Judgment

S. C. AGRAWAL, J.:- This appeal by special leave is directed against the judgment and order dated June 1, 1983 of the Gauhati High Court in Civil Rule No. 876 of 1981. It raises for consideration the question whether the expression annual land revenue in S. 12 of the Assam Fixation of Ceiling on Land Holdings Act, 1956 (hereinafter referred to as the Ceiling Act) would include surcharge payable under the Assam Land Revenue and Land (Surcharge) Act, 1970 (hereinafter referred to as the Surcharge Act ) and the local rate payable under the Assam Local Rates Regulation, 1879 (hereinafter referred to as the Local Rates Regulation).

2. The Ceiling Act was enacted by the Assam State Legislature to make provision for imposition of limits on the areas of land that may be held by a person. S. 4 of the Act prescribes the ceiling on the existing land. Under S. 5 a person holding land in excess of the ceiling is required to submit a return and under S. 7(1), the Collector prepares a draft statement which shows the lands in excess of the limits fixed under S. 4. The said draft statement is published under sub-sec. (2) of S.7 for the purpose of submitting objections. After considering the said objections, the draft statement is made final under sub-sec. (4) of S. 7; and with effect from the date on which the final statement is signed by the Collector, all rights, title and interest of the person or persons whose lands are shown in excess in such statement, stand transferred to and vested in the State Government, free from all encumbrances created by such person. S. 12 makes provision for payment of compensation for the land which stands transferred to and vested in the State Government. Under Cl. (a) of S. 12 where the person from whom excess land has been acquired, held it as the owner thereof, the compensation, that is payable is, in the case of fallow land, an amount equal to 25 times the full rate of the annual land revenue for such land and, in case of any other land, an amount equal to 50 times such annual land revenue.

3. The Ceiling Act, as originally enacted, did not apply to tea estates. It was amended by Assam Act VIII of 1971 which came into force on March 27, 1971 whereby sub-sec. (2) of S. 4 was amended and the Ceiling Act was made applicable to tea plantations and land in excess of such land as has been used for special cultivation of tea and the purposes ancillary thereto was brought within the ceiling.

4. The appellant is a tea company. Land measuring 1650 bighas, 4 katthas and 5 lathhas belonging to it was declared as excess land under the Ceiling Act on September 9, 1975 by the Collector, Dibrugarh, respondent No. 1 herein, and he also took over possession of the same. A sum of Rs. 71,811 was assessed as the compensation payable to the appellant for the said land under S. 12 of the Ceiling Act. The said figure was arrived at by excluding the surcharge and the local rate payable in respect of the land. The appellant filed an appeal against the said order before the District Judge, Dibrugarh, who, by his order dated July 1, 1981, enhanced the amount of compensation by including the surcharge as well as the local rate as part of the annual land revenue. Respondent No. 1 challenged the said order of the District Judge by moving a writ petition under Arts. 226 and 227 of the Constitution before the High Court, which was allowed by the High Court by its judgment dated June 1, 1983 on the view that the expression full rate of annual land revenue meant only the revenue assessed on the land as such and the Legislature by enacting S. 12 of the Ceiling Act did not have in their mind the local rates which were already leviable under the Local Rates Regulation, at the time of enacting S. 12 of the Act and the surcharge on the land revenue which was subsequently levied under the Surcharge Act. The said decision of the High Court was based on its earlier judgment dated December 21, 1982 in Civil Rule No. 194 of 1982: (reported in 1