Supreme Court of India
GOVINDA PILLAI RAMDASversusLAKSHMIKUTTY AMMA AMMUKUTTY AMMA AND ORS.
- Citation
- 1992 INSC 254
- Decided
- 17 September 1992
- Disposal
- Dismissed
- Bench
- R M SAHAI
Holding
Section 4(A) of the Kerala Land Reforms Act, 1964 applies to the house‑site land in question, and the appeal is dismissed.
Summary
The plaintiff purchased the equity of redemption of a mortgaged property and sued for redemption. The defendant, an assignee of the mortgagee, claimed protection under Section 4(A) of the Kerala Land Reforms Act, 1964, asserting that he was a deemed tenant because he had possessed the land for over fifty years before the 1969 amendment. The trial court and the Kerala High Court upheld this claim, holding that the provision applied even though the land was a house site in the city, not agricultural land. On appeal, the Supreme Court examined whether the term "land" in the Act could be limited to agricultural land and whether the Act, placed in the Ninth Schedule, could be challenged on constitutional grounds. The Court held that the Act does not define "land" and its provisions, including Section 4(A), apply to both agricultural and non‑agricultural lands; moreover, once in the Ninth Schedule, the Act is insulated from constitutional attack. Consequently, the appeal was dismissed.
Issues considered
- Whether Section 4(A) of the Kerala Land Reforms Act, 1964 applies to non‑agricultural (house‑site) land.
- Whether the expression "land" in the Act should be interpreted narrowly to agricultural land only.
- Whether the Kerala Land Reforms Act, being placed in the Ninth Schedule, can be challenged on the ground of inconsistency with Part III of the Constitution.
Legislation cited
Subjects
Kerala Land Reforms ActSection 4(A)deemed tenantmortgage redemptionagricultural vs non‑agricultural landNinth Scheduleconstitutional validityfixity of tenure
Judgment
GOVINDA PILLAI RAMDAS A
v.
LAKSHMIKUTTY AMMA AMMUKUTTY AMMA AND ORS.
SEPTEMBER 17, 1992
[R.M. SAHA! AND B.P. JEEVAN REDDY, JJ.] B
Kera/a Land Reforms Act, 1964:
Section 4(A)-Deemed tenant-Mortgagee or lessee in possession of
land for a continuous period of fifty years before commencement of Amend- C
ment Act, 196<}-Deemed to be tenant-Land in mortgage comprising of a
house site in the heart of city, and not an agricultrua/ /and-Provisions of the
Section-Applicability of
The appellant-Plaintiff purchased the equity of redemption from the
daughter of the mortgagor of the suit property. He filed a suit for redemp- D
lion of the mortgage. The assignee of the mortgagee's right pleaded, that
by virtue of Section 4-A of the Kerala Land Reforms Act, 1964, he should
be deemed to a tenant, entitled to fixity of tenure. The trial court upheld
his plea, and held that he has been holding the land comprised in the
mortgage for a continnous period of not less than 50 years immediately E
preceding the commencement of the Kerala Land Reforms (Amendment)
Act, 1969 as contemplated by Section 4-A, and dismissed the suit. The
Appellate Court affirmed the trial court's view and dismissed the appeal
of the appellant-Plaintiff. Thereupon the appellant-Plaintiff preferred the
second appeal which too was dismis.ed.
F
In the appeal before this Court, on behalf of the appellant-Plaintiff,
it was contended that the land in question was not an agricultural land
but a house site (with a building thereon) situated in the heart of the city
and hence Kerala Land Reforms Act had no application to the instant
case; that the expression 'land' occurring in the Act as also in Section 4-A G
should be understood having regard to the object underlying the Act and
the purpose for which it was enacted, and that since it was a measure of
agrarian reform the Act should be understood as confined to agricultural
land only.
