Appeal No 182 of 1964
Appeal by special leave from the judgment and order dated April 20 1959 of the Madhya Pradesh High Court in Misc
Petition No 325 of 1955
section V Gupte Solicitor General W section Barlingay section T Khirwarkar and A G Ratnaparkhi for the appellants
M section K Sastri and M section Narasimhan for I N Shroff for the respondent
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by Hidayatullah J
The appellants claiming to be the descen dants of former ruling chiefs in the Hoshangabad and Nimar Districts of Madhya Pradesh applied under the Central Provinces and Berar Revocation of Land Revenue Exemptions Act 1948 for grant of money or pension as suitable maintenance for themselves
By that Act every estate mahal village or land which was exempted from the payment of the whole or part of land revenue by special grant of or contract with the Crown or under the provision of any law or rule for the time being in force or in pursuance of any other instrument was after the appointed date made liable to land revenue from the year 1948 49 notwithstanding anything contained in the grant contract law rule or instrument
The appellants held estates in the two districts on favourable terms as Jahgirdars Maufidars and Ubaridars and enjoyed an exemption from payment of land revenue amounting in the aggregate to Rs 27828 5 0 yearly
On the passing of the Act the exemption was lost and they claimed to be entitled to grant of money or pension under the provisions of the Act about to be set out
They applied to the Deputy Commissioner who forwarded their application to the State Government
The State Government by its order No 993 XVI 4 dated April 26 1955 rejected their petition
No reasons are contained in that order
The appellants thereupon filed a petition in the High Court of Madhya Pradesh under article 226 of the Constitution for a writ of certiorari to quash the order of the State Government
In that LlSup65 18 680 petition they contended that the rejection of their petition by the State Government without giving any reasons amounted to no decision at all and was an improper and illegal exercise of the power vested in the State Government by section 5 of the Act
The State Government resisted the petition by contending that the appellants were not descendants of any former ruling chief and further that the exercise of the power by the State Government was proper and legal
The petition in the High Court was heard and disposed of by a Full Bench
The learned Chief Justice who delivered the judgment on behalf of the Full Bench held that the State Government was not compelled to grant either money or pension because the exercise of the power under section 5 was discretionary and the petition therefore was incompetent
No other question was gone into by the High Court even though a suit is barred under the provisions of the Act and a petition under article 226 would appear to be the only remedy in case the State Government failed to comply with the terms of the Act or acted in an illegal manner
The Act consists of eight sections
The revocation of exemption from liability for land revenue is laid down by section 3 the purport of which has already appeared in this judgment
It is not necessary to refer to that section in detail because in addition it speaks of lands in Berar governed by the Berar Land Revenue Code and of lands in Madhya Pradesh governed by the Central Provinces Land Revenue Act 1917 and lays down the classes of such lands and the special rules applicable to them
In the present appeal we are not concerned with these details and they may therefore be put aside
Section 4 of the Act makes suitable amendments in the Central Provinces Land Revenue Act 1917 and the Berar Land Revenue Code consequent upon the provisions of section 3 of the Act
We need not attempt to set out these amendments
Section 5 then provides as follows  5
Awards of money grants or pension
1 Any person adversely affected by the provisions of section 3 may apply to the Deputy Commissioner of the district for the award of a grant or money or pension
2 The Deputy Commissioner shall forward the application to the Provincial Government which may pass such orders as it deems fit
3 The Provincial Government may make a grant of money or pension 681
i for the maintenance or upkeep of any religious charitable or public institution or service of
 like nature or ii for suitable maintenance of any family of at descendant from a former ruling chief
4 Any amount sanctioned by way of grant of money or pension under this section shall be a charge on the revenues of the Province
 Section 6 bars the jurisdiction of civil courts
Section 8 enables the Provincial Government to make rules for carrying out the purposes of the Act
Section 7 grants power to the State Government to grant exemptions from payment of land revenue under the Central Provinces Land Revenue Act 1917 and the Berar Land Revenue Code in whole or in part as it may deem fit
The short question in this appeal is whether the provisions of section 53 make it obligatory upon the State Government to make a suitable grant of money or pension in case it is proved that the applicant has lost the exemption under the Act and is a descendant from a former ruling chief The Full Bench of the High Court was of the view that there was no obligation on the State Government to make such a grant inasmuch as section 5 3 was discretionary
The appellants contend that the view of the High Court of section 5 3 is erroneous and the section is mandatory notwithstanding the use of language which appears to confer a discretion provided the other conditions of the sub section are fulfilled
Before we deal with this question we may also refer to the rules which have been framed under section 8 of the Act
These rules were made for dealing with applications received under section 51 of the Act
They are six in number
After defining the terms maufi  inane maufidar  and inamdar rule 3 says that on receipt of the application the Deputy Commissioner may enquire into it personally or may transfer it to a Revenue Officer not below the rank of Extra Assistant Commissioner for enquiry and report
Rule 4 then provides what the enquiry should cover
Though the rule is divided into sub rules a to g under sub rules a to e the enquiry is directed to ascertain the lands held by the applicant his income class of maufi or inam and the details of the maufi and inam
