Case: The State Of Bombay Vs. Fakir Umar Dhanse

holding under or through an occupant who shall without the occupants consent use any such land for any such purpose and thereby render the said occupant liable to the penalties aforesaid, shall be responsible to the said occupant in damages." It has been found that the respondent erected several structures without obtaining the prior permission of the Collector and he was liable to be evicted, and therefore the order passed by the Collector directing the eviction of the respondent was legal and intra vires. Under S. 65 an occupant of land held for the purpose of agriculture may erect farm buildings, construct wells or tanks or make other improvements for the better cultivation of the land or for its more convenient use for the purpose of agriculture but he cannot alter the user to non-agricultural purposes except with the permission of the Revenue authorities. This shows that any user unconnected with agriculture is unlawful and under S. 66 therefore any such altered user entitles the Revenue authorities to summarily evict the occupant from the land and certain other consequences follow. Therefore on a true construction of Ss. 65 and 66 an occupant is only entitled to the use and occupation of unalienated land subject to the limitation above mentioned and if he is once evicted under the provisions of S. 66 of the Code the right of user and occupation cannot be exercised by him. 5. Section 202 of the Code lays down the procedure for evicting any person unlawfully in possession of the land and provide as follows:S. 202. "Whenever it is provided by this, or by any other Act for the time being in force, that the Collector may or shall evict and person wrongfully in possession of land, such eviction shall be made in the following manner, viz.,: by serving a notice on the person or persons in possession requiring them within such time as may appear reasonable after receipt of the said notice to vacate the land, ......... ... ... .... .......... ......... ....... ..... " This section therefore shows that eviction requires vacation of the land and vacation does not mean that anything done upon the land which was unauthorised is to be allowed to remain and only the person responsible for doing the unlawful act is to be removed from the land. That the words "eviction" and "vacation" do not mean mere physical removal of the occupant is clear from the very nature of the right which the respondent in the present case had. His right was confined to the use and occupation of the land for the purpose for which he held it from Government, i.e., for agricultural purposes and when he is evicted and is asked to vacate the land, it must mean that his rights come to an end. For the purpose of vacation it is necessary that any unauthorised construction put up must also be removed otherwise there cannot be any vacation of the land nor can the land be put to effective use for the purpose for which agricultural lands are normally accepted to be used.It is not necessary to hold in this case as to whether on eviction the occupant also loses his right to the materials of the super-structure but it would be a misinterpretation of the words "eviction" and "vacation" of the land if it were held that although the occupant is evicted the structures erected by him cannot be removed and if the Government tries to restore the land to the original purpose for which it was granted then it will do so only on the pain of being mulcted in damages.It is, in our opinion, not necessary to have any specific power to have the land vacated of all unauthorised super-structures; the power to remove them is incidental and ancillary to the power to evict and to get the land vacated.It appears to us that the nature of the right of occupancy and the limitation placed upon it by the provisions of the Code contained in Ss. 40 and 41 by which the right to certain trees on unalienated land is reserved to the State; in Ss. 65 and 66 which have been quoted above and Ss. 68 and 69 which provide that an occupant is entitled to the use and occupation of the land for the period to which his tenure is limited shows that the true effect of eviction is the physical removal of the occupant from the land with all the consequences, i.e., demolition of all unauthorised super-structures. The High Court relied upon the difference in the language used in Ss. 61 and 66 of the Code and to the amendment made in the former section in 1919 by which the words "or to summary removal" were added in S. 61 and the relevant portion of the section now reads as under:-S. 61. "The person unauthorisedly occupying any such land may be summarily evicted by the Collector, and any crop raised in the land shall be liable to forfeiture, and any building, or other construction erected thereon shall also, if not removed by him after such written notice as the Collector may deem reasonable, be liable to forfeiture or to summary removal." From the addition of these words it was sought to be argued that these words were added to authorise the Collector to remove any building or other construction put up on that land by a person in unauthorised occupation and it was argued that those words were specifically added for the purpose. It is wholly unnecessary for us to go into the question as to why that particular power was given to the Collector. In this case we are concerned with the meaning of the word "eviction" as used in S. 66 and in our opinion the meaning of those words is that on eviction land has to be restored to the original position so as to be used for the purpose for which it was given to occupant.

Decision (1 = appeal accepted, 0 = rejected): 1

Explanation:
1[ds]4. There is no dispute in this appeal as to the order of evictionIt has been found that the respondent erected several structures without obtaining the prior permission of the Collector and he was liable to be evicted, and therefore the order passed by the Collector directing the eviction of the respondent was legal and intra vires. Under S. 65 an occupant of land held for the purpose of agriculture may erect farm buildings, construct wells or tanks or make other improvements for the better cultivation of the land or for its more convenient use for the purpose of agriculture but he cannot alter the user to non-agricultural purposes except with the permission of the Revenue authorities. This shows that any user unconnected with agriculture is unlawful and under S. 66 therefore any such altered user entitles the Revenue authorities to summarily evict the occupant from the land and certain other consequences follow. Therefore on a true construction of Ss. 65 and 66 an occupant is only entitled to the use and occupation of unalienated land subject to the limitation above mentioned and if he is once evicted under the provisions of S. 66 of the Code the right of user and occupation cannot be exercised by himThis section therefore shows that eviction requires vacation of the land and vacation does not mean that anything done upon the land which was unauthorised is to be allowed to remain and only the person responsible for doing the unlawful act is to be removed from the land. That the words "eviction" and "vacation" do not mean mere physical removal of the occupant is clear from the very nature of the right which the respondent in the present case had. His right was confined to the use and occupation of the land for the purpose for which he held it from Government, i.e., for agricultural purposes and when he is evicted and is asked to vacate the land, it must mean that his rights come to an end. For the purpose of vacation it is necessary that any unauthorised construction put up must also be removed otherwise there cannot be any vacation of the land nor can the land be put to effective use for the purpose for which agricultural lands are normally accepted to be used.It is not necessary to hold in this case as to whether on eviction the occupant also loses his right to the materials of the super-structure but it would be a misinterpretation of the words "eviction" and "vacation" of the land if it were held that although the occupant is evicted the structures erected by him cannot be removed and if the Government tries to restore the land to the original purpose for which it was granted then it will do so only on the pain of being mulcted in damages.It is, in our opinion, not necessary to have any specific power to have the land vacated of all unauthorised super-structures; the power to remove them is incidental and ancillary to the power to evict and to get the land vacated.It appears to us that the nature of the right of occupancy and the limitation placed upon it by the provisions of the Code contained in Ss. 40 and 41 by which the right to certain trees on unalienated land is reserved to the State; in Ss. 65 and 66 which have been quoted above and Ss. 68 and 69 which provide that an occupant is entitled to the use and occupation of the land for the period to which his tenure is limited shows that the true effect of eviction is the physical removal of the occupant from the land with all the consequences, i.e., demolition of all unauthorised super-structuresIt is wholly unnecessary for us to go into the question as to why that particular power was given to the Collector. In this case we are concerned with the meaning of the word "eviction" as used in S. 66 and in our opinion the meaning of those words is that on eviction land has to be restored to the original position so as to be used for the purpose for which it was given to occupant.