Appeal No 49 of 1965
Appeal by special leave from the order dated January 14 1964 of the Punjab High Court in Letters Patent No 11 of 1964
section Y Gupte Solicitor General and Naunit Lal for the appellant
Hardev Singh section P Nayar for R N Sachthey for the res pondents
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by Shah J
The appellant Vidya Vati who is the owner of 5610 14 standard acres of agricultural land in the village Bishanpura tahsil Jind District Sangrur in the State of Punjab was ousted from the land sometime in 1954 by certain persons who had no tide to the land
A civil suit filed by her for it declaration of titleand for possession of the land from the trespassers was decreed and she was restored to possession of the land on October 15 1960
The Pepsu Tenancy and Agricultural Lands Act 13 of 1955 was brought into force during the pendency of the civil suit with effect from March 4 1955
Under section 5 of the Pepsu Act 13 of 1955 every landowner owning land exceeding thirty standard acres was entitled to select for personal cultivation from the land held by him in the State as a landowner any parcel or parcels of land not exceeding in aggregate area the permissible limit and reserve such land for personal cultivation by intimating his selection in the prescribed form and manner to the Collector
Since the land was in the occupation of the trespassers the appellant 648 did not make any selection of land for personal cultivation
The Act was amended with effect from October 30 1956 by the Pepsu Tenancy and Agricultural Lands Second Amendment Act 15 of 1956 and thereby amongst other provisions Ch
IV A was added
The provisions contained in that Chapter were designed to impose a ceiling on the holding of owners and tenants of agricultural land held for personal cultivation within the State and for imposing restrictions on acquisition of land and disposal of surplus  area
In respect of the land owned by her the appellant submitted a return in Form VII A prescribed under the Rules framed under the Act
The Collector of the District after considering the objections of the appellant declared that she held 2114 34 standard acres in excess of the ceiling prescribed by the Act
The order of the Collector was confirmed in appeal to the Commissioner Patiala Division
A petition moved by the appellant under articles 226  227 of the Constitution for the issue of a writ quashing that order was rejected by Gurdev Singh J and an appeal against the order was summarily dismissed by a Division Bench of the High Court
The appellant appeals to this Court with special leave
Counsel for the appellant contends that the provisions of Ch
IV A have no application to the case of the appellant since she was not in cultivatory possessions of the land on the appointed date ie October 30 1956 that the appellant has not acquired the land by transfer exchange lease agreement or settlement or by inheritance bequest or gift front a person to whom she is an heir and on that account sections 32 L  32 M of the Act have no application to her case and that in any event the appellant should have been permitted to reserve out of her holding ten acres of land for an orchard under section 32 K of the Act
Before considering the merit of these contentions it is necessary to notice the relevant provisions in Ch
IV A of the Act which imposed a ceiling on holding of agricultural land under personal cultivation
Section 32 A1 of the Act provides Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in any law custom usage or agreement no person shall be entitled to own or hold as landowner or tenant land under his presonal cultivation within the State which exceeds in the aggregate the permissible limit
 Counsel for the appellant contends that section 32 A1 operates only at the point of time when the Act comes into force ie October 30 1956 and not thereafter
If on that date says counsel a person owns or holds within the State land under his personal cultivation as landowner or tenant in excess  of the permissible limit the State is entitled to take away the surplus land and that if the holder or tenant after the commencement of Act 15 of 1956 acquires or possesses land by transfer exchange lease agreement 649 or settlement or acquires it by inheritance bequest or gift from a person to whom he is an heir and his total holding exceeds the permissible limit by express provisions contained in sections 32 L and 32 M the ceiling on holding will be enforced but where an owner of land for whatever reasons brings under cultivation land of his ownership
after the commencement of the Act the provision imposing a ceiling does not operate
The entire argument is raised on an assumption that section 32A1 operates only at the date on which the Act was brought into operation that argument in our judgment is contrary to the plain terms of section 32 A1
It is true that sections 32 L and 32 M expressly deal with certain classes of acquisitions after the date of the commencement of the Act but on that account no restriction may be imposed upon the connotation of the expression no person shall be entitled to own or hold occurring in section 32 A that it is limited in its operation to the point of commencement and has no operation in the future
It may be noticed that section 32 L renders all subsequent acquisitions as a result of which the holding of a person of land under his personal cultivation exceeds thirty acres null and void and section 32 M which deals substantially with involuntary acquisitions such as acquisitions by inheritance or bequest sets out the machinery for making declarations and the manner in which the land in personal cultivation in excess of the ceiling will be dealt with