Dismissing the appeal, this Court, H
699
700 SUPREME COURT REPORTS 11992] SUPP. 1 S.C.R.
A HELD: l.l. Admittedly, the expression 'land' in Section 4-A of the
Kerala Land Reforms Act, 1964, as it stood at the relevant time is not
defined in the Act. Several provisions in the Act, purport to apply to both
agricultural as well as non-agricultural lands. The Kerala Land Reforms
(Amendment) Act, 1969, which introduced several far reaching provisions
including the substituted Section 4-A into the Act had Hot been placed in
B the Ninth Schedule earlier. But, once the Amendment Act of 1969 was
placed in the Ninth Schedule by the Twenty Ninth Amendment Act (the
principal Act was already placed in the Ninth Schedule by the Constitution
Seventeenth (Amendment Act), its validity could not be challenged on the
ground that any of its provisions is inconsistent with or takes awJy or
c abridges any of the rights conferred by Part III of the Constitution.
(706 G-H; 707 A-CJ 0
1.2. It is true, that normally the Land Reforms Act are confined to
agricultural lands only but on that supposition the plain sweep and ambit
of the Act cannot be cut down or abridged. May be that, having regard to
D the conditions obtaining in the State the Legislature of that State thought
it advisable not to make a distinction between agricultural and non-
agricultural lands in certain respects. (707-H; 708-AJ
Parameshwaran Pillai v. Narayanan Nair, 1979 K.L.T. 341, approved.
E Kunjukutty Saheb v. State of Kera/a, [1972) 2 S.C.C. 364 and
Malankara Rubber and Produce Company v. State of Kera/a, [19721 2 S.C.C.
492, relied on.
Shankaran Nambisam v. Sarvottam Rao, (1972] K.L.T. 891, referred
to.
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Civil Appeal No. 3862. of
~984.
From the Judgment dated 27.5.1982 of the Kerala High Court in S.A.
G No.1002 of 1977.
G.V. Iyer and P.K. Pillai for the Appellant.
N. Sudhakaran for the Respondents.
H The Judgment of the Court was delivered by
GOVINDA RAMDAS v. LJ\KSHMIKUTrY [.JEEV AN REDDY, J.] 701
B.P. JEEVAN REDDY, J. This appeal by the plaintiff is directed A
against the judgment of a learned Single Judge of the Kerala High Court
dismissing the Second Appeal preferred by him.
The suit property was mortgaged by one Raman Pillai in favour of
Madhav Pillai. Plaintiff purchased the equity or redemption from the
<laughter of Raman Pillai. First defendant in the suit is the assignee of the B
mortgagee's right whereas defendants 2 to 5 are his children. The plaintiff
filed the suit for redemption of the mortgage. The defendant pleaded inter
alia that by virtue of Section 4-A of the Kerala Land Reforms Act, 1964,
he should be deemed to be a tenant, entitled to fixity of tenure. Trial Court
upheld his plea on the finding that he has been holding the land comprised C
in the mortgage for a continuous period of not less than 50 years immedi-
ately preceding the commencement of the Kerala Land Reforms (Amend-
ment) Act, 1969 as contemplated by Section 4-A. On that basis, it dimissed
the suit. Appellate Court affirmed the said view and dismissed the appeal.
Plaintiff thereupon preferred the Second Appeal which too has been
dismissed following the Full Bench decision of the Kerala High Court in D
Parameshwaran Pillai v. Narayanan Nair, 1979 K.L.T. 341.
The learned counsel for the plaintiff/appellant submitted that the
land in question, of an extent of 12 cents, is not an agricultural land but a
house site (with a building thereon) situated in the heart of Trivandrum E
city. Since the suit land is not an agricultural land, Kerala Land Reforms
Act has no application. The courts below were, therefore, in error in
extending the benefit of section 4-A of the Act the plaintiff. In support of
his contention, he relied upon certain decisions, which we shall presently
refer.
F
Section 4-A as in force at the relevant time, and in so far as it is
relevant for the purpose of this case, reads thus:
"4(A). Certain mortgagees and lessees of mortgagees to
be deemed tenants - (1) Notwithstanding anything to the
contrary contained in any law or in any contract, custom G
or usage, or in any judgment, decree or order of court, a
mortagee with possession of land, other than land prin-
cipally planted with rubber, coffee, tea or cardamom, or
the lessee of a mortgagee of such land shall be deemed
to be tenant if.... H
702 SUPREME COURT REPORTS (1992] SUPP. lS.C.R.
A [a] the mortgagee or lessee was holding the land com-
prise·d in the mortgage for a continuous period of not less
than fifty years immediately preceding the commencement
of the Kerala Land Reforms (Amendment) Act, 1969;
or ........... 11
B The expression 'land' is not defined in the Act. All the same, con-
tention of the learned counsel for the appellant is that the expression 'land'
occurring in the Act as also in Section 4-A should be understood having
regard to the object underlying the Act and the purpose for which it was
enacted. Since it is a measure of agrarian reform, he submits, the Act
c should be understood as confined to agricultural land only.
