Appeal No 541 of 1963
Appeal by special leave from the order dated August 23 1961 of the Punjab High Court in Civil Misc
No 120 of 1961
Bhagwani Lal E C Agarwala and P C Agarwalla for the appellant
Deepak Dutt Chaudhry and B R G K Achar for respondents Nos 1 to 3
Janardhan Sharma for respondent No 4
The Judgment of SUBBA RAO and BACHAWAT JJ was delivered by BACHAWAT J MUDHOLKAR J delivered a separate but con curring Judgment
Bachawat J
The appellant is a displaced person to whom 105 ordinary acres of land equivalent to 42 standard acres 11 units in village Jamalpur Tehsil Hansi District Hissar were allotted by the Custodian on October 5 1949 under the conditions published in the Notification of the East Punjab Government No 4892S dated July 8 1949
The Punjab Security of Land Tenures Act 1953 Punjab Act No 10 of 1953 hereinafter 513 referred to as the Act came into force on April 5 1953
On that date the aforesaid land was equivalent to 42 standard acres II units and having regard to proviso ii b to section 2 3 of the Act was permissible area in relation to the appellant and as the appellant did not own any other land in the State of Punjab he was a shall landowner within the meaning of section 22 of the Act
On October 22 1955 as a result of consolidation proceedings the appellant was granted 10145 ordinary acres of land in exchange for the land originally allotted to him in 1949
Respondent No 4 is a tenant of the appellant in respect of a portion of this land
On February 20 1958 the appellant filed an application before the Assistant Collector 1st Grade Hissar for ejectment of respondent No 4 under section 9 1 i of the Act on the ground that he is a tenant of the appellant who is a small landowner
On that date the aforesaid 10145 acres of land owned by the appellant was equivalent to more than 50 standard acres
On February 17 1960 the Assistant Collector dismissed the application
He held that the appellant was a big landowner because on the date of the application the land owned by him was equivalent to more than 50 standard acres
On appeal on May 2 1960 the Collector of Hissar set aside the aforesaid order and allowed the application for ejectment
He held that the appellant was a small landowner as he was a displaced person and an allotted of less than 50 standard acres
On August 30 1960 the Commissioner Ambala Division dismissed a second appeal and on January 2 1961 the Financial Commissioner dismissed a revision petition filed by respondent No 4
Following his previous ruling in Pat Ram vs Milawa Ram1 and Har Chand Singh vs The Punjab State2 the Financial Commissioner held that the status of the appellant must be determined on the date of the commencement of the Act and subsequent accretions to his holding arising out of consolidation of holdings and improvements due to good husbandry or advent of irrigation should be ignored
On August 22 1961 the Punjab High Court allowed a petition preferred by respondent No 4 under article 227 of the Constitution of India and set aside the orders of the Collector the Commissioner and the Financial Commissioner
The High Court held that the status of the appellant must be determined by evaluating his land in terms of standard acres on the date of the application for ejectment
The appellant now appeals to this Court by special leave
1 1961 40 Lahore Law Times P 28
2 1961 40 Lahore Law Times p 9 5 14 The question is whether the appellant is asmall landowner within the meaning of section 9 1 i of the Act
On a combined reading of sections 2 3 4 5 5A 5B 5C 10A19A and 19D the scheme of the Act appears to be as follows  The entire land held by the landowner in the State of Punjab on the date of the commencement of the Act must be evaluated as on that date and the status of the landowner and his surplus area if any must be then ascertained
If he is then found to be a small landowner he continues to be so for the purpose of the Act until he acquires more land and on taking into account the value of the land in terms of standard acres on the date of the acquisition he is found to be a big landowner
The landowner is required to make the necessary reservations or selections and to give the necessary declarations so that his status and the surplus area if any held by him may be so determined
If he is a small landowner at the commencement of the Act his status is not altered by reason of improvements in the value of his land or re allotment of land on compulsory consolidation of holdings
In an unreported decision in Surja vs Financial Commissioner of Punjab and others1 the Punjab High Court held that the status of the landowner for the purposes of an application under section 14A of the Act should be determined by evaluating his land on the date of the application
On the basis of this ruling the improvements in the land subsequent to the commencement of the Act could not be ignored but the legislature considered that this decision had the effect of defeating the purpose of the Act
It is well known that with a view to get rid of this decision the legislature inserted section 19 Fb in the Act by the Punjab Security of Land Tenures Amendment and Validation Act 1962 Punjab Act No 14 of 1962
The object of this amendment will appear from the following passage in the statements of Objects and Reasons published in the Punjab Gazette Extr dated April 27 1962  Some of the recent judicial pronouncements have the effect of defeating the objectives with which the Punjab Security of Land Tenures Act 1953 was enacted and amended from time to time
