ition No 5545 of 1980
Under Article 32 of the Constitution of India Pankaj Malik and Mr R P Singh for the Petitioners
section N Kacker and Rathin Das for the Respondent
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by FAZAL ALI J
True to the spirit and letter of our Constitution and in fulfilment of the promises made by our national leaders to the people of India the Government sought to introduce agrarian 851 reforms so as to reserve the lands to the tillers of the soil giving marginal relief or compensation to the erstwhile landlords or tenants in chief through various statutes passed by almost all the States in the country
I n order to hasten and safeguard the agrarian reforms the Constitution takes full care by virtue of the insertion of the directive principles of Stale policy contained in part IV which are undoubtedly the heart and soul of our Constitution and have in fact been complied with in a variety of spheres
Ceaseless attempts made by the landlords to challenge the constitutional validity of the aforesaid reforms met with little success
Having failed in their attempts to undo the socialist reforms passed for the purpose of building an egalitarian society and bringing about marked improvement in the condition of the poor suffering tillers by the various Acts passed by the States the landlords left no stone unturned and were always on the look out for an opportunity to  seize the lands from the tenants on one pretext or the other through manpowers muscle power or money power
Nevertheless the constitutional validity of most of the Acts came up for decision in the High Courts and in this Court and by and large each one of them was held to be constitutionally valid thus setting at naught the attempts of the landlords to take back possession of the lands which should have been given to the tillers of the soil long before
The landlords were thus unable to get hold of any opportunity to pounce upon the land which went and should have gone to the actual tillers of the soil
Thereafter some of the bigger landlords tried through their dextrous methods aud legal ingenuity to defeat the laudable social endeavour of the Government by making a show of the so called complete destruction of their assess and properties reducing them to starvation
This case is yet another glaring illustration of such an adroit attempt made by the tenants in chief to deprive the actual tillers of the rights conferred on them by the Land Reforms Acts of West Bengal passed from 1953 to 1977
In view however of the modern trends of the decisions of this Court which always made a practical and pragmatic approach to any progressive step taken by the Parliament the attempts of the landlords ultimately proved to be a grotesque failure
Coming now to the facts of the case a brief history of the admirable object of the agrarian reforms introduced by the Government of West Bengal may be necessary as a prelude to our discussion of the subject In fact all the contentions raised before us stand 852 concluded by a recent decision of this Court as we shall show hereafter
Not content with the addition of Art31C of the Constitution which was introduced by the constitution 25th Amendment Act 1971 the petitioners chose to call into aid the decisions of this Court in Minerva Mills Ltd vs Union of India  Ors and Waman Rao  Ors
vs Union of Indian  Ors which also proved to be an exercise futility because the ratio of these cases is in no way of any assistance to the petitioners
In the instant case we are concerned with agrarian reforms achieved from time to time by the Government of West Bengal in order to improve the lot of the tillers of the land by giving them as many facilities as could be possible within the framework of the law and the Constitution
Having realised that the West Bengal Estates Acquisition Act 1953 hereinafter referred to as the 1953 Act  could not be challenged the landlords waited for future litigations swoop down on the validity of the West Bengal Land Reforms Act 1955 hereinafter referred to as the 1955 Act  as amended by the West Bengal Land Reforms Amendment Act 1972 and the West Bengal Land Reforms Amendment Act 1977 for facility to be referred to as the Amendment Act of 1972  and Amendment Act of 1977  respectively
In the first round which was the subject matter of a decision of this Court Sri Sri Kalimata Thakurani and Sri Sri Raghunath Jew  Ors etc
vs Union of India  Ors
to which one of us Fazal Ali J was a party this Court negatived the constitutional objections and contentions raised by the landlords against the reforms introduced by the 1955 Act and the 1972 and 1977 Amendment Acts
Unfortunately however there appears to be some small lacuna in the above judgment which was unhesitatingly exploited by the petitioners so as to attempt to destroy the progressive amendments of 1972 and 1977 particularly taking advantage of certain observations made in that case to which we shall come later
To begin with in the 1953 Act which was enforced with effect from 12th February 1954 Section 4 introduced a more or less radical reform for the benefit of the actual tillers by abolishing the rights of 853 the intermediary ex landlords
By virtue of this section all estates and the rights of every intermediary was to vest in the State free from all encumbrances from a date mentioned in a notification issued by the Government
In order however to be just and fair to the erstwhile landlords they were conferred the status of raiyats or tenants