By an appropriate drafting device it may have been possible to dovetail these provisions into the other sections but if in the interest of clarity certain specific cases are separately dealt with an intention to restrict the operation of the general provision contained in section 32 A1 cannot be implied
The scheme of Act 13 of 1955 as originally enacted was that by section 5 every landowner owning land exceeding thirty standard acres was required to select for personal cultivation from the land held by him as a landowner any parcel or parcels of land not exceeding in aggregate area the permissible limit and reserve such land for personal cultivation
The selection could be made in respect of land under personal occupation as well as in respect of land in the occupation of tenants
After making the selection the landowner could take appropriate steps to evict the tenants from that land
But in the land in the possession of the tenants and not included in the land selected and reserved under section 5 for personal cultivation the tenant of the land could acquire proprietary rights in the manner and subject to the conditions provided under section 22
This right was exercisable by the tenant in respect of land which was not selected for personal cultivation by the owner and in respect of which he was not liable to be evicted
The scheme of the Act therefore was that the landowner was entitled to select for personal cultivation from the land held by him within the State any parcel or parcels of land not exceeding in the aggregate the permissible limit
If the land so 650 selected was in the possession of a tenant he could
subject to the restrictions contained in section 7 A evict the tenant
The lands which were not selected for personal cultivation by the landowner could be purchased by the tenant in the manner and subject to the conditions provided in section 22
The Legislature thereafter modified the scheme of the Act and incorporated Ch
IV A under which no person could own or hold land either as landowner or as tenant in excess of the permissible limit
The excess was to be treated as surplus land and appropriated to the State
Whereas under the scheme of Chapters 11 III and IV as they originally stood the tenants were given the right to purchase the lands not selected by the landowner for personal cultivation but the landowner was otherwise subject to no further restrictions by Ch
 V A it was intended to place a ceiling upon the owning or holding of land for personal cultivation by a landowner or a tenant in excess of the permissible limit
Viewed in the light of that scheme also it is impossible to construe section 32 A as being operative only at the point of time at which the Amending Act incorporating Ch
IV A was brought into force for the words of the section contain no limitation and the scheme of the Act indicates no such implication
It is true that under section 32 B every person who owns or holds as landowner or tenant land under his personal cultivation exceeding the permissible limit at the commencement of the Act is required to make a return in respect of his holding
But that is enacted with a view to provide machinery for effectuating the provisions imposing the ceiling on land held at the date of commencement it does not even indirectly suggest that section 32 A is limited in its operation to the point of time at which the Act is brought into force and is spent thereafter
Failure on the part of the Legislature to deal with cases in which it the date on which the Act was brought into force the owner or holder of land was not cultivating the land because he was not in cultivatory possession thereof but was restored to his possession during the subsistence of the Act cannot also be used to limit the operation of section 32 A1 only to the point of time at which the Act was brought into force
In our judgment the ban imposed by section 32 A operates whenever he is found to own or told land in personal cultivation exceeding the permissible limit
Section 32 K provides for exemption of lands used or intend ed to be used for certain specified purposes to the extent indicated from the ceiling imposed by section 32 A1
By cl
vi of section 32 K1 it is provided that the provisions of section 32 A shall not apply where a landowner gives an undertaking in writing to the Collector that he shall within a period of two years from the commencement of the Pepsu Tenancy and Agricultural Lands Second Amendment Act 1956 plant an orchard in any area of his land not exceeding ten standard acres such area of land
651 Sub section 2 of section 32 K provides that where a landowner has by an undertaking given to the Collector retained any area of land with him for planting an orchard and fails to plant the orchard within a period of two years referred to in cl
iv of sub section
1 the land so retained by him shall on the expiry of that period vest in the State Government under section 32 E
It is also provided by sub section
3 which was added by Punjab Act 27 of 1962 with retrospective effect from October 30 1956 that notwithstanding anything contained in the Act the exemption specified in cl
vi of sub section
1 shall not be allowed unless the land planted within the period specified therein is found to be an orchard also at the time of granting the exemption
