed to be void on ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ay or abridges any of the rights conferred by Article 14, Article 19 or Article 31 : Provided that where such law is a law made by the Legislature of a State, the provisions of this Article shall not apply thereto unless such law, having been reserved for the consideration of the President, has received his assent; and (b) in clause (2), - (i) in sub-clause (a), after the word grant the words and in the States of Madras and Travancore-Cochin, any janmam right shall be, and shall be deemed always to have been inserted. (ii) in sub-clause (b), after the word tenure-holder the words Raiyat, under-Raiyat shall be, and shall be deemed always to have been, inserted. 10. In the present case, it is plain that under Article 31A as introduced by the 1st Amendment to the Constitution or as altered by the 4th Amendment, the impugned Act is protected from attack in any Court on the ground that it contravenes the provisions of Article 31(2) of the Constitution. The reason is that the impugned Act is a law providing for the acquisition by the State of any estate or of any rights therein or for the extinguishment or modification of such rights ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... laimant would get a lesser value than what he would get for the same or similar land acquired for some public purpose under the Principle Act. The discrimination between persons whose lands were acquired for housing schemes and those whose lands were acquired for other public purposes could not be sustained on the principle of reasonable classification and the Amending Act clearly violated Article 14 of the Constitution and was void. In our opinion, the ratio of the two decisions in State of Madras v. D. Namasiyaya Mudaliar and others: [1964]6SCR936 , and P. Vajravelu Mudaliar v. Special Deputy Collector, Madras and another: [1965]1SCR614 , (supra) has no application to the present case because those cases related to legislation not dealing with agrarian reform and the protection of Article 31A of the Constitution was not available to either of the statutes challenged in those cases. 12. We pass on to consider the next question raised on behalf of the petitioners, namely, whether the impugned Act was beyond the legislative competence of the Mysore Legislature under Entry 36 of List II to the 7th Schedule and Entry 42 of List III as those entries stood before the 7th Amendm ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Entry 42 of List III, was altered and the altered entry reads as follows : Acquisition and requisitioning of property . It was however pointed out on behalf of the petitioners that the amendment was not retrospective and the validity of the impugned Act must be tested by the language of Entries 36 of List II and 42 of List III as they stood at the material time. 15. In our opinion, there is no substance in the argument. It is true that under the common law of eminent domain as recognised in Anglo-Saxon Jurisprudence the State cannot take the property of its subject unless such property is required for a public purpose and without compensating the owner for its loss. But, when these limitations are expressly provided for in Article 31(2) and it is further enacted that no law shall be made which takes away or abridges these safe-guards, and any such law, if made, shall be void there can be no room for implication, and the words acquisition of property in Entry 36 must be understood in their natural sense of the act of acquiring property, without importing into the phrase an obligation to pay compensation or a condition as to the existence of a public purpose. In other wo ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
|