By virtue of section 6 they were entitled to retain certain categories of lands like lands comprised in home steads or  appertaining to buildings and structures etc of non agricultural land in khas possession
Section 6d expressly provided that so far as agricultural land in khas possession was concerned it would not exceed twenty five acres in area to be chosen by the landlord
No serious grievance was made before us regarding the provisions of sections 4 to 6 excepting that the ceiling of twenty five acres was not sufficient for the landlords to make both their ends meet and enable them to earn their livelihood Such a plea has to be stated only to be rejected because the landlords who had huge lands comprising home stead lands or those appertaining to buildings or structures and non agricultural lands in khas possession were not at all touched by the 1953 Act
In these circumstance therefore we do not take any serious notice of this grievance which in fact was not pressed before us
Realising the current trends in the social approach of the agrarian reforms made by the courts the counsel for the petitioners confined his arguments to three infirmities from which the 1953 Act and the 1972 and 1977 Amendment Acts suffered
However during the course of arguments the challenge remained confined only to certain specific amendments made by the 1972 and 1977 Amendment Acts and the points raised before us may be summarised thus 1 that the total ceiling area allowed to be retained by the 1953 Act in respect of agricultural land in khas possession of the raiyats was drastically reduced 2 that although the status of raiyats was conferred on the erstwhile landlords which was heritable and transferable the institution of bargardars was introduced in order to enable the raiyats to cultivate their lands on a 5050 basis and  3 that while the Amendment Act of 1972 had given a right to the raiyats to resume the lands given to the 854 bargardars for their personal cultivation the subsequent amendments took away this right and made the right of the bargardar both heritable and transferable causing serious detriment and prejudice to the raiyats
We now proceed to refer only to those provisions whose constitutional validity has been seriously challenged by the petitioners
It appears that by the 1972 Amendment Act certain changes were made and a reference was made particularly to section 14M which may be extracted thus 14M Ceiling area 1 The ceiling area shall be a in the case of a raiyat who is an adult unmarried person 250 standard hectares b in the case of a raiyat who is the sole surviving member of a family 250 standard hectares c in the case of a raiyat having a family consisting of two or more but not more than five members 500 standard hectares d in the care of a raiyat having a family consisting of more than five members 500 standard hectares plus 050 standard hectare for each member in excess of five so however that the aggregate of the ceiling area for such raiyat shall not in any case exceed 700 standard hectares e in the case of any other raiyat 700 standard hectares 2 Notwithstanding anything contained in sub section 1 where in the family of a raiyat there are more raiyats than one the ceiling area for the raiyat together with the ceiling area of all the other raiyats in the family shall not in any case exceed a where the number of members of such family does not exceed five 500 standard hectares 855 b where such number exceeds five 500 standard hectares plus 050 standard hectare for each member in excess of five so however that the aggregate of the ceiling area shall not in any case exceed 700 standard hectares
3 For the purpose of sub section 2 all the lands owned individually by the members of a family or jointly by some or all the members of such family shall be deemed to be owned by the raiyats in the family
 It was submitted that the drastic reduction of the area of the raiyat has been reduced to 250 standard hectares being the minimum and 700 standard hectares being the maximum according to the nature of cases mentioned in clsa to e of section 14MI and clsa and b of section 14M2 as extracted above which worked serious injustice to the tenants
A strong exception was taken to the amendment of s17 of the 1955 Act particularly the substitution of s17c and the various provisos to that section
The validity of s176 was also challenged on the ground that the legislation was confiscatory
The provisions of the proviso to cl8 of s2 added by the 1977 Amendment Act to the 1955 Act was seriously assailed
The said proviso runs thus Provided that such person or member of his family resides for the greater part of the year in the locality where the land is situated and the principal source of his income is produced from such land
 A similar challenge was made to the addition of s21B in the 1955 Act by the 1977 Amendment Act
On similar grounds the aforesaid provisions were also challenged in the decision of this Court in Sri Sri Kalimata Thakurani s case supra which did not meet with any success
It was however pointed out by the counsel for the petitioners that this Court did not accept the arguments of the petitioners in that case because it was under an erroneous impression that the 1955 Act and the Amendment Acts of 1972 and 1977 were added to the Ninth Schedule in the Constitution of India and were 856 therefore immune from challenge
