Judgment

FAZAL ALI, J.:- This appeal by special leave is directed against a judgment dated December 21, 1978 of the Allahabad High Court allowing the writ petition filed by the State of U. P. before the Court.

2. The case arose out of an order passed by the Prescribed Authority under the U. P. Imposition of Ceiling on Land Holdings Act, 1960 (hereinafter referred to as the Act), as amended up-to-date, by which the said Authority rejected the claim of the petitioners on the basis of a gift which had been executed by her grand-father by a registered document dated January 28, 1972. The Act was passed as far back as 1960 but by virtue of an amendment, being U. P. Act No. 18 of 1973. Section 5 was introduced which placed a ceiling on any tenure-holder to hold land in excess of the ceiling area fixed under the Act. Section 5 contained various subsections but in the instant case we are concerned only with sub-section (6) as also clause (b) of the proviso to the said sub-section. By another amendment. being U. P. Act No. 2 of 1975, which was given retrospective operation with effect from 8-6-1973 Explanation I. alongwith its sub-clauses, was added to subsection (6) of Section 5.

3. The decision in the present case turns upon the interpretation of subsection (6) of Section 5 and the proviso therein in order to determine the validity of the Deed of Gift said to have been executed by Chunni Lal Bhatiya, the grandfather of the petitioner Sonia and respondent No. 4 before the District Judge.

4. To begin with, we might like to state here that the facts of the case undoubtedly reveal that if the provisions of the said sub-section (6) were to apply it would work serious hardship to the petitioner but as we are concerned with interpretation of an important statute the mere fact that a correct interpretation may lead to hardship would not be a valid consideration for distorting the language of the statutory provisions.

5. Before we proceed to examine the relevant provisions, it may be necessary to give a resume of the facts of the case. Chunni Lal Bhatiya had two sons, Sudesh and Mahesh and a daughter Smt. Sarla. On 14-9-1969 Chunni Lal executed a registered deed of gift in respect of 110 bighas in favour of his son, Sudesh. A month later, another deed of gift was executed in favour of his son, Sudhir (sic). So far as these two gifts are concerned, as they were made before the amendment of the Ceiling Act, their validity was beyond question and they are not the subject-matter of any dispute in the present case. On January 28, 1972 Chunni Lal executed a gift in respect of 80 bighas in favour of his granddaughter, Sonia (daughter of Mahesh). It appears that a serious misfortune had befallen Chunni Lal in that he lost his two sons, Sudesh and Mahesh, who were serving in the Air Force and died in two different air crashes. As Chunni Lal wanted to make sufficient provision for his grandsons and grand-daughter, he executed the three gifts.

6. The gift executed in favour of Sonia is the subject-matter of the dispute in the instant case. The Prescribed Authority held that as the gift was made after the due date, i. e. 24-1-1971, as prescribed by sub-section (6) of Section 5, the transfer would have to be ignored. Against the decision of the Prescribed Authority, the appellant filed an appeal before the District Judge, being the Appellate Authority, and assailed the finding of the Prescribed Authority. The District Judge, after hearing the parties, came to a clear finding that the gift was a bona fide one having regard to the circumstances in which the transfer was made and merely because it was executed after the due date (24-1-1971) it could not be held to be invalid. Thereafter. the State of U. P. filed a writ petition in the High Court which was allowed following a Division Bench decision of its Court in Fateh Mohammad v. District Judge, Civil Writ Petn. No. 915 of 1975. Decided on 10-7-1978, which had held that a deed of gift not being a transfer for co