Judgment

WANCHOO, J. : This appeal on a certificate granted by the Andhra Pradesh High Court raises a question of the constitutionality of the Madras Estates Land (Reduction of Rent) Act, No. XXX of 1947, as amended (hereinafter referred to as the Act) and a notification issued thereunder. The brief facts necessary for present purposes are these. The respondent was the sole inamdar of village Chinnavenkatapuram in the Parlakimidi Zamindari in the district of Srikakulam. The legislature of the composite State of Madras passed the Act, which came into force from January 7, 1948, to provide for the reduction of rents payable by ryots in estates governed by the Madras Estates Land Act, No. 1 of 1908, approximately to the level of the assessments levied on lands in ryotwari areas in the neighbourhood and for the collection of such rents exclusively by the State Government. The Act applied to all estates as defined in S. 3(2) of the Madras Estates Land Act, Section 2 provided for the appointment of a special officer for any estate or estates for the purpose of recommending fair and equitable rates of rent for the ryoti lands in such estate or estates and laid down the procedure to be foll