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Supreme Court of India

LAXMI BAIversusDAYANU NARAYAH MOHITE(DEAD) THROUGH LRS

Citation
1991 INSC 257
Decided
9 October 1991
Disposal
Dismissed

Holding

The tillers' day is not postponed for a widow who is a member of a joint family, making the tenant a deemed purchaser and rendering the appellant's subsequent notice ineffective.

Summary

Laxmi Bai, a widow and member of a joint family, filed an appeal challenging the termination of tenancy she gave to the predecessor-in-title, Dayanu, on June 24, 1960, alleging that the tillers' day under Section 32 of the Bombay Tenancy and Agricultural Lands Act, 1948 should have been postponed for her as a widow. The appellant contended that because she was a widow, the tenant's rights should not have vested before she could terminate the tenancy. The court examined the proviso to sub‑section (1) of Section 32, which disallows postponement of the tillers' day when the widow‑landowner is part of a joint family whose other members do not fall within the protected categories. It held that the appellant’s joint‑family status barred any postponement, making Dayanu a deemed purchaser on the tillers' day, thereby extinguishing the appellant’s rights. Consequently, the notice of termination given after the tillers' day was ineffective, and the appeal was dismissed.

Issues considered

  • Whether the tillers' day under Section 32 of the Bombay Tenancy and Agricultural Lands Act, 1948 can be postponed for a widow who is a member of a joint family.
  • Whether the appellant's notice of termination of tenancy is valid after the tenant becomes a deemed purchaser on the tillers' day.

Legislation cited

Subjects

tenancyagricultural landtillers' dayjoint familywidowSection 32deemed purchaseBombay Tenancy Act

Judgment

                    lAXMI BAI v. D. N. MOHITE [KANIA, J.)               457

  land. Notice given thereafter is of no avail. (457 G]                        A
        CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Civil Appeal No. 1150of1978..
       From the Judgment and Order dated 22.9.1976 of the Bombay High
  Court in Special Civil Appln. No. 1544 of 1971.
        B. Datta, J.P. Pathak and P.H.Parekh for the Appellant.
        A.M. Khanwilkar for the Respondents.                                   B

       ·The Judgment of the Court was delivered by

          KANIA, J .. The facts found in this appeal show that the appellant,
   Laxmi Bai, was at the relevant time a member of a joint family with her son,
   the partition pleaded by the appellant not having been accepted as genuine C
   by the authorities conc~rned. She terminated.the tenancy of the predeces-
   sor in title of the respondents by a notice dated June 24, 1960. Under the
   provisions of Section 32 of the Bombay Tenancy and Agricultural Lands
   Act, 1948 (hereinafter referred to.as "the said Act"), April 1, 1957, was
   deelared as the tillers' day and Section 32 of the said Act provided inter atia
 . that the tenants of the land who fell within any of categories described in D
   sub-section (1) of the. said section were deemed to have purchased the land
   held by them as tenants from their landlords, free of all encumbrances
   subsisting thereon on the said day. The case of the appellant is that, In the
   present case, the tiUers' day was postponed in view· of the provisions of
   cla'Use (a) of sub-section (1) of Section 32 F of the said Act, as she was· a
   widow and hence, it must be held that she had terminated the tenancy of E
   tenant, Dayanu, the predecessor in title of the respondents before he be-
   came a deemed purchaser of the land. It is not possible to accept this
    contention in view of the proviso to sub-section (1) of Section 32 F of the
   said Act which provides, inter alia that the tillers' day would not get
   postponed where the widow-land owner is a member of a joint family, one
   of the members whereof was outside the protected categories mentioned F
   under clause (a) of sub-section (1) of Section 32 F of the said Act. In the
   present case, there is no dispute that the ion of the appellant who was joint
   with her did not fall within any of the categories referred to in clause (a) of
   sub-section (1) of Section 32 F of the said Act. In these circumstances,
   Dayanu became the owner of the said land on the tillers' day as a deemed
• predecessor and the appellant lost her rights in the sai.d land. Notice given G
    thereafter is of no avail.
        The appeal fails and is dismissed with no order as to costs.

  N.P.V                                                     Appeal di5mmed.


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