For answering the contention of the- learned counsel for the appel-
lant, it would have been necessary to examine the scheme of the enactment
in the light of its provisions, but we are relieved of the task by several
illuminating decisions of the Kerala High Court and of this court on the
D subject. A brief reference to them may be appropriate at this stage.
In Narayanan Nair v. State of Kera/a the validity of the Kerala Land
Reforms Act, in particular the provisions introduced by Amendment Act
35/69 (inter alia imposing a ceiling upon the holdings of agricultural land)
was questioned. The only defence available to the State at that stage was
E
Article 3l(A) of the Constitution. The contention of the petitioners, how-
ever, was that some of the provisions of the Act are wide enough, on their
wording, to apply to non agricultural lands as well and, therefore, the Act
cannot be said to be "a measure bf agrarian refOrm". For the said reason,
it was argued, the Ac.t cannot have the protection of Article 3l(A); it has
F to pass the test of Articles 14, 19 and 31. If so tested, it was submitted, the
entire Act has to fail. This argument was rejected by the Full Bench holding
that "so long as the field is severable why should not a provision be allowed
to operate in the un-forbidden portion of the field and bar only from the
forbidden portion?" Having said so, the Full Bench proceeded to observe:
G "For the aforesaid reasons, we shall consider the im-
pugned provisons only in their application to agricultural
land - as we have said, these petitions arc not concerned
with non- agricultural land, at any rate, not directly. We
wish to make it clear that we are expressing no opinion
H whatsoever about their validity or otherwise in their ap-
GOVINDA RAMDAS v. LAKSHMIKUTIY i.TEEVAN REDDY, J.] 703
plication to non-agricultural land. A
We do not think it can be denied that the Act as a
whole is a measure of agrarian reforms, its main object
being to confer such benefits as fixity of tenure and fair
rent on cultivating tenants, to abolish intermidiaries like
land-lords, between the cultivator and the State, and to B
distribute lands held in excess of the ceiling to the landless.
The Act as a whole must, therefore, get the protection of
article 3LA even if portions thereof have to fail for want
of that protection."
c
An appeal was preferred in this court impugning the correctness of
the said decision. The decision of this court is reported in [1972] 2 S.C.C.
364. Kunjukutty Saheb v. State of Kera/a. This court affirmed the judgment
of the High Court. So far as the applicability of the Act to non-agricultural
lands is concerned, this court observed:
D
"We should, however, like to make it clear that we
express no opinion where the provisions of this Act are
utilised for lands which are not agricultural lands and do
no constitute estates nor where the beneficiary happens
to be a person not substantially connected with agricul- E
ture, occupying non- agricultural land or where the facts
are not covered by the general test laid down in the case
of Ranjit Singh (supra)."
Indeed, this Court extracted the two paragraphs (extracted by us
hereinbefore) and affirmed their correctness. F
It is brought to our notice that the very Constitution Bench· which
decided Kunjukutty Saheb also decided a batch of writ petitions filed under
Article 32 of the Constitution impugning the validity of the Act. That
decision is reported in Ma/ankara Rubber and Produce Company v. State G
of Kera/a, (1972) 2 S.C.C. 492. The conclusions arrived at by the Bench are
stated in paragraph 61 in the form of ten propositions. Of these only
propositions 1 and 10 are relevant for our purpose. They read as follows:
"(1) It was for the petitioners to establish that the lands
held by them and mentioned in the petitions were not H
704 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1992] SUPP. 1 S.C.R.
