CHEERANTHOODIKA AH\1ED KUTIY AND ANR.

A v.

PARAMBUR MARIAKUTIY l.:MMA AND ORS.

FEBRUARY 8, 2CGO

[K.T. THOMAS AND D.P. MOHAPATRA, JJ.] B

Land Ref onns :

Kerala Land Refonns Act, 1963 : Section 72-K-Party possessing land in excess of the ceiling limit-Directed by Taluk Land Board to surrender C excess lan~A certain part of land tenanted tu wmeone--{,'ertificate of Purchase issued by the Land Tribunal in that repect-Tenant gifted the said pan of land to a mosque--Office-bearers of the mosque sought de-linking of the gifted part of land from the said excess land-Taluk Land Board refused to delink the said part of land--ln revision, High Court refused to interfere-On appeal, Held : High Court erred in upholding the order of Taluk D Board-Certificate of Purchase was conclusive proof regarding assignment to tenant of right, title ar.d interest of landownei-No evidence against conclusiveness of the certificate to be adduced except on the plea of fraud or co//usiun---No such plea raised in the instant case-Taluk Land Board and the High Court erroneously put burden of proof on the appellant tu substan- E tiate the validity and correctnel'S of the certificates.

Evidence Act, 1872 : Section 4-<._'1mclusive Pruuj-f'rovisiun fur treatnumt of a particular fact to be conclusive proof in an enactment--No evidence allowed to be given for the purpose of dilproving it except on the allegation of fraud or collusion.

M, the deceased husband of Respondent No. l (brought on record subsequently after the death of her husband) was found to be holding 877.500 acres of land by the Taluk Board. The said land was determined to be beyond the ceiling limit, under the Kerala Land Reforms Act, 1963, by 788.72 acres. When M was directed to surrender the said excess land, G the appellants (office bearers of a mosque) claimed that 6.82.500 acres of land had been lased out by M, much before the said Act. A Certificate of Purchase, under Section 72-K of the Act, was also issued by the Land Tribunal in this regard. Thereafter, it was claimed, that the said land was gifted to the mosque. The appellants, therefore, contended that the said H

726 SllPREMF CO CRT RhPORTS

(2000) 1 S.C.R.

A area should be de-linked from M's 2ccount. The Taluk Board, ignoring the Certificate of Purchase, determined the excess land including the land claimed by the appellants. In revision, undtr Section 105 of the Act, High Court refused to interfere with the aforesaid finding of the Taluk Board on the ground that no material was produced to show existence of a B tenancy prior to 196..t.

The appellant contended that the High Court has failed to take into account the legal implications of Section 72-K of the Act which rendered a Certificate of Purchast as conclusive proof of the assignment to the tenant of the right, title and interest uf the landowner and the ioter- C mediaries, if any, over the holding gr portion thereon to which the assignment relates.

Allowing the appl!als, this Court

HELD : 1.1. When Section 72-K of the Kerala Land Reforms Act, D 1963 enjoined that any evidence would be treated as conclusive proof of certain factual position or legal hypothesis the law would forbid other evidence to be adduced for the purpose of contrndicting or varying the aforesaid conclusiveness. Of course, the interdict that the court shall not allow evidence to be adduced for the purpose of disproving conclusiveness, will not prevent a party who allegs fraud or collusion from establishing E that the document is vitiated by ~.uch factors. Except regarding the said limited sphert the conclusivness of the document would remah1 beyond the 1cacl1 of cuntruvertibillty. [ 729-R-OJ

Chettiam Veeu/ Ammad and Another v. Taluk Land Board & Others, F AIR (1979) SC 1573, relied on.

Halsbury's Laws of England Para 28, Vol. 17, IVth Edn., referred to.

1.2. In the present case no party has averred that the Certificates of Purchase were collusively obtained. In fact, i:vi:n the authorbed officer who G was to make a report under Section 105-A of the Act mentioned in the report that the said areas were covered by certificates of purchase referred to above.

