Judgement

VENKATARAMA AYYAR, J.- These are petitions filed under Art. 32 of the Constitution by proprietors of lands in the State of Rajasthan, challenging the vires of The Rajasthan (Protection of Tenants ) Ordinance, 1949, Ordinance No IX of 1949 , hereinafter referred to as the Ordinance, of notifications dated June 14,1951 and June 20,1953 issued thereunder and of the Rajasthan (Protection of Tenants) Amendment Act No. X of 1954.

2. It will be useful at the outset to state briefly the facts relating to the constitution of the legislative authority, in the exercise of which the impugned Ordinance and notifications were issued. When the British were the Rulers of this Country, Rajputana, as the State was then known, consisted of 18 principalities claiming sovereign status. After independence, a movement was set afoot for the integration of all the principalities into a single State, and the process was completed on May 5,1949, when all of them became merged in a Union called the United State of Rajasthan. The constitution of the State was settled in a Covenant, to which all the Rulers agreed. Under Art. II of the Covenant, the States agreed "to unite and integrate their territories in one State with a common executive, legislature and, judiciary by the name of the United State of Rajasthan." Under Art. VI (2), the Rulers made over all their rights, authorities and jurisdiction to the new State which "shall thereafter be exercisable only as provided by this Covenant or by the Constitution to be framed thereunder." Article X (3) provides that:

"Until a Constitution so framed comes into operation after receiving the assent of the Rajpramukh, the legislative authority of the United State shall vest in the Rajpramukh, who may make and promulgate Ordinances for the peace and good government of the State or any part thereof, and any Ordinance so made shall have the like force of laws as an Act passed by the legislature of the United State."

Article X(3) was subsequently modified by substituting for the words "Until a Constitution so framed comes into operation after receiving the assent of the Rajpramukh," the words "Until the Legislative Assembly of Rajasthan has been duly constituted and summoned to meet for the first session under the provisions of the Constitution of India. "Reference may also be made to Art. 385 of the Constitution of India, which runs as follows:

"Until the House or Houses of the legislature of a State specified in Part B of the First Schedule has or have been duly constituted and summoned to meet for the first session under the provisions of the Constitution, the body or authority functioning immediately before the commencement of this Constitution as the Legislature of the corresponding Indian State shall exercise the powers and perform the duties conferred by the provisions of this Constitution on the House of the Legislature of the State so specified."

It may be mentioned that the Legislative Assembly of Rajasthan was constituted and came into being on 29th March 1952, and until then, it was the Rajpramukh in whom the Legislative authority of the State was vested.

3. On 21st June 1949, the Rajpramukh promulgated the impugned legislation, the Rajasthan (Protection of Tenants) Ordinance NO. IX of 1949. The preamble to the Ordinance runs as follows:

"Whereas with a view to putting a check on the growing tendency of landholders to eject or dispossess tenants from their holdings, and in the wider national interest of increasing the production of foodgrains, it is expedient to make provisions for the protection of tenants in Rajasthan from ejectment or dispossession from their holdings."

Section 4 of the Ordinance provides:

"So long as the Ordinance is in force in any area of Rajasthan no tenant shall be liable to ejectment or dispossession from the whole or a part of his holding in such area on any ground whatsoever."

Section 7 provides for reinstatement of tenants who had been in occupation on the first day of