Under the scheme of the parent Act a specific period was allowed for filing of reservations by the landowners the object of which was to find out whether a person was a small landowner or not
Once that was found the intention was that such a person should continue to be treated as 1 Civil Writ No 486 or 1961
515 such for the purposes of the Act so long as he did not acquire more lands
In other words his status was not to be altered on account of improvements made on the land or reallotment of land during consolidation
However the High Court took a different view in Civil Writ No 486 of 1961 Surja versus Financial Com missioner Punjab and others 
Accordingly clauses 3 6 and 7 of the Bill seek to neutralise the effect of the aforesaid decisions
 Clause 7 of the Bill related to sections 19 E and 19 F The amending Act of 1962 was passed on July 4 1962 during the pendency of the appeal in this Court
Section 19 F is retrospective in operation and is deemed to have come into force on April 15 1953
Section 19 Fb reads  19 F
For the removal of doubts it is hereby declared bthat for evaluating the land of any person at any time under this Act the land owned by him immediately before the commencement of this Act or the land acquired by him after such commencement by inheritance or by bequest or gift from a person to whom he is an heir shall always be evaluated for converting into standard acres as if the evaluation was being made on the date of such commencement and that the land acquired by him after such commencement in any manner shall always be evaluated for converting into standard acres as if the evaluation was being made on the date of such acquisition
 On a reading of section 19 Fb it would appear that for the purpose of determining the status of the landowner and evaluating his land at any time under the Act the land owned by him immediately before the commencement of the Act must always be evaluated in terms of standard acres as if the evaluation was being made on the date of such commencement
It is not disputed that if the land held by the appellant immediately before the commencement of the Act is so evaluated the appellant would be a small landowner
There is no scope for evaluating the subsequent improvements in the land due to consolidation operations or otherwise
The appellant did not acquire any land after the commencement of the Act
His status as a small landowner was not altered by reason of subsequent improvements or 516 re allotments of land on compulsory consolidation of holdings
On the date of the application for eviction he therefore continued to be a small landowner
The High Court was in error in holding that the status of the appellant should be determined by evaluating his land in terms of standard acres on the date of the application for eviction
In the result the appeal is allowed
We set aside the order of the High Court and restore that of the Financial Commissioner upholding the orders of the Commissioner and the Collector
We direct that costs throughout will be borne by the parties as incurred
Mudholkar J This is an appeal by special leave from a judgment of the High Court of Punjab allowing a writ petition under article 227 of the Constitution and setting aside orders of the Collector the Commissioner and the Financial Commissioner made under certain provisions of the Punjab Security of Land Tenures Act 1953 hereafter referred to as the Act
The relevant facts are briefly these  The appellant Bhagwandas is a displaced person from West Pakistan
He owned 74 standard acres 133 4 units of agricultural land in certain villages in West Pakistan
On October 5 1949 he was allotted 42 standard acres and 11 units of land in the village Jamalpur Tehsil Hansi District Hissar
Subsequently proceedings for consolidation of holdings were taken under the East Punjab Holdings Consolidation and Prevention of Fragmentation Act 1948 Act 50 of 1948
After those proceedings were finalised the appellant was granted an equivalent area of land in the same village as described in a sanad granted by the President on October 22 1955 in exchange for the land earlier granted to him
Under the sanad the appellant was granted proprietary rights in the land
On February 20 1958 the appellant claiming to be a small holder made an application under section 14 Ai of the Punjab Security of Land Tenures Act 1953 before the Assistant Collector I Grade Hissar for the ejectment of respondent No 4 who was a tenant of the land
In his application the appellant alleged that as he held less than 50 standard acres of land he was a small land owner and as such had the right to evict the tenant and instead cultivate the land himself
The application was rejected by the Assistant Collector
Unfortunately neither party has placed the order of the Assistant Collector on the record of this appeal
It is however common ground that the reason for rejecting the application was that the Assistant Collector found that because of certain improvements the income from the lands 5 17 had risen considerably and that consequently the standard acreage of this land had risen from 42 standard acres to a standard acreage above 50 standard acres and that the appellant s application was therefore untenable under section 14 A
