Judgment

RANGANATH MISRA,J.

(1) THIS appeal is by special leave and the sole legal representatives of the original plaintiff is in appeal.

(2) THE plaintiff sued for declaration that inclusion of the disputed property in the land records of the respondent Gaon Sabha on the basis that it had vested under the provisions of the Delhi Land Reforms Act, 1954 (hereinafter referred to as the Act) was wrong, void and without jurisdiction and for a further declaration that she was entitled to bhumidari rights in the property under S. 11 of the Act. Her suit was decreed in the trial court and the said decree was affirmed in appeal but at the instance of defendant 1, Goan Sabha, the High court in second appeal reversed the decrees of the courts below and dismissed the suit.

(3) THE suit was instituted on 16/08/1966. The decision of this court in the case of Hatti v. Sunder Singh settled the legal position that a claim under S. 11 of the Act for declaration of bhumidari right was not maintainable in the civil court in view of S. 185 of the Act read with Schedule I and exclusive jurisdiction for adjudication of such claims vested in the appropriate Revenue court. This position of law is not disputed before us. In regard to the relief of bhumidari rights the High court had. therefore, rightly held that the plaintiffS suit was not maintainable.

(4) THE only other submission advanced on behalf of the plaintiff for our consideration is that the disputed property did not constitute land as defined in S. 3(13 of the Act and, therefore, the right. title and interest of the appellant as proprietor of the property was in no way affected by the provisions of the Act and the inclusion of the property in LR 2 was void, and liable to vacation.

(5) IN paragraph 4(d) of the plaint, plaintiff pleaded that the suit land was not land and was not banjar (waste) and did not come within S. 154(l)(i) to (vii) of the Act and, therefore, there was no vesting in law. The proprietor, according to the plaintiff, grew fuelwood and partly used the property as ghatwurs and used the stones for building purposes.

(6) THE High court has found that the property came within the definition of land and, therefore, was subjected to the legal incidence of the statutory provisions. S. 3(13 defines land to mean :

LAND held or occupied for purposes connected with agriculture. horticulture or animal husbandry including pisciculture and poultry farming and includes-

(A) buildings appurtenant thereto.

(B)) village abadis.

(C) grovelands,

(D) lands for village pasture or land covered by water and used for growing singharas and other produce or land in the bed of a river and used for casual or occasional cultivation....

(7) THE definition of land in the Act r- wide and in paragraph 4(d) the admitted position is fuelwood was being grown on the property. Horticulture, garden and groveland in the absence of statutory definitions, would have the common parlance meaning. Horticulture, as the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary indicates means:

THE cultivation of the garden.

Garden, according to the dictionary, means:

AN area of land. usually planted with grass, trees, flower beds. etc. : an area of land used for the cultivation of ornamental plants. herbs, fruit, vegetables, trees, etc.

A grove, as the dictionary puts it means: "A small wood: small woodland area or plantation". A land on which fuelwood is grown would constitute groveland.

(8) IN view of the inclusive definition of land, the finding of the High court that the disputed property constituled land cannot be said to be wrong. Reliance was placed on the Jccision of the Punjab High court in Nemi Chand v. Financial Commisioner. Punjab where the meaning of land in Punjab Security of Land Tenures Act was under examination and the court was called upon to decide whether banjar jadid and banjar quadim came within the definition. For that purpose th