A "estates" so that they could be out of the purview of the
Act. It was all the more necessary for them to do so in
view of the categorical findings of the Full bench of the
Kerala High Court in Paragraphs 5 and 99 of the judgment
in Narayanan Nair's case (supra). In the absence of
material in the petitions to show prima facie that the lands
B of the petitioners were not estates we cannot hold that the
petitions are not affected by the Kerala Land Reforms Act
I
of 1964 as amended in 1969. In any event, so far as the
provisions of the 1964 Act are concerned the same could
not be challenged under Article 31-A by reason of its
c inclusions in the Ninth Schedule to the Constitution.
(10) Lands which are interspersed between sites of com-
mercial undertakings and house-site in municipalities with •'
lands surrounding them are not agricultural lands fit for
acquisition under the Act."
D
The question whether the Act applies to non-agricultural land arose
directly in Shankaran Nambisam v. Sarvottam Rao, 1972 K.L.T. 891. It was
held by the Division Bench that since the Act itself is measure of agrarian
reform, its operation is confined to agricultural lands only. It was held that
E it has no application to a land situated within the city of Calicut and which
was being used for purposes wholly on-related to agriculture. The Bench
further held that the more fact that the Amendment Act 35 of 1969
amending the Kerala Land Reforms Act has been placed in the Ninth
Schedule by the Constitution Twenty Ninth (Admendment) Act, 1972
F cannot serve to widen the scope and ambit of the Act. This view was,
however, over turned by a Full Bench of the same Court in Parameshwaran
Pillai v. Narayanan Nair, 1979 KL.T. 341. The Full Bench in Paramesh-
waran Pilla4 referred to the earlier Full Bench decision in Narayanan Nair
and understood the same in the following words:
G "The decision has proceeded on the basis that even if the
Act was applicable to non-agricultural lands the provision
a
or the expression 'land' in the statute had severable
applicability in the field. We must also remember that the
question that arose before the Court was about the validity
H of the statute. It was contended that the Act did not have
GOVINDA RAMDAS v. lAKSHMIKUITY (JEEVAN REDDY, J.] 705
the protection of Art. 31-A as it related not merely to A
agricultural land but also to non-agricultural land. In all
the cases dealt with by the judgment the subject matter
was agricultural land and it was held that the statute was
valid as regards those lands. What is more important is
that the Full Bench specifically left the question open in
paragraph 21, which we have extracted, by saying that "we
B
are expressing no opinion whatsoever about the validity
or otherwise in their application to non-agricultural land".
It necessarily implies that the court understood the Act
as applicable or as possibily applicable to non-agricultural
lands as well." c
It also referred to the decision of this Court in Ma/ankara Rubber
Producing Company and understood the same in the following words:
D
"We do not think that the passage will support the respon-
dents. What the Supreme Court has stated, if we may say
so, with respect is the correct summary of the decision.
Paras 20 and 21 of the judgment in Narayanan Nair's case,
which we have extracted show that the court proceeded
on the basis that the Act would be taken to have severable E
applications and it was valid as regards agricultural lands
and as the cases before the courts were all concerned with
agricultural lands, the validity was upheld. From the
analysis we have made of the pronouncements of the court
it appears to us that no dicision of this Court has analysed F
the provision of the statute in S.4A of the Act excepting
the decision in 1971 KLT 4S4, to find out whether that
section applied to non-agricultural lands as well. The
court held therein that the section was applicable to non-
agricultural lands. There is no pronouncement of the
Supreme Court on the matter. If we accept the reasoning G
of the decision in 1971 KLT 4S4, it is clear that S.4A, as
it stood then and as it stands now, takes in not only
agricultural, but non-agricultural lands as well. The
reasoning in the decision is in accordance with the word-
ing of the section." H
706 SUPREME COURT REPORTS 11992] SUPP. l S.C.R.
A Ultimately, the Full Bench expressed its view in the following words:
"It is impossible to give to the language of S.4A a limited
meaning and find that its terms would apply only to
agricultural land. We have, therefore, to hold that S.4A of
the Act applies to the land in question notwithstanding
B
the fact that it is situate in an important part, almost in
the heart, of the city of Trivandrum, and may not
reasoqably be expected to be used for agricultural pur-
poses now or in the near future by any reasonable person.
To read the Act, particularly S.4A as limited in its ambit
c and application to agricultural land alone is not possible.
