JUDGMENT

KANIA, J.

( 1 ) THIS is a group of matters comprising Civil No. 3388 of 1984 in this court and other cases which have been placed before us for hearing along with this appeal. We propose to deal first with Civil No. 3388 of 1984.

( 2 ) THIS appeal by special leave is directed against a judgment of the Andhra Pradesh High court in Civil Revision Petition No. 1450 of 1981. The question involved in the appeal before the High court from which this appeal arises was whether land which has been agreed to be sold by the owner under an agreement of sale and possession of which was delivered in part performance of the agreement for sale but pursuant to which no conveyance had been executed till the relevant date, could be included both in the holding of the owner-vendor as well as the purchaser or whether it was liable to be included only in the holding of the purchaser for the purposes of the Andhra Pradesh Land Reforms (Ceiling on Agricultural Holdings) Act, 1973 (hereinafter referred to as the said Act ).

( 3 ) THERE are a number of connected matters where the same question is involved and which have been placed for hearing before us. In some of these cases, a part of the consideration has been paid and in a few others, the entire consideration has been paid. It has also been alleged that the possession of the land was transferred to the purchaser pursuant to the agreements of sale referred to. In some of these cases, lands belonging to the owners have been given on lease to tenants who are in possession thereof as lessees.

( 4 ) IN order to appreciate the controversy arising before us, it is necessary to bear in mind the relevant provisions of the said Act. Before the said Act was enacted, there was in force in Andhra Pradesh an Act entitled Andhra Pradesh (Ceiling on Agricultural Holdings) Act, 1961 which provided for the imposition of a ceiling on holdings of agricultural land. After that Act had been in force for some time, the central Committee on Land Reforms made certain recommendations regarding the fixation of ceiling on agricultural holdings and in line with this proposed policy, the said Act was enacted in 1973 to bring about comprehensive legislation for the imposition of ceiling on agricultural holdings in the State of Andhra Pradesh and with a view to replace the aforesaid Act of1961 as well as Andhra Pradesh Agricultural Lands (Prohibition of Alienation) Act, 1972. The object of the legislation was to take over the lands in excess of the ceiling prescribed and to distribute the same among landless and other deserving persons to subserve the common good. The said Act was included in the Ninth Schedule to the Constitution at Item 67 by the Constitution Thirty-fourth (Amendment) Act and was protected under Article 31-A. The object of the said Act was agrarian reform. Under Ss. (c) of S. 3 of the said Act ceiling area is defined as under:"3. (C) ceiling area means the extent of land specified in S. 4 or S. 4-A to be ceiling area". It may be mentioned here that the agricultural land was classified into wet land, dry land and so on and appropriate areas were fixed as ceiling in respect of such lands taking into account the nature and yield capacity of the lands in question. S. 3 (1) runs as follows :"3. (i) holding means the entire land held by a person, (I) as an owner; (II) as a limited owner; (III) as an usufructuary mortgagee; (IV) as a tenant; (V) who is in possession by virtue of a mortgage by conditional sale or through part performance of a contract for the sale of land or otherwise; or in one or more of such capacities; and the expression to hold land shall be construed accordingly ;explanation: Where the same land is held by one person in one capacity and by another person in any other capacity, such land shall be included in the holding of both such persons. "s. 3 (m) provides that "notified date" means the date notified under Ss. (3) of S. 1 on which the said Act came into force. It may be mentioned that