In an appeal preferred by the appellant the Collector Hissar held by his order dated May 2 1960 that since the appellant was allotted only 42 standard acres and 11 units he is entitled to be treated as a small owner of the land and since the tenant had more than 5 standard acres under his cultivation in addition to the appellants land he was liable to be ejected from the land belonging to the appellant which was in his possession
The Collectors order was upheld by the Commissioner Ambala Division by his order dated August 30 1960
The tenant moved the Financial Commissioner Punjab in revision against the order of the Commissioner but without success
He then preferred a writ petition before the High Court which as already stated was granted
According to the High Court the status of a landlord had to be ascertained as existing on the date of the application under section 14 A of the Act and not on the date of the allotment
Further according to the High Court what is permissible area available to a landlord under the Act has allow to be determined as obtaining on the date of the application for eviction made by the landlord
In coming to the conclusion the High Court followed a judgment of section B Capoor J in a similar matter
In order to appreciate the contentions urged before us on behalf of the par ties it is necessary to refer to certain provisions of the Act
At the outset I must point out that the object of the Act was to provide to the tenants a security against ejectment by the landlords except for a just cause
The Act has however drawn a distinction between small land owner and a large land owner
Sub section 2 of section 2 of the Act defines small land
owner to mean one whose entire land in the State of Punjab does not exceed the permissible area
Now sub section
3 of section 2 defines permissible area
This definition draws a distinction between a land owner who is not a displaced person and one who is a displaced person
In so far as the former is concerned the permissible area is 30 standard acres
In so far as the latter is concerned the second proviso to sub section
3 enacts Provided that ii for a displaced person a who has allotted land in excess of fifty standard acres the permissible area shall be fifty standard ip
Cl66 3 518 acres or one hundred ordinary acres as the case may be
b who has been allotted land in excess of thirty standard acres but less than fifty standard acres the permissible area shall be equal to his allotted area
c who has been allotted land less than thirty standard acres the permissible area shall be thirty standard acres including any other land or part thereof if any that he owns in addition
Explanation  For the purposes of determining the permissible area of a displaced person the provisions of proviso ii shall not apply to the heirs and successors of the displaced person to whom land is allotted
 The expression standard acre  is defined thus in sub section
5 of section 2 Standard acre means a measure of area convertible into ordinary acres of any class of land according to the prescribed scale with reference to the quantity of yield and quality of soil
 If a land owner is in possession of land in excess of the permissible area he is required to follow a certain procedure for indicating which particular land he wants to be treated as reserved area
Land in excess of that area is treated surplus area
The former expression means the area lawfully reserved under the Punjab Tenants Security of Tenures Act 1950 while the latter expression is defined in sub section
5 A of the Act
It is not necessary to set out this definition for the purpose of the discussion of the question before us
Under section 27 of the Act rules have been framed for carrying out the purpose of the Act
There are two sets of rules one is the Security of Land Tenures Rules 1953 and the other is Punjab Security of Land Tenures Rules 1956
The latter are supplementary to the rules of 1953
Rule 2 of the Rules of 1953 which is the relevant rule is as follows  Conversion of ordinary acres into standard acres
The equivalent in standard acres of one ordinary acre of any class of land in any assessment circle shall be determined by dividing by 16 the valuation shown in Annexure A  to these rules for such class of land in the said assessment circle 519 Provided that the valuation shall be a in the case of Banjar Qadim land one half of the value of the class previously described in the records and in the absence of any specific class being stated one half of the value of the lowest barani land b in the case of Banjar Jadid land seventh eighth of the value of the revelant class of land as previously entered in the records or in the absence of specified class in the records of the lowest barani land and c in the case of cultivated that land subject to waterlogging one eighth of the value of the class of land shown in the records or in the absence of any class of the lowest barani land
In the table Annexure A land is classified under four heads which are Irrigated nehri Irrigated Chahi Irrigated and Sailab
Irrigated nehri is further classified as perennial and non perennial
In Col 3 is given the valuation for irrigated nehri land
For Hansi tehsil valuation of the land which is perennially irrigated by canals is given as 16 which means 16 annasing the rupee per acre and of non perennial as 10 annas in the rupee per acre
The valuation for irrigated chahi land in the entire tehsil is 10 annas in the rupee per acre and of un irrigated land as 5 annas in the rupee per acre
There is no valuation for sailab land which apparently means there is no land of this category in the tehsil