The Act having been included in the Ninth Schedule to
the Constitution, what is the effect of making the Act
applicable to non-agricultural land, and whether such
application would take the Ac\ outside the purview of
Article 31A and whether the provision can be understood
D
as a measure of promoting agrarian reforms we need not
and cannot consider for deciding its validity. The Act
having .been included in the Ninth Schedule of the Con-
stitution is free from attack on the ground that it violated
Articles 14, 19, 31 and 31A. The person in possession of
E the property in O.S. 187 of 1965, the first defendant, has
not appealed from the decree for redemption of the
property scheduled to that plaint. So that decree against
the first defendant cannot be altered."
F The learned counsel for the plaintiff/appellant submits that the
decision of the Full Bench in Parameshwaran Pillai, runs counter to the
principle of the decisions of this Court in Kunjukutry Saheb and Malankara
Rubber Producing Company and for that reason it should not be given
effect. We are unable to agree with the learned counsel.
G Admittedly, the expression 'land' is not defined in the Act. Several
provisions in the Act, it is admitted, purport to apply to both agricultural
as well as non-agricultural lands. When Narayanan Nair was decided the
Kerala Land Reforms (Amendment) Act, 1969 (Act 35 of 69) which
introduced several far reaching provisions including the substituted Section
H 4(A) into the Act had not been placed in the Ninth Schedule. Therefore,
GOVINDARAMDAS v. LAKSHMIKUTTY[JEEVANREDDY,J.] 707
the only defence available to the State to support the constitutionality of A
the Act was Article 31-A. As rightly pointed out in the later Full Bench
decision, Narayanan Nair did not say that the provisions of the Act must
be read down to apply only to agricultural lands. It opined that so far as
the Act applied to agricultural land it enjoyed the protection of Article
31-A. They did not express any opinion on the validity of the Act in so far B
as any of its provisions applied to non-agricultural lands. But once the
Amendment Act 35 of 1%9 was placed in the Ninth Schedule by the
Twenty Ninth Amendment Act (the principal Act was already placed in
the Ninth Schedule by the Constitution Seventeenth (Amendment) Act) its
validity could not be challenged on the gronnd that any of its provisions is
inconsistent with or takes away or abridges any of the rights conferred by C
Part III-and that is what the later Full Bench said in Parameshwaran Pillai.
We cannot, therefore, agree with the leanred connsel for the appel-
lant that the Full Bench decision in Parameshwaran Pillai ru:ts connter to
the principle of the decisions of this court in Kunjukutty Saheb and/or D
M a/ankara Rubber Producing Company. This Court did not say either that
the Act applies only to agricultural lands nor did it say that the Act must
be read down as confined to only agricultural lands, with a view to save it
from invalidity. This Court did not express any opinion on the validit}' of
the Act in so far as it applied to non-agricultural lands. All that this Court
said in Ma/ankara Rubber Producing Company is that house-sites in E
municipalities are not agricultur.,; lands fit for acqJisition under the Act.
The said holding must be nnderstood in the light of the constitutional
position as it obtained at that time i.e., before the Amendment Act 35/69
was placed in the Ninth Schedule. It is significant to notice that the
Amendment Act 35/69 was placed in the Ninth Schedule by the Consitution p
29th Amendment Act, with effect from Jnne 9, 1992, whereas the decision
in Kunjukutty Saheb and Malankara RubfJer Producing Company were
rendered on April 26/'113, 1972 i.e., earlier to the said Constitution Amend-
ment Act. We may also notice that the Full Bench decision in Paramesh-
waran Pillai has remained Un-questioned since 1970 i.e., for a period more
than 16 years and has been applied and followed in Kerala in innumerable G
cases. We do not think there are adequate grounds for departing from the
view taken therein.
It is true, as contended by the learned counsel for the appellant, that
normally by Land Reforms Act are confined to agricultural lands only but H
708 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1992] SUPP. 1 S.C.R.
A on that supposition we cannot cut down or abridge the plain sweep and
ambit of the Act. May be that, having regard to the condiditons obtaining
in that State the Legislature of that State thought it advisable not to make
a distiction between agricultural and non-agricultural lands in certain
respects.
B For the above reasons, the appeal fails and is dismissed with no order
as to costs.
N.P.V. Appeal dismissed.
,
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