To some extent the counsel is right in his statement that such an inadvertent mistake has crept in due to oversight because the 1955 Act and the Amendment Acts of 1972 and 1977 were added to the ninth Schedule by the 4th Amendment of the Constitution of 1976 being entry numbers 181 to 185
Hence it could be reasonably argued that the constitutional validity  of the provisions mentioned above was justiciable and could be gone into
Before dealing with these arguments it may be necessary to extract certain portions of the decision of this Court in Sri Sri Kalimata Thakurani s case supra where this Court after dealing with the various provisions  observed thus In the instant case it is clear that the 1955 Act as also the Amendment Act of 1972 were added to the Ninth Schedule being entry Nos 80 and 81 prior to April 24 1973
In these circumstances it is manifest that the aforesaid Acts are completely immune from challenge on the ground that they are violative of any of the rights enshrined in Part III of the Constitution
The learned counsel for the petitioner therefore was fully justified in making the concession before us
 The error is undoubtedly there but neither the counsel for the petitioners nor the counsel for the respondent drew our attention to this omission
Even if the Acts were not included in the Ninth Schedule their constitutional validity could not be questioned because this Court has clearly held in Sri Sri Kalimata Thankurani s case that the provisions are otherwise reasonable and give full effect to the pragmatic and socialistic approach where the following observations were made It would be seen that s17 permits the cultivator to terminate the Cultivation of the land by bargardar and resume possession under his own cultivation if the conditions mentioned in clauses a b and d of sub section l of section 17 are satisfied
Clause d may be extracted thus That the person owning the land requires it bonafide for bringing it under personal cultivation Thus the cultivator has a right to get back the land for personal cultivation if he requires it for his bona fide 857 use and proves the some to the satisfaction of the authority appointed under s171
 Referring to some of the provisions of the 1972 Amendment Act this Court held that the provision by which the right of bargardar was protected and made heritable could not be challenged as being either unconstitutional unreasonable or arbitrary  But this Court made some observations which were in favour of the petitioner and which may be extracted as follows  But when the Bargardor on his own volition surrenders or abandons the land there is no reason why the tenant should not be allowed to resume  cultivation and instead be compelled to get the land cultivated by some other person nominated by the authority concerned under s49 of the 1955 Act
This provision therefore appears to us to be extremely harsh and works serious injustice to the rights of the tenants particularly after the ceiling are of the tenant has been considerably reduced by the Amendment Act of 1972
Thus the tenant having a small area guaranteed to him for his unit he should have at least fuller and more effective rights to get that area cultivated by him or even by a bargardar of his choice subject to resuming the same if the bargardar surrenders or abandons the land 
Unfortunately however though the provisions of sub sections 3 4 and 5 of s20B which is only a penal section perilously border on arbitrariness and amounts to serious curbs on the fundamental right of the cultivator to pursue his occupation we cannot however strike down these provisions because they are contained in the Amendment Act of 1972 which has been placed in the Ninth Schedule prior to April 54 1973 and therefore fall within the protective umbrella and are immune from challenge
 A capital was therefore made out of the above observations in Sri 
Sri Kalimata Thakurani s case
Reliance was also placed on a decision of this Court in Sasanka Sekhar Maity  Ors v Union of India  Ors where AP Sen J speaking for the Court made the following observations 858 In order therefore to reconcile the fundamental rights of the community as a whole with the individual rights of the more fortunate section of the community it was fundamentally necessary to make the impugned legislation to secure to a certain extent the rights of that part of the community which is denied its legitimate share in the means of livelihood
The broad objectives or any legislation relating to agrarian reforms are materially four viz I to maximise the agricultural output and productivity 2 a fair and equitable distribution of agricultural income 3 increase in employment opportunities and 4 a social or ethical order
Though the abolition of the zamidari system in the State of West Bengal was an important step forward the feudal structure remained so far as the peasants were concerned
These objectives have been achieved through progressive legislation  These observations put the petitioners completely out of court demolish the contentions advanced before us
The four objectives mentioned by SenJ in the passage extracted above are clearly brought out and implemented by virtue of the impugned amendments in the 1955 Act
So far as the decision in the case of Sri Sri Kalimata Thakurani supra is concerned in view of the crystallisation of the law in Minerva Mills Waman Rao supra and Sanjeev Coke Manufacturing Co vs MS Bharat Coking Coal Ltd  Anr
cases which have been followed and amplified is the recent decision of this Court in State of Tamil Nadu  etc vs L Abu Kavur Bai  Ors