It is pertinent to point out that the authorised ofticer did not even suggest that the certificate were procured collusively. Even the Taluk Land Board did not hold that the Certificates of Purchase were the products of any fraud or collusion. It was unnecessary for the High Court to have remarked that H the certificates were procured collusively as nobody had alleged them to be

C.AKUTTYv. P.M. UMMA[THOMAS, J.j 727

so. In the absence of any material to doubt the correctness of the Certificates A of Purchase, the Single Judge should have given due weight to those documents as law enjoins. At any rate the party who relied on the certificates had no burden to prove that the certificates were issued after due deliberations or that there was no fraud in issuing the same. The Taluk Land Board and the High Court had put the burden on the appellants to substantiate the validity and correctness of the certificates. The said approach was £allacious and hence unsupportable. [730-B-F]

CIVlL APPELLATE Jl:RISDICTION : Civil Appeal Nos. 3067 and 8475 of 1997.

From the Judgment and Order dated 16.8.96 of the Kerala High Court in C.R.P. No. 1649 of 1991.

T.L. Viswanatha Iyer, Ms. Purnirna Prasad, Ms. Astha Tyagi, M.K.D.

Namboodri and Subramonium Prasad for the Appellants.

K.MK Nair for the Respondent in C.A. No. 3067/97.

Ms. Malini Poduval and Lansing Rongmir for the Respondent in C.A. No. 8475/97.

The Judgment of the Court was delivered by

THOMAS, J. Though tht: appellants in these two appt:als art: two dillen:nt persons it would be advantagt:ous to dispose of these two appeals together by a common judgment, on account of a common factor involving

in both cases.

When Kt:rala Land Rdorms Act, 1963 came into force there was prohibition in holding land in excess of the ceiling limit fixed thereunder.

Taluk Land Board is one of the authorities under the Act to foe the area of the land in possession of landholders. One Moosakutty Haji made a declaration of the various lands in his possession. (His widow is arrayed as G respondent No. 1 in these appeals since Moosakutty Haji had died). fhe Taluk Land Board found that the said 1-!aji had 877.500 acres of land and on its premise determined that the excess land in his possession (beyond the ceiling limit) was 788.72 acn:s. Moosakutty Haji was directed to surrender the said excess land.

7'1B SUPRf.\1f. CUVRT REPORTS [2C<XJ[ l S.C.R.

A While so, the appell':IIlts in Civil Appeal No. 3067 of 1997 (the office bean:rs of Vallarnbram Juma Masjid) put-forth a claim that an area of 6.82.500 acres of land in Survey No. 629 of Wandoor Amsan was erroneously recorded as the land in the possession of the said Moosakutty

Haji. According to thi: appellants, the said :and was h.:ased by the land- B owm:r to other per, uns lung bdon: the commencement of the Act and in 1984 the Land Tribunal, Wan door had granted C'ertificak of Purchase as per Section 72-K of the Act to the tenants thereof. The h:nants haw gifted the said land to the aforementioned J uma Masjid as pi; r registen; d documents execut.:; d in 1986. Apptllant~., therefore, contend.:d that th.: said an:a should be de linked from the account of \1uosakutty Haji. c

A similar claim was made by the appellants in CA No. 8475 of 1997 on the following facts :

An area of 15 acres in Surn.:y No. 357,'1 was outstanding on lease with two persons (Krishnan and Achutho.n) lung before the commencement of the Act and those person assigned their rights in favour of th.: appellants. The Land Tribunal issui:d a Certificate of Purchase in suo motu proceedings l'<o. 88'97. Thus the aforesaid 1.5 acres of land could not have been included in the account of Moosakutty Haji, according to the appellant.

It seems the Taiuk Board ignon.:d the Cntificak uf Purchase and connkd the aforesaid ar.:a C1f land in the dccount of Mo•'Sd:.:utty H'lji and then detamined the excess land surr..:ndcldblt by him. Th..: High Luurt in revision petition filed by the appdlants under Section 105 of lht: Acl did not interfere with the aforesaid finding of the Taluk Land Board. Learm:d F Single Judge of tht: High Court had obst:rved thus :

''In the absence of any matt:rial to show any tt:nancy prior to l.4.1964 the Taluk Land Board was right in nut acting on the Certificak of Purchase issued by the Land Tribunal. Under the circumstances it could not be treated as conclusive. Even otherwise it was not accurate on its fact:.'

