Case: BABU RAM Vs. SANTOKH SINGH (DECEASED) THROUGH HIS LRS

3. The facts leading to the filing of this appeal, in brief, are as under:       (a) Two brothers, namely, Santokh Singh and Nathu Ram , sons of Lajpat S/o Rupa inherited, among others, certain agricultural lands after the death of their father. According to Santokh Singh an arrangement was arrived at, in terms of which the brothers were to be in separate enjoyment of certain specified pieces of land. Since Nathu Ram was not interested in continuing with said arrangement he gave a legal notice to Santokh Singh and later executed a registered sale deed on 19.08.1991 in respect of his interest in the lands in favour of one Babu Ram4 S/o Kanshi Ram.      (b) Soon thereafter, Civil Suit No.194 of 1991 was filed by Santokh Singh in the Court of Senior Sub-Judge, Hamirpur praying for permanent prohibitory injunction and declaration. It was inter alia submitted that as a co-sharer, the Plaintiff had a preferential right to acquire the land which was sought to be transferred by Defendant No.1 in favour of Defendant No.2. The suit was contested and the trial court by its judgment and order dated 04.05.1994 dismissed said suit.      (c) The Plaintiff, being aggrieved filed Civil Appeal No.86 of 1994 in the Court of District Judge, Hamirpur, which appeal was partly allowed. The Appellate Court placed reliance on the decisions reported in AIR 2000 Madras 516 and AIR 1988 Orissa 285 and held that the Plaintiff had a preferential right under Section 22 of the Act to acquire the suit land measuring 19 kanals half of the entire land entered in Khata No.25 min, Khatoni No.29 min, Khasra No.1119 measuring 38 kanals 1 marla situated in Tika Badehra, Tappa Badohag, Tehsil Nadaun, District Hamirpur, (H.P.) on payment of sale consideration amounting to Rs.60,000/-. It also held the transfer of suit land by Defendant No.1 in favour of Defendant No.2 to be illegal, null and void and hit by the provisions of Section 22 of the Act. It directed Defendant No.2 to transfer the suit land in the name of the Plaintiff on receipt of sale consideration amounting to Rs.60,000/- within three months.       (d) Defendant No.2, being aggrieved, carried the matter further by filing Regular Second Appeal No.457 of 2002 in the High Court, which inter alia framed following substantial question of law:Whether Section 22 of the Hindu Succession Act excludes interest in agricultural land of an intestate and the preferential right over ?immovable property? as envisaged in the said provision is confined only to business and such immovable property which does not include the agriculturalRelying principally on the decision of the Division Bench of the High Court in RSA No.258 of 2012 (Roshan Lal vs. Pritam Singh and others R.S.A.No. 258 of 2012 decided on 1.3.2018 , the High Court dismissed said Second Appeal, which decision is presently under challenge by Defendant No.2-Appellant.      4. The challenge before this Court is confined to the applicability of Section 22 of the Act to agricultural lands and the factual facets of the matter are not in dispute.

Court's reasoning:
11. The decisions rendered by various High Courts show the divergent views in the matter. Some High Courts have held that the provisions of Section 22 of the Act would apply to agricultural lands and in the process have followed the reasoning that weighed with the Orissa High Court in Laxmi Debi AIR 1957 Orissa 1 = 22 (1956) CLT 466 . On the other hand, some High Courts have held to the contrary and have followed the decisions of the Punjab High Court in Jaswant9 and of the Allahabad High Court in Prema Devi AIR 1970 Allahabad 238 . It is the latter line of cases which is relied upon by the learned counsel for the appellant in support of his submissions. It must also be stated that wherever there was question of succession to tenancy rights in respect of agricultural holdings, reference was made by some of the High Courts viz. the High Court of Bombay in Tukaram Genba Jadhav and Ors. vs. Laxman Genba Jadhav and Anr.AIR 1994 Bombay 247 = (1994) 96 Bombay Law Reporter 227  to the effect of the then existing provision under Section 4(2) of the Act. We are not going into the reasoning that weighed with various High Courts in every case, but suffice it to say that the following chart may indicate how the question was answered by some of the High Courts.As regards the High Court of Himachal Pradesh, from which the present matter arises, the Division Bench of the High Court in Roshan Lal (deceased) through his LRs. vs. Pritam Singh and ors. R.S.A.No. 258 of 2012 decided on 1.3.2018had considered all relevant decisions on the point and concluded that the provisions of Section 22 of the Act would apply in relation to succession to agricultural lands. The conclusion arrived at in the leading judgment with which the other learned Judge concurred, was:-Thus, ?succession? falls within the scope of entry No. 5 of List-III and in case a narrow and pedantic or myopic view of interpretation is adopted by accepting succession to an agricultural land, bringing it within the scope of ?rights in and over land?, impliedly no meaning would be attached to entry No.5 as each and every word of the list must be given effect to. If there is no local law on the subject, then the special law will prevail which in the instant case is the Succession Act. The scope, object and purpose of codifying Hindu Law is different. It is to achieve the Constitutional mandate. There is no provincial law dealing with the subject. As such, the Central Act mustview taken by the Division Bench was followed by the High Court in the present matter.changes indicated above as against what was earlier available in Entry 21 of List II and