the matter is no longer res integra and even if there was an inadvertent error in the observations of this Court in Sri Sri Kalimata Thakurani s case the same has become redundant as the impugned provisions can be supported as squarely falling within the four corners of Art39b of the Constitution as the intention of the Acts is to secure and promote the objectives contained in Art39b
In this connection we might extract a few observations from L Abu Kavur Bai Ors supra 859 In view of Art31C which gives protective umbrella against Art312 also the Court cannot strike down the Act merely because the compensation for taking over the transport services or its units is not provided for
The reason for this is that Art31C was not merely a pragmatic approach to socialism but imbibed a theoretical aspect by which all means of production key industries mines minerals public supplies utilities and services may be taken gradually under public ownership
management and control
 It was further argued by the petitioners that there was no clear nexus between the Act and the objectives contained in Art39b
We are however unable to agree with this argument because the question of nexus has been clearly expounded by this Court both in the Minerva Mills and Sanjeev Coke Manufacturing Co s cases as also in the case of L Abu Kavaur Bai  Ors
supra where a Constitution Bench of this Court speaking through one of us Fazal AliJ made the following observations D Another important facet of Art31C which has been emphasised by this Court is that there should be a close nexus between the statute passed by the legislature and the twin objects mentioned in clauses b and c of Art39
In approaching this problem and considering the question of nexus a narrow approach ought not to be made because it is well settled that the courts should interpret a constitutional provision in order to suppress the mischief and advance the object of the Act
The doctrine of nexus cannot be extended to such an extreme limit that the very purpose of Art39bc is defeated If the nexus is present in the law then the protection of Art31C becomes complete and irrevocable
 It was also argued that by virtue of the various amendments made by the 1972 and 1977 Amendment Acts no process of distribution is involved
This argument cannot be accepted in view of the observations of this Court by Krishna IyerJ in State of Karnataka vs Ranganatha Reddy  Anr
where the learned Judge observed as follows 860 The next question is whether nationalisation can have nexus with distribution
To distribute  even in its simple dictionary meaning is to allot to divide into classes or into groups and distribution  embraces arrangement classification placement disposition apportionment the way in which items a quantity or the like is divided or apportioned the system of dispersing goods throughout a community   The above observations were followed and amplified in L Abu Kavur Bai  case supra thus It is obvious therefore in view of the vast range of transactions contemplated by the word distribution  as mentioned in the dictionaries referred to above it will not be correct to construe the word distribution  in a purely literal sense so as to mean only division of a particular persons
The words apportionment allotment allocation classification clearly fall within the broad sweep of the word distribution 
So construed the word distribution  as used in Art39b will include various facets aspects method and terminology of a broad based concept of distribution In view of the aforesaid observations the challenge to the impugned provisions of the Acts no longer survives
Moreover what could have been a better mode of distribution contemplated by Art39b than to take away the surplus agricultural lands from the landlords and distribute it amongst the poor suffering landless tillers of the soil who had suffered for centuries as vassals slaves of the rich zamindars The Acts have not touched the non agricultural homestead lands or buildings standing thereon but has taken over only a major portion of the agricultural lands leaving with the landlords a portion prescribed within the ceiling limit and distributed the excess to the tillers of the soil which along constitute their main source of sustenance and livelihood
The claim of the raiyats erstwhile landlords that the Acts amount to confiscation is absolutely untenable and if we dare say it amounts only to shedding of crocodile tears and an anathema or a taboo
We are therefore convinced that the impugned amendments were manifestly and pointedly made for the purpose of giving effect to and securing the 861 Objects of Art39b because these Acts clearly intended to distribute the material resources of toe community viz the agricultural lands to a large number of tillers of the soil
in order to serve the common good of the aforesaid people
The challenge to the impugned Acts and amendments must therefore fail as the amendments fall within the letter and spirit
Of Art39b
Finally it was suggested that the provision of the amendment by which the raiyat is enjoined to reside In the village itself for a large part of the year seems to be harsh and arbitrary
This argument does not hold any water for two reasons 1 that when once it is found that the Act is meant to promote and effectuate the objectives contained in Art39b which is no doubt the case here no other ground of challenge would survive because by virtue of Art31C any Act which seems to secure the objects of Art39b cannot be challenged being violative of article 14 19 or 31
