The Act aims to prevent land accumulation and considers changes in situations over time. The prohibition in S.82(4) applies to previously exempted land after the ceiling provisions take effect, with no implied exceptions.

1. The Taluk Land Board, Kunnathoor, by the order sought to be revised, found the excess land in the possession of the revision petitioner to be 12.23 acres and directed him, under the provisions of the Kerala Land Reforms Act,1 of 1964, to surrender the same. It is aggrieved by that order that he has filed this revision petition.

2. Only two contentions were pressed on his behalf here by his counsel. They were about exclusion of 5.50 acres of land in Sy. Nos. 884/442A and B in calculating the total extent of the lands in his possession and exemption of 21.70 acres of land in survey numbers 884/441 and 444 planted with rubber after 1 4 1964 but before 1-11970.

3. The land, 5.50 acres in extent, in respect of which exclusion is claimed, was purchased by him only after 1117970 This is a proceeding under S.83 of the Act. The crucial date under that section being 11 1970 acquisition of land after that date should not have been taken into account in calculating the total extent of the lands in the revision petitioner's possession. Hence 5.50 acres of land has to be deducted from the total extent of 12.23 acres of land now directed to be surrendered by him.

4. The 21.70 acres of land planted with rubber was purchased by him and his wife in 1966 from the Rajagiri Rubber and Produce Company. One ground on which exemption is claimed in respect of it is that it was not excess land in the possession of the company at the time of purchase. Act 1 of 1964 was amended by Act 35 of 1969 and the amendment took effect from 1-1-1970. S.83 of the Act prohibits all persons from holding after 1-1-1970 lands in excess of the ceiling area. According to S.2 (43) of the Act the word 'person' as used in the Act includes a company. S.82 of the Act prescribes the ceiling area. As the provisions of that section stood prior to 1-1-1970 no ceiling area had been fixed for companies but after 1-1-1970 by the amendment by Act 35 of 1969 ceiling area was fixed for companies also. So in 1966 when the Company sold 21.70 acres of land to the revision petitioner and his wife it was not a case of sale of excess land. As it was not excess land at that time, according to counsel for the revision petitioner, it cannot be excess land after 1-1-1970 in the possession of the revision petitioner, also. For the good of the society as a whole the Act provided for prevention of accumulation of lands in the hands of a few and in so providing, it took into account changes in situations from time to time also. The ceiling limit fixed in S.83 of the Act is as on 1-1-1970. It is open to persons holding lands within the ceiling limit to make valid transfers of them after 1-1-1970. As a result of such transfers there was the possibility of lands in excess of the ceiling area getting accumulated in the hands of a new class of people after 1-1-1970 also. That is sought to be prevented by S.87 of the Act. These provisions show that merely because a land was not excess land at some time in the past or in the possession of a particular person it need not be so on a later occasion or in the possession of another. Even in the possession of the same person it can be excess land on a later occasion. As ceiling limit was fixed for companies also from 1-1-1970 by S.82(1)(d) of the Act, even if the Rajagiri Rubber and Produce Company had not transferred the 21.70 acres of land to the revision petitioner and his wife, that land would still have been excess land in the possession of the company itself, if the total extent of the lands in its possession after 1-1-1970 was beyond the ceiling area. The transferee of the land from the company cannot be in a better position. To accept the argument of counsel for the revision petitioner would be to hold that if at some time in the past a land was not excess land in the possession of one person it should remain exempted from the operatic.! of the ceiling provisions of the Act for all time to come. That is not what is intended by and provided for