From Table A it would appear that land which falls under one classification at the time of allotment or at the time of coming into force of the Act may well fall under some other head later on because the quantity of yield is liable to vary
For instance if irrigation facilities come to be provided in land which is unirrigated at the time of coming into force of the Act or making the allotment the land may receive the benefit of irrigation later either perennially or non perennially and its yield therefrom may accordingly increase
Provisions relating to the valuation of lands under the Act are to be found in section 19F thereof which reads thus  For the removal of doubts it is hereby declared a that the State Government or any officer empowered in this behalf shall be competent and 520 shall be deemed always to have been competent to determine in the prescribed manner the sur plus area referred to in section 10 A of a landowner out of the lands owned by such land owner immediately before the commencement of this Act and b that for evaluating the land of any person at any time under this Act the land owned by him immediately before the commencement of this Act or the land acquired by him after such commencement by inheritance or by bequest or gift from a person to whom he is an heir shall always be evaluated for converting into standard acres as if the evaluation was being made on the date of such commencement and that the land acquired by him after such commencement in any other manner shall always be evaluated for converting into standard acres as if the evaluation was being made on the date of such acquisition
 Now surplus area would fall to be determined only where the land owner is in possession of land in excess of the permissible area
I have already given the definition of permissible area
Where as here the landlord is a displaced person and the land allotted to him is less than 50 acres the permissible area so far as he is concerned would be the area actually allotted to him
In the case of the appellant it would thus be 42 standard acres and II units
Out of this he alleges that he has sold 18 standard acres
As however no argument was advanced before us on this basis I leave this circumstance out of account and proceed on the footing that the appellant is in possession not of an area less than the permissible
area but of an area equal to the permissible area
Surplus area means an area other than the reserved area and where no area is reserved the area in excess of the permissible area
Where there is no reserved area or where the area hold by a person is not in excess of the permissible area the provisions of section 4 which deal with the reservation of area or those of sections 5 A to 5C which deal with selection of permissible area or those of section 10 A which deal with the utilization of surplus area are not attracted
Therefore the provisions of section 19Fa which are attracted to a case falling under section 10 A will a so not apply
Moreover the provisions of section 10 A have no bearing on 521 a case like the one before us
For they contemplate the ascertainment of surplus area held immediately before the commencement of the Act
Obviously therefore the determination must refer to the classification of the land at that time
Apart from that the appellant does not possess any surplus area since what is in his possession is merely the permissible area
The question of utilization of any surplus area cannot thus arise in his case
That being so no question can arise of evaluating his lands afresh
Indeed fresh evaluation at any time is permissible only under section 19 Fb but that provision deals with only special types of cases
It may be mentioned that sections 5 A to 5 C which deal with the selection of permissible area do not contemplate a case where the classification of land held by the landlord has undergone a change because of rise in the yield therefrom and the standard acreage of the land in his possession could be said to have increased
Section 19 A of the Act specifically prohibits the future acquisition by the landlord of land by transfer exchange lease agreement or settlement any land which with or without the land already held by him exceeds the permissible area
Similarly the Act has made specific provisions to deal with a case of augmen tation to the land held by the landlord subsequent to the commencement of the Act by inheritance bequest or gift
These are to be found in section 19 B
What is to be done in a case of that type is provided for by section 19 Fb
The power to evaluate land conferred by this provision is exerciseable at any time  but obviously that power is exerciseable only in the context of the circumstances set out therein that is to say where the landlord obtains land after the commencement of the Act by inheritance bequestor gift and in no other circumstance
It would therefore seem that where the provisions of section 19F are not attracted the Revenue Assistant before whom an application under section 14 A for ejectment of a tenant is made by a landlord is not entitled to evaluate the land of the landlord afresh for ascertaining whether he is in possession of land in excess of the permissible area
Elaborate rules have been framed under the Act and elaborate provisions are also contained in the Act with a view to extend its protection as far as possible to tenants cultivating land
