Judgment

M. HIDAYATULLAH J.: The judgment in Petition No. 12 of 1957 shall also dispose of Petitions Nos. 26 and 27 of 1954, 24 and 437 of 1955, 256 of 1956 and 16, 17 and 73 of 1957.

2. These petitions under Art. 32 arise out of alleged agreements by which some of the proprietors in the former State of Madhya Pradesh granted to one or other of the petitioners the right to take forest produce, mainly tendu leaves, from the forests included in Zamindari and Malguzari villages of the grantors. Government has disclaimed these agreements and auctioned the rights afresh. The petitioners state that this is an invasion of their fundamental rights. The dates on which these alleged agreements were entered into the terms therefor and the periods during which they were to subsist are different from case to case. It is not necessary in this judgment to recite the terms of these documents, and it is sufficient to group them for purpose of decision on the basis whether the said agreements still subsist, and whether they are incorporated in a registered instrument or not.

3. Petitions Nos. 437 of 1955 and 256 of 1956 are founded on unregistered documents. The answering respondent does not admit these documents, and contends that they cannot be looked into to prove their terms, in view of the decision of this Court in Shantabai v. State of Bombay, AIR 1958 SC 532.

4. Petitions Nos. 16, 17 & 73 of 1957 from another group, inasmuch as the period during which the alleged agreements were to operate expired in 1955. Additionally, the documents on which the claim is founded in those petitions are unregistered. In the last mentioned ease, it is pleaded that the answering State Government had recognised the agreements in favour of the petitioner but resiled from that position subsequently, which allegation has been adequately explained by the State Government in its, affidavit. The recognition was not in favour of the petitioner but in favour of one Thakur Kamat Singh, who claimed under an agreement entered into by one Viswanath Singh on a date when he had already transferred his interest in the Zamindari to his son, Onkar Prasad Singh. This point was therefore not taken before us at the hearing, and nothing mare need be said about it. The main objection against these petitions is that the agreements having expired, there is nothing left to enforce either in favour of the petitioners or against the State Government, and the remedy, if any, of the, petitioners is to sue the State and/or the proprietors for the breach.

5. The last group consists of Petitions Nos. 26 and 27 of 1954, 24 of 1955 and the present petition (No. 12 of 1957) In these petitions, the agreements with the petitioners are made by registered documents, and the terms during which they are to operate have yet to expire. These cases, it is stated, fall outside the rule in Shantabai s case, AlR 1958 SC 532, to which reference has already been made. They are stated to fall within the decision of this Court reported in Firm Chhotabhai Jethabai Patel and Co. v. State of Madhya Pradesh, 1953 SCR 476 at pages 480, 481, 483;,(AIR 1953 Sec108 at pages 109, 110. In all these petitions, counsel argue that the view expressed in the last mentioned case is correct, while the view in Shantabai s case, AlR 1958 SC 532 needs further considerations.

6. The argument of the petitioners in these several cases is that Government steps into the shoes of the quondam proprietors, and is bound by the agreements into which the latter had entered before their proprietary rights were taken over by Government. They also raise the contention that the petitioners were not proprietors as defined in the Madhya Pradesh Abolition of Proprietary Rights (Estates, Mahals, Alienated Lands) Act 1950 (hereinafter called the Act), and thus Ss. 3 and 4 in terms do not apply to them. These sections, it is contended, do not apply to profit a prendre, which the petitioners enjoy under these agreements. In support of this contention, ref