There were many maufidars ubaridars who were holding lands under diverse titles and concessions
Sub rules a to e seem to apply to all the applicants
When however a maufi is held by any religious charitable or public institution or for any service as stated in section 5 3 i quoted above or is held for maintenance Sup65 19 682 by a descendant of a former ruling chief as mentioned in section 5 3 id sub rules f and g apply in addition to sub rules a to e
Under sub rule f some special enquiry is required to be made in respect of religious charitable or public institutions or service such as whether the institution should be continued to be maintained or service continued to be rendered and the minimum annual expenditure required for the maintenance of the institution or the service
Sub rule g then says In the case of maufi or inam for the maintenance of a descendant of a former ruling chief the following further information should also be furnished This is followed by four sub rules the first lays down that the minimum amount required to ensure suitable maintenance of the family should be stated after enquiry the second requires that any other source of income should be specified the third requires the enquiring officer to state the extent to which such a person is dependent on maufi income and the fourth requires that his loyalty to Government should be ascertained
Rule 5 then enjoins that after completing the enquiry the Deputy Commissioner should make his report and his recommendation
Rule 6 provides that the Deputy Commissioner should also consider whether it would be desirable to exempt some land from liability to pay land revenue in whole or part under section 7 instead of making a money grant under section 53
It is contended on behalf of the State of Madhya Pradesh that the powers exercisable under the Act are in the discretion of the Government and there can be no remedy by way of a writ under article 226 of the Constitution
It is pointed out in support of the submission that sub section
2 of section 5 confers on the Government complete discretion because it says that the Provincial State Government   may pass such orders as it deems fit in respect of every application forwarded by the Deputy Commissioner and that sub section
3 is also worded in language which is directory where it says The Provincial State Government may make a grant of money or pension etc
 This view appears to have been accepted in the High Court
In our opinion this contention cannot be supported if the scheme of the fifth section is closely examined
No doubt the Deputy Commissioner is required to make enquiries and to forward all applications to Government and Government has been 683 given the power to pass such orders as it deems fit but the operation of sub section
2 and the discretion in it relates to applications in general while in respect of some of the applications the order has to be made under the third sub section where the discretion is to a considerable extent modified
The rules here help in the understanding of the third sub section
In all cases an enquiry has to be made which generally follows a pattern disclosed by rule 4 sub rules a to e
But in cases of maufi or inam held by religious charitable or public institutions or service or in case of a maufi or inam for the maintenance of a descendant of a former ruling chief additional enquiries have to be made
File rules highlight the distinction between revocation of exemption in the case of persons belonging to two special categories and the revocation of exemption in the case of others
It will be noticed presently that section 5 of the Act also follows the same scheme and the rules do no more than emphasise the special character of sub section
3 of section 5
Power has been conferred on Government to make some other lands free from land revenue so that sometimes a grant of money or pension and sometimes exemption from land revenue may be ordered
It could hardly have been intended that sub section
3 of section 5 was to be rendered nugatory in its purpose by the operation of the discretion conferred by sub section
The two sub sections have to be read separately because though the word may appears in both of them that word in sub section
3 takes its meaning from an obligation which is laid upon Government in respect of certain institutions and persons if the stated conditions are fulfilled
It is impossible to think that in the case of a religious charitable or public institution which must be continued or in the case of descendants of former ruling chiefs Government possessed an absolute discretion to refuse to make a grant of money or pension for their maintenance or upkeep even though they satisfied all the conditions for such a grant and were deserving of a grant of money or pension
The word may in section 53 must be interpreted as mandatory when the conditions precedent namely the existence of a religious charitable or public institutions which ought to be continued or of the descendants of a ruling chief is established
The words may pass such orders as it deems fit in sub section
2 mean no more than that Government must make its orders to fit the occasion the kind of order to be made being determined by the necessity of the occasion
As stated in Maxwell on the Interpretation of Statutes  11th edn
p 23 1 Statutes which authorise persons to do acts for the benefit of others or as it is sometimes said
for the 684 public good or the advancement of justice have often given rise to controversy when conferring the authority in terms simply enabling and not mandatory
In enacting that they may or shall if they think fit or shall have power or that it shall be lawful for them to do such acts a statute appears to use the language of mere permission but it has been so often decided as to have become an axiom that in such cases such expressions may have to say the least compulsory force and so would seem to be modified by judicial exposition
 This is an instance where on the existence of the condition precedent the grant of money or pension becomes obligatory on the Government notwithstanding that in section 52 the Government has been given the power to pass such orders as it deems fit and in sub section
3 the word may is used