The omission therefore to make any provision as to what has to be done if as a result of improvements made by the landlord or by reason of the rise in the yield of the land through other causes would point only to one conclusion and that is that this circumstance is not to be taken into account for evaluating the land afresh and re calculating the standard acreage
If that is so then it would follow that the High Court and the Assistant Commissioner were in error whereas 522 the Collector Commissioner and the Financial Commissioner were right in deciding this case
For these reasons I set aside the order of the High Court and restore that of the Financial Commissioner upholding the orders of the Commissioner and the Collector
In the particular circumstances of the case 1 however direct that costs throughout will be borne by the parties as incurred
Appeal allowed


Summary:
The appellant was a displaced person from West Pakistan
In 1949 he was allotted 42 standard acres and 11 units of land which were later consolidated
In 1958 claiming to be a small holder he made an application under section 14 A1 of the Punjab Security of Land Tenures Act 1953 before the Assistant Collector for the ejectment of respondent No 4 who was a tenant of the land
The Assistant Collector rejected application on the ground that because of improvements the income from the lands had risen considerably and consequently the land had become equivalent to more than 50 standard acres and therefore the applica tion was untenable under section 14 A
In appeal the Collector held that since the appellant was allotted only 42 standard acres and 11 units he was entitled to be treated as a small land holder
The Collector s order was upheld by the Commissioner and by the Financial Commissioner
The tenant thereupon filed a writ petition before the High Court
According to the High Court the status of a landlord had to be ascertained as existing on the date of the application under section 14 A of the Act and not on the date of the allotment
Farther according to the High Court what is permissible area  available to a landlord under the Act had also to be determined as obtaining on the date of the application for eviction made by the landlord
On this view the High Court allowed the tenant s writ petition
In appeal by special leave to this Court HELD Under the provisions of the Act the entire land held by the landowner in the State of Punjab on the date of the commencement of the Act must be evaluated as on that date and the status of the landowner and his surplus area must then be ascertained
If he is then found to be a small landowner he continues to be so for the purpose of the Act until he acquires more land and on taking into account the value of the land in terms of standard acres on the date of the acquisition he is found to be a big landowner
The landowner is required to make the necessary reservations or selections and to give the necessary declarations so that his status and the surplus area if any held by him may be so determined
If he is a small landowner at the commencement of the Act his status is not altered by reason of improvements in the value of his land or re allotment of land on compulsory consolidation of holdings
section 19 Fb which was introduced into the Act during the pendency of the appeal clarified the position to the same effect
514 B D 515 F The appellant did not acquire any land after the commencement of the Act
His status as a small landowner was not altered by reason of subsequent improvements or re allotments of land on compulsory consolidation of holdings
On the date of the application he therefore continued to be a small landowner
The High Court was in error in holding that the status of the appellant should be determined by evaluating his 5 12 land in terms of standard acres on the dates of the application for eviction
515 H 516 A B Per Mudholkar J  Provisions relating to the valuation of lands under the Act are to be found in section 19 Fa and 19Fb
The former did not apply to the present case as it applies only to the ascertainment of surplus area  held by a landowner at the commencement of the Act the appellant held only permissible area  and no surplus are at all
Under section 19 Fb fresh evaluation of land can take place at any time but the power under that section is exercisable only in the context of special circumstances that is to say where the landlord owns land after the commencement of the Act by inheritance bequest or gift
These special circumstances did not exist in the present case
519 H 520 H 521 B D When the provisions of section 19F are thus not attracted the Revenue Assistant before whom an application under section 14 A for ejectment of a tenant is made by a landlord is not entitled to evaluate the land of the landlord afresh for ascertaining whether he is in possession of land in excess of the permissible area
521 F Elaborate rules have been framed under the Act and elaborate provisions are also contained in the Act with a view to extend its protection as far as possible to tenants cultivating land
The omission therefore to make any provision as to what has to be done if as a result of improvements made by the landlord or by reason of the rise in the yield of the land through other causes would point only to one conclusion and that is that this circumstance is not to be taken into account for evaluating the land afresh and recalculating the standard acreage
521 G H It would follow that the High Court was in error and its order must be set aside