Judgment

CHINNAPPA REDDY, J. :- Though we confess that during the course of the hearing we did feel somewhat perplexed as to the proper construction to be placed on the provisions of secs. 7, 7A and 8 of the Pepsu Tenancy and Agricultural Lands Act, 1955, on second thoughts we think that only one conclusion is permissible. The Pepsu Tenancy and Agricultural Lands Act, 1955 which was originally passed in 1955 and amended in 1955, was again amended in 1956. The Act purports to amend and consolidate the law relating to tenancies of agricultural land and to provide for certain measures of land reforms. Section 3 broadly defines "permissible limit" for the purposes of the Act to mean 30 standard acres of land and where such 30 standard acres on being converted into ordinary acres exceed 80 acres, such 80 acres. Section 5 enables every land owner owning land exceeding 30 standard acres to select for personal cultivation from the land held by him in the State in parcel or parcels of land not exceeding in the aggregate the permissible limit and reserve such land for personal cultivation by intimating his selection in the prescribed form and manner to the Collector. Section 6 requires the Collector to notify the particulars of all lands reserved for personal cultivation of a landowner tinder sec. 5. Chapter IV-A (Secs. 32-A to 32-NN) deals with ceiling on land and acquisition and disposal of surplus area. In particular, sec. 32A provides that notwithstanding anything to the contrary in any law, customs, usage or agreement, no person shall be entitled to own or hold as landowner or tenant land under his personal cultivation within the State which exceeds in the agreegate the permissible limit. The subsequent provisions provide for the determination of the surplus area and sec. 32E provides for the vesting of surplus area in the State Government. We have to note here that sec. 32-DD provides that tenancies created after the commencement of the 1956 amendment in any area which could have been declared as surplus area have to be declared for the purposes of determining the surplus area of any person. Section 32-F vests the Collector with the power to take possession of surplus area and sec. 32-J prescribes the, modes of disposal of surplus area. We are not really concerned with all those provisions for the present purpose. Chapter III of the Act deals with "General rights of tenancy". Section 7 prescribes that no tenancy shall be terminated except in accordance with the provisions of the Act or except on any of the following grounds. The grounds mentioned are non-payment of rent within a period of six months after it falls due, subletting without the consent in writting of the land-owner, cessation of personal cultivation of the tenant in the manner and to the extent customary in the locality; user of the land or any part of it in a manner which is likely to render it unfit for the purpose for which the land was leased and the refusal by the tenant, on demand in writing, to execute a kabuliyat agreeing to pay rent in accordance with the statutory provisions. What has to be particularly noticed is that the tenancy cannot be terminated except in accordance with the provisions of the Act or except on any of the grounds mentioned in Sec. 7. In other words, a tenancy may be terminated in accordance with the provisions of the Act or on any of the grounds mentioned in sec. 7. Therefore, it means that the tenancy may be terminated on any grounds mentioned in Sec. 7 or in accordance with the provisions of the Act provided, of course, other provisions of the Act provide for the termination of tenancy. In the case of tenancies subsisting at the commencement of the Pepsu Tenancy and Agricultural Lands (Second Amendment) Act, 1956, sec. 7-A provides for two grounds for termination to tenancy in addition to the grounds specified in sec. 7, namely, (i) that the land comprising the tenancy has been reserved by the landowner for his personal cultivation in