JUDGMENT :

Dinesh Maheshwari, J.

Preliminary

1. This appeal is directed against the judgment and order dated 10.03.2014, as passed by the High Court of Calcutta in W.P.L.R.T. No. 325 of 2013 whereby, the High Court has allowed the writ petition filed by the respondent Nos. 1 and 2 of this appeal and has disapproved the orders dated 27.01.2010 and 01.08.2012 as passed by the Controller, Calcutta Thika Tenancy,¹[Hereinafter also referred to as ‘the Controller’], as also the order dated 18.12.2013 as passed by the West Bengal Land Reforms and Tenancy Tribunal at Calcutta,²[Hereinafter also referred to as ‘the Tribunal’].

1.1. By the orders aforesaid, the Controller and the Tribunal had concluded that the present appellants were thika tenants in respect of the property involved in this litigation and the landlord’s interest therein stood vested in the State under the statutes governing thika tenancies. However, in the impugned judgment and order dated 10.03.2014, the High Court concluded to the opposite and held that the Controller and the Tribunal were not justified in accepting the present appellants as thika tenants in respect of the property in question.

2. Put in a nutshell, the issues involved in this appeal revolve around thika tenancy enactments, as applicable to the property and the tenancy in question. The nature of tenancy created in favour of the appellants and/or their predecessors and impact/implication of the structure put up by them on the property in question form the core of the typical and peculiar questions involved in this matter.

3. Before proceeding further, we may point out that the consideration herein relates to thika tenancy and undoubtedly, the word ‘thika’ in Bengali means ‘temporary or partial’,³[Vide Sri Sri Satyanarayan & Ors. v. S.C. Chunder: (2001) 3 CHN 641 - paragraph 19, reproducing from the decision in the case of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd. v. Sashi Bhusan Mondal, APD No. 280 of 1981].

Statutory Provisions

4. Ordinarily, we would have commenced the discussion with relevant factual aspects but, in the present case, even for proper appreciation of factual matrix, an insight into the relevant provisions of law with reference to their enactment as also chronology of their enforcement appears necessary. Hence, before adverting to the facts of the case, we deem it appropriate to extract the relevant statutory provisions relating to thika tenancy, in their feasible chronology and also with reference to their objects and reasons. We shall deal with the construction of phraseology of these provisions and implications thereof a little later. For the present purpose, only the relevant provisions are being reproduced.

5. In order to make better provisions in respect of the law of landlord and tenant as als