In order to qualify for exemption from the ceiling to the extent of ten acres for the purpose of planting an orchard the landowner has to give an undertaking that he will bring the land within two years from the commencement of the Amending Act under an orchard and has to plant the orchard within that period and to maintain it as an orchard till the date of the grant of exemption
A person who is not in possession of the land at the date when the Amending Act is brought into force may not ordinarily be in a position to give an undertaking under cl
vi of section 32 K1 to bring the land under an orchard since such a person may not be able to say whether he will be able to obtain possession of the land so as to carry out the undertaking
The Legislature has failed to make a provision enabling reservation to be made by persons belonging to the ex ceptional class to which the appellant belongs
But on that account the Court is not competent to refuse to give effect to the plain words of the Act
A lacuna undoubtedly exists in the Act but it is for the Legislature to rectify it and not for the Courts to give a strained meaning to the words used by the Legislature which they do not bear
The expression within a period of two years from the commencement of the Pepsu Tenancy and Agricultural Lands Second Amendment Act 1956 cannot be read as within two years from the date on which the holder or tenant is restored to possession
The Legislature has not made any provision for extending the time in respect of certain special cases like the one before us or extending the time for planting an orchard
The High Court was therefore right in holding that the appellant could not claim an additional area of ten acres of land for planting an orchard
The appeal therefore fails
There will be no order as to costs


Summary:
The appellant was the owner of 56 standard acres of agricultural land in Punjab from which she was ousted in 1954 by certain persons who had no title to the land and was restored to possession in 1960 after a suit filed by her was decreed in her favour
The Pepsu Tenancy and Agricultural Lands Act 13 of 1955 was brought into force in March 1955
Under section 5 of that Act any land owner owning land exceeding 30 standard acres was entitled to select for personal cultivation a maximum area of land within the permissible limit and to inform the collector of his selection
Since the appellant s land was in the occupation of the trespassers at the time she did not make any selection under section 5
The Act was amended with effect from October 30 1956 by the Fast Punjab Act 15 of 1956 which introduced Chapter IV A and the new section 32 A1 provided that no person shall be entitled to hold land under his personal cultivation which exceeds in the aggregate the permissible limit
The appellant submitted a return in the prescribed form in respect of her land and the collector after considering her objections declared that she held 21 standard acres in excess of the ceiling prescribed by the Act
This order was confirmed in appeal by the Commissioner and a writ petition to quash the order was rejected by the High Court
In appeal to this Court it was contended on behalf of the appellant i that section 32 A1 operates only at the point of time when the Act comes into force ie October 30
1956 the ceiling could be enforced only if a person owned or held land in excess of the permissible limit on that day or if he acquired or possessed it after the commencement of Act 15 of 1956 by transfer exchange inheritance or any of the other ways expressly covered by sections 32 L and 32 M and ii the appellant should in any event have been permitted to reserve 10 acres out of her holding under section 32 K for an orchard
HELD Dismissing the appeal
i The ban imposed by section 32 A1 operates whenever a person is found to own or hold land in personal cultivation exceeding the permissible limit
650G Although sections 32 L and 32 M deal expressly with certain classes of acquisitions after the date of commencement of the Act
on that account no restriction can be imposed upon the connotation of the expression no person shall be entitled to own or held occurring in section 32 A that it is limited in its operation to the point of commencement of the Act
649B D 647 Such an interpretation is also contrary to the scheme of the Act
Under the scheme of Chapters II III and IV as they originally stood the tenants were given the right to purchase the lands not selected by the landowner for personal cultivation but the landowner was otherwise subject to no further restrictions by Ch
IV A it was in tended to place a ceiling upon the owning or holding of land for personal cultivation by a landowner or a tenant in excess of the permissible limit and to provide that the excess land be appropriated to the State
650B C ii In order to qualify for the exemption for land upto 10 acres under section 32 K for planting an orchard the landowner has to give an undertaking that he will bring the land within two years from the commencement of the Amending Act under an orchard has to plant the orchard within that period and to maintain it as such till the date of the grant of exemption
A person like the appellant who is not in possession of the land at the date when the Amending Act is brought into force may not be in a position to give and fulfill the undertaking
The legislature has not made any provision for extending the time in respect of special cases like the present or for extending the time for planting an orchard it is for the legislature to rectify this lacuna and not for the Court to give a strained meaning to the words used by the legislature which they do not bear
651C F