TMI Blog1962 (5) TMI 56X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... uted under the Bombay Agricultural Debtors Relief Act, 28 of 1947, for adjustment of the debt due under the deed dated July 24, 1891, and for redemption of the land mortgaged. On February 19, 1954, an award was made in this application by compromise between the parties declaring that Rs. 3,000/- were due to mortgagee under the deed dated July 24, 1891, that the land in dispute was in the possession of Mohammed Abdul Rahim as tenant of the mortgagee, and that the mortgagor had the right to take possession of the land from the said tenant. In execution of the award, Mohammed Abdul Rahim - who will hereinafter be referred to as the respondent - was evicted. On June 7, 1954, the respondent applied to the Mahalkari of Hansot for an order under ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ment, usage, decree or order of a Court of law, the tenancy of any land held by a tenant shall not be determined unless the conditions specified in that section are fulfilled. It was unnecessary to set out the conditions because it is common ground that the tenancy of the respondent was not sought to be determined on any of the grounds in s. 14 : it was in execution of the award made by the Debt Relief Court that the respondent was dispossessed. Section 29, by sub-s. (2) provides that on landlord shall obtain possession of any land or dwelling house held by a tenant except under an order of the Mamlatdar. For obtaining such order he shall make an application in the prescribed form x x x x . Section 4 of the Act in so far as it is material p ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ltivating land within the meaning of s. 4 only if he has derived his right to cultivate directly from the owner of the land, and not from some other person who has a limited interest, such as a mortgagee from the owner. Counsel also contended that the expression mortgagee in possession in clause (c) of s. 4 includes a person claiming a derivative right such as a tenant of the mortgagee in possession. We are unable to agree with these contentions. The Bombay Tenancy Act of 1939 conferred protection upon tenants against eviction, converted all subsisting contractual tenancies for less then ten years, restricted the rights of landlords to obtain possession of land even on surrender, granted the status of protected tenants to all persons who ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... o. The point in controversy is whether a person claiming the status of a deemed tenant must have been cultivating land with the consent or under the authority of the owner. Counsel for the appellants submits that tenancy postulates a relation based on contract between the owner of land, and the person in occupation of the land, and there can be no tenancy without the consent or authority of the owner to the occupation of that land. But the Act has by s. 2(18) devised a special definition of tenant and included therein persons who are not contractual tenants. It would therefore be difficult to assume in construing s. 4 that the person who claims the status of a deemed tenant must be cultivating land with the consent or authority of the owner ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... en inducted by a Mortgagee in possession ordinarily comes to an end with the extinction of the mortgage by redemption, but that rule, in our judgment, has no application in the interpretation of a statute which has been enacted with the object of the granting protection to persons lawfully cultivating agricultural lands. Nor has the contention that the expression mortgagee in possession includes a tenant from such a mortgagee any force. A mortgagee in possession is excluded from the class of deemed tenants on ground of public policy : to confer that status upon a mortgagee in possession would be to invest him with rights inconsistent with his fiduciary character. A transferee of the totality of the rights of a mortgage in possession may a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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