Judgment

VAIDIALINGAM, J. :- This appeal, by special leave, is directed against the judgment and order dated July 13, 1966 of the High Court of Bombay (Nagpur Bench) in Special Civil Application No. 499 of 1965 filed under Article 227 of the Constitution by the first respondent herein (to be referred as the tenant).

2. The appellant (to be referred as the landlord) was the daughter of one Champatrao. She had obtained from her father under a gift deed dated September 15, 1944 the suit field survey No. 56 of an extent of 27 acres 37 gunthas. As owner of the lands she served a notice dated March 31, 1962 on the tenant informing him of her intention to terminate his tenancy of the lands on the ground that she required the lands bona fide for her personal cultivation. On March 30, 1963 she filed an application before the Naib Tahsildar, Darwha under Section 36 read with Section 39 of the Bombay Tenancy and Agricultural Lands (Vidarbha Region) Act. Bombay Act No. XCIX of 1958 (hereinafter referred to as the Act) for termination of tenancy of the tenant and for directing him to surrender possession of the entire lands comprised in field survey No. 56. Later on she amended her application and prayed in the alternative that if for any reason she was found not entitled to get possession of the entire lands, she may be allowed to recover half of the lands in the possession of the tenant and that in respect of that half, in the eastern portion 13 acres and 38 gunthas may be allotted to her.

3. The tenant resisted the claim of the landlord on various grounds. He pleaded that the father and mother of the landlord had fallen out very long ago and that the landlord was a minor, was being looked after and protected by her mother Smt. Chandrabhagabai and the mother was managing the suit properties on behalf of her minor daughter. In the course of such management the suit properties were being leased in his favour from time to time beginning from 1951-52 and as such he has been in possession as tenant from April, 1951. Though the original leases granted by the mother were oral, for the year 1956-57 he had executed a kabuliyat in favour of the landlord represented by her mother as guardian. Inasmuch as he had been the tenant of the properties under a lease created prior to April 1, 1957, he had acquired the status of a protected lessee even before the coming into force of the Act. He further pleaded that as the landlord had not filed the application within one year of the coming into force of the Act, her claim was barred by limitation and the application under Section 39 was not maintainable. He had also raised a controversy regarding her date of birth as well as the validity of the notice dated March 31, l962, issued by the landlord.

4. The Naib Tahsildar held that the application filed by the landlord under Section 36 read with Section 39 was maintainable and that the notice issued by her on March 31, 1962 was valid. He further found that the landlord was born on July 6, 1944 and attained majority on July 6, 1962. On an interpretation of Section 39, the Naib Tahsildar found that the landlord was entitled to file the application within one year after her attaining majority and in this case the application has been filed within that time. He further found that there were oral leases granted by the mother of the landlord in favour of the tenant from 1951 onwards and that the tenant had also executed a lease deed in favour of the landlord represented by her mother on February 12, 1956 for the year 1956-57 and that he has been in possession of the lands as tenant even during the period l958-59. But the Naib Tahsildar held that as the father of the appellant was alive and was in law her natural guardian, the lease executed by the tenant on February 12, 1956 was not legal and valid as the mother was not entitled to represent her minor daughter. But as the tenant was in occupation of the lands during the year 1958-59, he must be treated as a deemed tenant