2 Secondly the provision that the land owner should reside in the village is both salutary and beneficial the object being that if a raiyat wants to cultivate his own land he must give his whole hearted attention to the said land instead of living the village and carrying on other avocations of life
One of us Fazal AliJ had clearly adverted to this aspect of the matter in Sri Sri Kalimata Thakurani s case supra and observed h as follows The dominant object of the proviso is to abolish the age old institutions of absentee land holder by insisting that the cultivator to whom land is allotted must give full and complete attention to the soil and as a result of
which there will be maximum utilisation of the agricultural resources which would increase production 
It is obvious that the tenant has to remain in the village for the purpose of cultivating the lands
sowing the seeds growing it and harvesting it
These processes would doubtless requires the presence of the tenant for a greater part of the year which is that the proviso predicates
If 862 the tenant is permitted to leave the village for more than half the year then the very purpose of giving such a vast area for cultivation to a tenant will be foiled Moreover the proviso merely insists that the tenant should remain in the village or its periphery for greater part of the year  which appears to be not only responsible but absolutely essential if the land has to be cultivated in a scientific manner in order to yield the maximum possible production which would result in better and equitable distribution of agricultural products for the use of the people of the country
 For the reasons given above all the contentions raised by the petitioners fail and the writ petition is dismissed but without any order as to costs
SR Petitions dismissed


Summary:
The petitioners in this round of challenge assailed the validity of Section 14M 17c 176 and 21 B of the West Bengal Land Reforms Act calling to their aid certain observations made by this Court in Sri Sri Kalimata Thakurani and Sri Sri Raghunath Jain  Ors etc vs Union of India  Ors  and the decisions in Minerva Mills Ltd vs Union of India  Ors
1981 1 SCR 206 and Waman Rao  Ors
vs Union of India  Ors
 The petitioners raised the following points i that the total ceiling area allowed to be retained by the 1953 Act in respect of agricultural land in Khas possession of the Raiyats was drastically reduced ii that although the status of Raiyats was conferred on the erstwhile landlords which was heritable and transferable the institution of bargards was introduced in order to enable the raiyats to cultivate their lands on a 5050 basis and iii that while the Amendment Act of 1972 had given a right to the raiyats to resume the lands given to the bargardars for their personal cultivation the subsequent amendments took away this right and made the right of the bargardar both heritable and transferable causing serious detriment and prejudice to the raiyats
Dismissing the petitions the Court
 HELD 11 The impugned amendments were manifestly and pointedly made for the purpose of giving effect to and securing the objects of Article 39b because these Acts clearly intended to distribute the material resources of the community viz the agricultural lands to a large number of tillers of the soil in order to serve the common good on the aforesaid people
The Amendments fall within the letter and spirit of Article 39b of the Constitution
1 lie Acts have not touched the non agricultural home stead lands or buildings of the Land owners standing thereon but has taken over only a major portion of the agricultural lands leaving with the landlords a portion prescribed within the 850 ceiling limit and distributed the excess to the tillers of the soil which alone constitute their main source of sustenance and livelihood
The claim of the raiyats erstwhile landlords that the Acts amount to confiscation is absolutely untenable and amounts only to shedding crocodile tears and an anathema or taboo
860 H 861 A B 860 G 12 The error regarding the addition of Amending Acts as items of Entry in the Ninth Schedule was inadvertently crept in the decision of Sri Sri Kalimata Thakarani s case
Even if the Acts were not included in the Ninth Schedule their constitutional validity could not be questioned because the provisions are otherwise reasonable and give full effect to the pragmatic and socialistic approach as contained in Article 39b of the Constitution
Sri Sri Kalimata Thakurani and Sri Sri Raghunath Jew and Ors vs Union of India  Ors
19812 SCR 950 Minerva Mills Ltd vs Union of India and Ors   Waman Rao  Ors v Union of India  Ors  Sanjeev Coke Manufacturing Co vs Ms Bharat Coking Coal Ltd and Anr  Sasanka Sekhar Maity  Ors Union of India  Ors   State of Tamil Nadu etc vs L Abu Kavur Bai and Ors CA Nos 957 966 N of 1973 decided on 31 10 83 followed
13 The Amendment Acts cannot be challenged as violative of the doctrine of nexus or involving no process of distributions State of Karnataka v Rangnatha Reddy  Anr   Minerva Mills Ltd vs Union of India  Ors   Sanjeeva Coke Manufacturing Co vs Ms Bharat Coking Coal Ltd and Anr  and State of Tamilnadu etc vs L Abukavar Bai  Ors CA No 957 966 N of 1973 decided on 31 10 1983 followed
14 The provisions of the Amendment by which the raiyat is enjoined to reside in the village itself for a large part of the year cannot be said to be either harsh or arbitrary
Sri Sri Kalimata Thakurani etc
vs Union of India  Ors
19812 SCR 950 applied