Judgment

KHANNA, J.:- The Gudalur Janmam Estates (Abolition and Conversion into Ryotwari) Act, 1969 (Act No. 24 of 1969), hereinafter referred to as the Act, received the assent of the President on December 6, 1969, after it had been enacted by the legislature of the State of Tamil Nadu. It was thereafter published in the gazette on December 17, 1969. The Act extends to the Gudalur taluk of the Nilgiris district and applies to all janmam estates. It is to come into force on such date as the State Government may, by notification appoint. This Court stayed the issue of the notification and, as such, no notification has so far been issued.

2. Nine petitions under Art. 226 of the Constitution of India were filed in the Madras High Court challenging the vires of the Act on the ground that it was violative of Arts. 14, 19 and 31 of the Constitution. The case of the petitioners was that their lands in the Gudalur taluk were previously janmam estates but subsequently became ryotwari estates, especially after the resettlement of 1926 and, as such, the provisions of the Act were not applicable to those lands. The Act, it was stated, did not get the protection of Article 31A of the Constitution. One of the above petitions was filed by O Valley Estate Ltd. This petitioner had taken on lease an estate comprising about 2,000 acres of land in the 19th century from the Nilambur Kovilakam who was the proprietor of that land besides some other land. The Company (O Valley Estate Ltd.) has a plantation on the estate and is engaged in cultivation and manufacturing of tea and other plantation products. The Nilambur Kovilakam was the petitioner in another petition.

3. The nine petitions were resisted by the State of Tamil Nadu on the ground that the lands in question were Janmam estates and had retained that character till the passing of the Act. The State of Tamil Nadu also invoked the protection of Article 31A of the Constitution. The nine petitions were dismissed by the Madras High Court by a common judgment given in the petition held by O Valley Estate Ltd. It was held that the lands were janmam estates and had not lost that character. The Act was held to be protected by Article 31A of the Constitution. Civil Appeals Nos.2211 and 2212 of 1970 and Nos. 85 to 91 of 1971 have been filed against the above judgment of the High Court.

4. Writ Petition No. 373 of 1970 has been filed under Article 32 of the Constitution by Balmadies Plantations Ltd. and its shareholder Dayanand Bansilal Saxena challenging the vires of the Act on the ground that it is violative of Articles 14, 19 and 31 of the Constitution and is not protected by Article 31A. According to the petitioner, the janmam estates which are now intended to be abolished by the Act had been converted into ryotwari estates. The purpose of the Act, it is further stated, is not to bring about agrarian reform. The petitioner company in this case had taken on lease 170.78 hectares from the Nilambur Kovilakam, the appellant in civil appeal No.2211 of 1970, in the 19th century. Out of the above area, 143.22 hectares is under coffee plantation, while the rest of the land consists of forests and waste land.

5. The writ petition has been resisted by the State of Tamil Nadu and the affidavit of Shri A.S. Venkataraman, Additional Secretary has been filed in opposition to the petition. The respondent has controverted the different grounds taken by the petitioner.

6. Gudalur taluk, it may be stated, comprises 12 villages. The said taluk was originally part of Malabar district which now forms part of Kerala State. O Valley village was transferred to the Nilgiris in 1873 and the other eleven villages were transferred in 1877. Originally the janmis in Malabar were absolute proprietors of the land and did not pay land revenue. After Malabar was annexed by the British in the beginning of the 19th century, the janmis conceded the liabilities to pay land revenue. According to the case set up by the petitioner-appellants,