Entry 7 of List III make the position very clear. The present Entry 5 of List III shows ?succession? in its fullest sense to be a topic in the Concurrent List. The concept of succession will take within its fold testamentary as well as intestate succession. The idea is, therefore, clear that when it comes to ?transfer, alienation of agricultural land? which are transfers inter vivos, the competence under Entry 18 of List II is with the State legislatures but when it comes to ?intestacy and succession? which are essentially transfers by operation of law as per law applicable to the person upon whose death the succession is to open, both the Union as well as State legislatures are competent to deal with the topic. Consequently, going by the principles of Article 254 of the Constitution of India the matter will have to be dealt with.In the present case it is nobody?s case that the matter relating to succession to an interest in agricultural lands is in any way dealt with by any State legislation operating in the State of Himachal Pradesh or that such legislation must prevail in accordance with the principles under Article 254 of the Constitution of India. The field is occupied only by Section 22 of the Act insofar as State of Himachal Pradesh is concerned. The High Court was, therefore, absolutely right in holding that Section 22 of the Act would operate in respect of succession to agricultural lands in the State.Though, succession to an agricultural land is otherwise dealt with under Section 22 of the Act, the provisions of Section 4(2) of the Act, before its omission, had made it clear that the provisions of the Act would not apply in cases inter alia of devolution of tenancy rights in respect of agricultural holdings. Thus, the effect of Section 4(2) of the Act before its deletion was quite clear that, though the general field of succession including in respect of agricultural lands was dealt with under Section 22 of the Act, insofar as devolution of tenancy rights with respect to agricultural holdings were concerned, the provisions of Section 22 would be inapplicable. The High Court of Bombay was, therefore, absolutely right in its conclusion. However, with the deletion of Section 4(2) of the Act, now there is no exception to the applicability of Section 22 of the Act. But we are not called upon to consider that facet of the matter.We now turn to the next stage of discussion. Even if it be accepted that the provisions of Section 22 would apply in respect of succession to agricultural lands, the question still remains whether the preferential right could be enjoyed by one or more of the heirs. Would that part also be within the competence of the Parliament? The ?right in or over land, land tenures …..? are within the exclusive competence of the State legislatures under Entry 18 of List II of the Constitution. Pre-emption laws enacted by State legislatures are examples where preferential rights have been conferred upon certain categories and classes of holders in cases of certain transfers of agricultural lands. Whether conferring a preferential right by Section 22 would be consistent with the basic idea and principles is the question.We may consider the matter with following three illustrations:-Three persons, unrelated to each other, had jointly purchased an agricultural holding, whereafter one of them wished to dispose of his interest. The normal principle of pre-emption may apply in the matter and any of the other joint holders could pre-empt the sale in accordance with rights conferred in that behalf by appropriate StateIf those three persons were real brothers or sisters and had jointly purchased an agricultural holding, investing their own funds, again like the above scenario, the right of pre-emption will have to be purely in accordance with the relevant provisions of the StateBut, if, the very same three persons in illustration (b) had inherited an agricultural holding and one of them was desirous of disposing of his or her interest in the holding, the principles of Section 22 of the Act would step in.reason is clear. The source of title or interest of any of the heirs in the third illustration, is purely through the succession which is recognized in terms of the provisions of the Act. Since the right or interest itself is conferred by the provisions of the Act, the manner in which said right can be exercised has also been specified in the very same legislation.the content of preferential right cannot be disassociated in the present case from the principles of succession. They are both part of the same concept.When the Parliament thought of conferring the rights of succession in respect of various properties including agricultural holdings, it put a qualification on the right to transfer to an outsider and gave preferential rights to the other heirs with a designed object. Under the Shastrik Law, the interest of a coparcener would devolve by principles of survivorship to which an exception was made by virtue of Section 6 of the Act. If the conditions stipulated in Section 6 were satisfied, the devolution of such interest of the deceased would not go by survivorship but in accordance with the provisions of the Act. Since the right itself in certain cases was created for the first time by the provisions of the Act, it was thought fit to put a qualification so that the properties belonging to the family would be held within the family, to the extent possible and no outsider would easily be planted in the family properties. In our view, it is with this objective that a preferential right was conferred upon the remaining heirs, in case any of the heirs was desirous of transferring his interest in the property that he received by way of succession under the Act.