Similar observations were made about the claim put forward by the appellant in the other appeals a15o. Cltimately the appellants did not succeed in their claims and hence they have challenged tht: order of tht: H High Court in these appeals filed by special leave.

C.A KVTI'Yv. P.M. CMMA[THUMAS, J.] 729

Shri T.L. Vishwanatha Iyer, karned senior counsd for the appellant A contended that lt:arned Singh: Judge of the High Court has not taken into account the legal implications of Section 72-K of the Act which n:ndered a Certificate of Purchase as "'conclusive proof of the assignment to the tenant of the right, title and interest of the landowner and the intermediaries, if any, over the holding or the portion thereon to which the assignment rdates. '

When the enactment enjoined that any evidence would be treated as conclusive proof of certain factual position or legal hypothesis the law would forbid other evidence to bi: adduced for the purpose of contradicting

or varying the afon:said conclusiveness. This is the principle embodied in C Section 4 of the Evidence Act, when it defined ''conclusive proof'.

"Conclusive proof. - When one fact is declared by this Act to be conclusive proof of another, the Court shall, on proof of that one fact, regard the other as proved, and shall not allow evidence to be given for the purpose of disproving it.'' D

Of course, the interdict that the court shall not allow evidence to be adduced for the purpose of disproving the conclusiveness will not prevent a party who alleges fraud or collusion from establishing that the document is vitiated by such factors. Except regarding the said limited sphere the conclusiveness of the document would remain beyond the reach of controvertibility.

In this context a reference can be made to Chettiarn Veettil Arnrnad and Another v. Taluk Land Board and Others, AIR (1979) SC 1573 where

a two Judge Bench of this Court has observed that "if a certificate of F purchase is issued by the Land Tribunal to any such person and he tenders it in proceedings before the Taluk Land Board, the Board is required by law to treat it as conclusive proof of the fact that right, title and interest of the landowner (and intermediary) ovt:r the land mt:ntioned in it has bet:n assigned to him. It is however not the requirement of the law that the G certificate of purchase shall be conclusive proof of the surplus or other land held by its holder so as to foreclose the decision of the Taluk Land Board.'

Learned Judges then stated that by using the expression "conclusive proof' it only means that no contrary evidence shall be: effective to displace H

SUPREME COURT REPORTS

[20C0) 1 S.C.R.

A it, unless so-called conclusive proof is inaccurate on its face or fraud can be shown. After reforring to Halsbury's Laws of England (para 28, Vol. 17 of 4th edn.) it was further observed that "it will not therefore be permissible for the Board to disregard the evidentiary value of tht certificate of purchase merely on the ground that it has not been issued on a proper B appreciation or consideration of the evidence on record or that the Tribunal's findings suffers from any procedural error.''

In the present case no party has avtrred that Ctrtificates of Purchase were collusively obtained. In fact, even the authorised officer who was to make a report under Section 105-A of the Act mentioned in the report that C the said areas were covered by certificates of purchase referred to above.

It is pertinent to point out that the authorised officer did not even suggest that the certificatts were procured collusively. Even the Taluk Land Board did not hold that the certificates of purchase were the product of any fraud or collusion. It was unnecessary for the High Court to have remarked that the certificates were procured collusively as nobody had alleged them to D be so.

The Taluk Land Board appears to have sidelined those two legally formidable conclusive proof while considering the claims put forward by the appellants. In the absence of any material to doubt the correctness of E the Certificates of Purchase learned Single Judge should have given due weight to those documents as law enjoins. At any rate the party who relied on the certificates had no burden to prove that the certificates were issued after due deliberations or that there was no collusion or fraud in issuing the same. The Tatuk Land Board and the High Court had put the burden on the apptllants to substantiate the validity and correctness of the certifi- F cates. The said approach is fallacious and hence unsupportable.

In the resul.t, we allow these appeals and uphold the claim of the appellants in regard to lands for which the claims were made.

R.C.K.

Appeal allowed.