Case: Pandurang Dnyanoba Lad Vs. Dada Rama Methe &amp; Ors

The appellant owned a land, Survey No.72, at Shiroli in the district of Kolhapur. The land was held by the appellant for the performance of miscellaneous inferior services and was classified as a Huzur Sanadi Inam land. Respondents have been in possession of a portion of the land as tenants and were declared as purchasers under the Bombay Tenancy and Agricultural Lands Act, LXVII of 1948, (hereinafter called the Tenancy Act). Consequent upon the declaration, the Agricultural Lands Tribunal, Hatkanagale, fixed the price of the land under section 32G of the Tenancy Act. That decision was confirmed in appeal by the Special Deputy Collector, Kolhapur, and in revision by the Maharashtra Revenue Tribunal. The appellant filed a petition in the Bombay High Court under article 227 of the Constitution to challenge the decision of the Revenue Tribunal but that petition was dismissed summarily by a learned Single judge. This appeal by special leave is directed against the order of the High Court.

Reasoning: The merit of these contentions depends upon the validity of the basic that with the abolition of Inams which the Alienations Abolition act brought about, the relationship of landlord and tenant between the appellant and the respondents came to an end. We see no warrant for thisprovision contained in section 32G(6) of the Tenancy Act shows that nothing contained in the Alienations Abolition Act can affect the tenants right of purchase under section 32. Section 32G(6) provides that if any land is re-granted to the holder under the provisions of any of the Land Tenures Abolition Acts referred to in Schedule IlI of the Tenancy Act on condition that it was not transferable, such condition shall not be deemed to affect the right of any person holding the land on lease created before the re-grant and such person shall, as a tenant, be deemed to have purchased the land under section 32G as if the condition that it was not transferable was not the condition of re-grant. The Alienations Abolition Act is included in Schedule III of the Tenancy Act as item No. 21. Thus, even if the land, after the abolition of the Inam effected under the Alie nations Abolition Act, was re-granted to the appellant on condition that it was not transferable, such a condition cannot affect the right of the respondent to purchase the land under section 32 and 32G of the Tenancy Act. In other words, the statutory purchase of a land by a tenant under the provisions of the Tenancy Act is excepted from the restraint of non-transferability. It is undisputed that the respondents were holding the land on. a lease created before the occupancy rights were re-g ranted to the appellant on the abolition of the Inam. The questions raised before us on behalf of the appellant merited careful consideration and we would have been happy to have the benefit of a considered judgment by the High Court. But the Revenue Tribunal was right in its decision and so the summary dismissal of the Writ Petition by the High Court has not caused any failure of justice.