Judgement

VAIDLINGAM, J. : In this appeal, by special leave, the appellant attacks the judgment and order, dated July 27, 1964, of the Nagpur Bench, of the Bombay High Court, dismissing Special Civil Application No. 322 of 1964.

2. Badridatta Ishwardas Trust is a public charitable trust, maintaining a Dharamshala. The appellant, the Managing Trustee of the said Trust, filed an application, under the provisions of the Bombay Tenancy and Agricultural Lands Vidarbha Region) Act, 1958 (Bombay Act XCIX of 1958) (hereinafter called the Act), before the Naib Tehsildar, Balapur (the third respondent, herein), to direct the fourth respondent, the tenant, to surrender four acres of land, on the ground that the lands were required for being cultivated personally. According to the appellant, the necessary notices, terminating the tenancy of the fourth respondent, had been given, under the Act, and that he was entitled to get possession of the lands, in question.

3. The fourth respondent raised various objections, on merits; but all those objections were overruled, by the third respondent. The fourth respondent raised a legal contention that, inasmuch as the lands, in question, belonged to the Trust, the appellant-Managing Trustee could not be considered to be the landlord. He further contended that the Trust itself could not cultivate personally the lands and, therefore, the application, filed by the appellant, was not maintainable. The third respondent overruled these objections, on the ground that the Managing Trustee was a person in whom the properties of the Trust vested in law and, therefore, it was open to him to make a claim for possession of the lands from a tenant, on the ground that they were required for personal cultivation.. In this view the third respondent further held that the Managing Trustee was a landlord, under the Act, entitled to get possession of the lands. Finally, the third respondent ordered the tenant to surrender possession of the land, as required by the appellant.

4. The order of the third respondent was challenged, by the tenant, in appeal, before the Special Deputy Collector, Tenancy Appeals, Akola (the second respondent). The latter, by order dated October 30, 1963, reversed the decision of the Naib Tehsildar. The second respondent accepted the appellant s plea that he was the Managing Trustee of the Trust, in question, but took the view that a claim, on behalf of a Trust, for personal cultivation, under the Act, could not be made, as a Trust was incapable of cultivating lands personally. The second respondent followed, in this regard, the decision of the Maharashtra Revenue Tribunal, in Shri Kalanka Devi Sansthan, Pandu v. Pandu Maroti, 1963 Mah LJ 249 (Rev. Trib.-Nag.), which had held that a Deity or Sansthan, which is a juristic person, could, hold property, but could not act, except through a Wahiwatdar or Manager, and, as such was incapable of cultivating lands personally. In this view, the second respondent held that the appellant was not a person capable of cultivating land personally and, as such, was not entitled to ask for surrender of the lands, from the tenant.

5. The appellant went up, in revision, against this order, before the Maharashtra Revenue Tribunal, Nagpur (the first respondent). That Tribunal took the view that the case was governed by the decision of the Bombay High Court, in Buvasaheb v. Yesu Krishna, 1960 Nag LJ 219, and dismissed the revision. The High Court summarily rejected the writ petition, filed by the appellant, against this order.

6. Mr. R. V. S. Mani, learned counsel, appearing for the appellant, raised two contentions before us: (i) that the appellant, being a Managing Trustee of the Public Charitable Trust, the properties of the Trust vested in law in him and so he was the landlord, under the Act, entitled to ask for possession of the lands for personal cultivation, and (ii) if the Managing Trustee was not so entitled, under the Act, such of the provisions of the Act, wh