TMI Blog1943 (2) TMI 15X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ute a suit for the reduction of his rent on one or more of the following grounds.. (1) on the ground that there has been a fall, not due to a temporary cause, in the average local prices of staple food-crops during the currency of the present rent... (2) In any suit instituted under this section the Court may direct such reduction of the rent, as it thinks fair and equitable. 2. There is no dispute that reduction of rent on the ground stated above may be obtained by way of defence in a suit for recovery of arrears of rent. There is also no dispute that paddy is the staple food-crop of the locality. The learned Munsif who tried the suit upheld the defence claim to the reduction of rent, finding (1) that there has been a considerable fall in the average local prices of paddy during the currency of the present rent; (2) that the cause of the fall is not a temporary one. 3. He compared the average price of paddy for 1930 to 1989 as published by the Government under Section 39, Ben. Ten. Act, with that for the period from 1915 to 1924 and held that the tenants were entitled to a reduction of l/4th of the rent. As the commutation of the paddy rent took effect from 1330 B.S. he allo ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ailing rate be taken as coming into existence during the years 1891 to 1900, then the average prices of staple food-crops of that period were almost the same as the average prices of the years 1930 to 1939. Next, taking the average yield of the lands, he found that the present rent of ₹ 85 is a little less than l/6th of this average yield. He seems to have taken this to be a fair ratio. 7. Mr.Mukherjee, appearing in support of the appeal before me, contends (1) that the Court of appeal below went wrong in holding that the world economic depression was only a temporary cause; (2) that in exercise of its power under Section 38 (2), Ben. Ten. Act, the Court of appeal below went wrong (a) in its conception of prevailing rent as a factor determining the commuted rent (b) in its appreciation of what proportion should a fair rent bear to the average yield, and (c) in its appreciation of the factors actually taken into consideration in the commutation proceeding. 8. Mr.Ghose, appearing for the plaintiff-respondent, contends (1) that the question whether or not a cause is a temporary one is a question of fact, and is concluded in the present case by the finding of the Court of a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ing for limited time, not of long duration, transitory, changing, lasting for a short time, not permanent. The word permanent also is used in the same Section 38, Ben. Ten. Act. The word does not import something, which will continue forever. It is something lasting or intended to last indefinitely. The more uncertain the result is the more it must be held to come within the Meaning of the word 'permanent': Krishna Sahai v. Palak Dhari ('15) 2 A.I.R. 1915 Cal. 345 at page 1158. 13. The question whether or not any particular cause is calculated to last indefinitely or only for a short time is necessarily a question of fact. There may be different accounts of the determining factors. But these factors must also be some facts, some accounts of what happened. It may be difficult, doubtful or problematical as to which account should be accepted. But its acceptance is not the application of any Rule of law. But the question whether the accepted accounts satisfy the requirements of a cause being temporary or permanent may be a question of law. Questions of fact and questions of law are no doubt distinct categories involving real differences. But an apparent que ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e's premise that it cannot be shown that the depression will have a permanent effect, he would be unable in any case to obtain a reduction for this case. 16. The learned Chief Justice only assumed the premise of Mahammad Noor J. to expose the infirmity in his reasoning. If Mahammad Noor J. _wanted to characterise the depression as temporary because one could not be sure how long the depression was going to last then with due respect I would differ from him. If there was this uncertainty about the duration of the depression it would not be temporary within the meaning of the section. 17. The other fact relied on by the learned Subordinate Judge is that during the last two or three years, there has again been some rise in the prices, though the prices are still lower than what ruled before the economic, depression. No doubt this fact may indicate that the price already shows a tendency to rise and such a rising tendency may be evidence of the fact that the cause of the fall is passing away. But the figures after the year 1936 again indi. Cater a fall in the prices. The so-called rising tendency itself might therefore have been due to some temporary cause. The learned Ju ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... y. The Midland Bank Review in January 1932 affirmed that the only way out was the way pf a rising price level. Keynes in a lecture on 'The World Economic crisis and the way of escape' in February 1932 declared that the only alternative solution to the disappearance of the existing credit system is a worldwide organised inflation. The way of escape from economic crisis announced Sir William Beveridge in a Halley Stewart lecture on the same subject in the same month, was by way of international action to suppress the anarchy of purchasing power and to keep the liberty of production and exchange. A British Liberal Free Trade Manifesto proclaimed that the only way to renewed prosperity is the removal of all hindrances to the free exchange of goods and commodities. The views of American, French and German theorists differed markedly from the British as to the causes of the crisis and its solution. 19. The causes of this depression lie in much more potent factors than these debts transactions, affirmed the United States reply to the British Note in December 1932. Andrew Mellon, the world's reputed wealthiest man, declared I do not believe there is any quick ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... served: Immediately after the war many people naturally assumed that the war and the war alone was the reason for the dislocation that emerged in the economic relations of individuals, of nations and of continents. A simple return to pre-war conditions seemed in the circumstances the appropriate objective of economic policy which would be sufficient to cure the current difficulties. It is an instinctive tendency of mankind to turn to the past rather than to the future and, even at a moment when an old Order is being displaced, to revert to former ideas and to attempt to restore the traditional state of affairs. Experience has shown, however, that the problems left by the war cannot be solved in so simple a manner. 22. Oswald Spengler, the German philosopher, ascribes the depression to the dethronement of politics by eoonomios, of the state by the counting-house, of the diplomatist by the trade union leader. It is here and not in the sequelae of the world war that the seeds of the present economic crisis will be found. This whole crushing depression is purely and simply the result of the decline of state power. 23. It is thus difficult to characterise the world economic dep ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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