The word may is often read as shall or must when there is something in the nature of the thing to be done which makes it the duty of the person on whom the power is conferred to exercise the power
Section 5 2 is discretionary because it takes into account all cases which may be brought before the Government of persons claiming to be adversely affected by the provisions of section 3 of the Act
Many such persons may have no claims at although they may in a general way be said to have been adversely affected by section 3
If the power was to be discretionary in every case there was no need to enact further than sub section
The reason why two sub sections were enacted is not far to seek
That Government may have to select some for consideration under sub section
3 and some under section 7 and may have to dismiss the claims of some others requires the conferment of a discretion and sub section
2 does no more than to give that discretion to Government and the word may in that subsection bears its ordinary meaning
The word may in sub section
3 ha  however a different purport
Under that sub section Government must if it is satisfied that an institution or service must be continued or that there is a descendant of a former ruling chief grant money or pension to the institution or service or to the descendant of the former ruling chief as the case may be
Of course it need not make a grant if the person claiming is not a descendant of a former ruling chief or there is other reasonable ground not to grant money or pension
But except in those cases where there are good grounds for not granting the pension Government is bound to make a grant to those who fulfill the required condition and the word may in the third sub section though apparently discretionary has to be read as must
File 685 High Court was in error in thinking that the third sub section also like the second conferred an absolute discretion
The next question is whether Government was justified in making the order of April 26 1955  That order gives no reasons at all
The Act lays upon the Government a duty which obviously must be performed in a judicial manner
The appellants do not seem to have been heard at all
The Act bars a suit and there is all the more reason that Government must deal with such case in a quasi judicial manner giving an opportunity to the claimants to state their case in the light of the report of the Deputy Commissioner
The appellants were also entitled to know the reason why their claim for the grant of money or a pension was rejected by Government and how they were considered as not falling within the class of persons who it was clearly intended by the Act to be compensated in this manner
Even in those cases where the order of the Government is based upon confidential material this Court has insisted that reasons should appear when Government performs curial or quasi judicial functions see Messrs Hari Nagar Sugar Mills Ltd vs Shyam Sunder Jhunjhunwala  Others1
The High Court did not go into any other question at all because it rejected the petition at the threshold on its interpretation of section 53
That interpretation has been found by us to be erroneous and the order of the High Court must be set aside
As the order of Government does not fulfil the elementary requirements of a quasi judicial process we do not consider it necessary to order a remit to the High Court
The order of the State Government must be set aside and the Government directed to dispose of the case in the light of our remarks and we order accordingly
The respondents shall pay the costs of the appellants in this Court and the High Court
Appeal allowed


Summary:
The appellants who were descendants of a former ruling chief and had lost their exemption from land revenue as a result of the operation of section 3 of the CP  Berar Revocation of Land Revenue Exemptions Act 1948 applied for a pension or money grant under the provisions of section 5 of the Act
their petition was rejected by the State Government without reasons being recorded
They filed a writ petition under article 226 but the High Court held that the granting of a pension was completely within the discretion of the Government and the petition was therefore incompetent
In appeal before the Supreme Court the appellants contended that rejection of their petition without any reasons being given amounted to no decision at all and that once the conditions for the grant of a pension were satisfied it was obligatory on the State Government to make a grant of money or pension
On behalf of the State Government reliance was placed on the words of section 52 that after enquiry in respect of the applications the Government may pass such orders as it deems fit  and the directory word may  used in section 53 itself
HELD i Sub section 2 and 3 of section 5 must be considered separately
Under sub section
2 all the applications for grant of money or pensionhad to be considered and Government could deal with them in several ways
Notwithstanding its apparent discretion section 52 only enabled Government to pass orders as fit the occasion
683 E H
In sub section
3 special classes namely religious and charitable institutions etc
and descendants of ruling chiefs had to be dealt with and therefore the discretion stood modified
The rules highlighted the distinction between the two sub sections because they provided for special enquiries in cases falling under sub section
3 683 A D
Enabling provisions sometimes acquire a compulsory force and in the present instance on the existence of the condition precedent the grant of money or pension became obligatory on the Government notwithstanding that in sub section
2 the Government had power to pass such orders as it thought fit and in sub section
3 the word may  was used
Except in those cases where there were good grounds for not granting the pension Government was bound to make a grant to those who fulfilled the desired conditions and the word may  in the third sub section though apparently discretionary had to be read as must 
684 B H
Maxwell on Interpretation of Statutes referred to
iiIn passing orders on the appellants  application Government had to act in a quasi judicial manner
The appellants had to be given an 679 opportunity to state their case and were also entitled to know why their claim had been rejected
685 B D
Ms Hari Nagar Sugar Mills Ltd vs Shyam Sundar Jhunjhunwala and Others   referred to
Order of the State Government set aside