The main legal point established in the judgment is that a Rent Court had jurisdiction to fix the fair rent of a kanom holding even prior to the amendment effected by Act 22 of 1956.

1. The question for consideration in this revision petition is whether a Rent Court constituted under S.15 of the Malabar Tenancy Act, 1929, had jurisdiction to fix the fair rent of a kanom holding prior to the Malabar Tenancy (Amendment) Act, 1956 - Act 22 of 1956 - which came into force on 27-10-1956. The lower court held that such a jurisdiction did not exist prior to Act 22 of 1956, and the petitioner before us - a kanom tenant - questions the correctness of that decision.

2. According to Ansari, C. J, in C.R.P. No. 135 of 1960, decided on 5-4-1961, and in C.R.P. 134 of 1956 (K) decided on 9-6-1961, the Rent Court did not have any such jurisdiction. According to Raghavan, J., in his order of reference to a Division Bench dated 30-5-1961, it did have such a jurisdiction, and our task is to decide which of the two views is correct.

3. S.16 of the Malabar Tenancy Act, 1929, omitting the proviso thereto, reads as follows: -

"If any dispute arises as to the amount of fair rent payable in respect of any land under the foregoing provisions of this Chapter, either the tenant, or, after the expiry of three years from the commencement of the Malabar Tenancy (Amendment) Act, 1954, the landlord may apply to the Rent Court for the determination of the fair rent; and on such application being made, the fair rent shall be determined by the Rent Court:"

The section was amended by Act 22 of 1956 by the addition of the words and brackets "(including a kanamdar or a customary verumpattomdar)" after the words "either the tenant". The section after the amendment reads as follows:

"If any dispute arises as to the amount of fair rent payable in respect of any land under the foregoing provisions of this Chapter, either the tenant (including a kanamdar or a customary verumpattomdar), or, after the expiry of three years from the commencement of the Malabar Tenancy (Amendment) Act, 1954, the landlord may apply to the Rent Court for the determination of the fair rent; and on such application being made the fair rent shall be determined by the Rent Court:"

4. The Preamble to Act 22 of 1956 is in the following terms:

"Whereas urgent amendment to clarify the intendment of the Legislature in regard to some of the provisions of Act VII of 1954 and Act XXXIII of 1951 have become necessary in view of some decisions of Courts and whereas the protection sought to be Conferred by Act VII of 1954 would be lost to the tenantry if immediate amendments are not carried out;"

The wording of the preamble has been emphasised in the order of reference. There can be no doubt that a court is entitled to obtain assistance from a preamble in ascertaining the meaning of an enacting part. In (1957) 1 All E. R.49 Lord Simonds said:

"I conceive it to be my right and duty to examine every word of a statute in its context, and I use context in its widest sense which I have already indicated as including not only other enacting provisions of the same statute, but its preamble, the existing state of the law, other statutes in pari materia, and the mischief which I can, by those and other legitimate means, discern that the statute was intended to remedy".

5. The word "Tenant" is defined in S.3 [27] of the Malabar Tenancy Act, 1929, as follows:

"'Tenant' means any person who has paid or has agreed to pay rent or other consideration, for his being allowed by another, to enjoy the land of the latter, and includes an intermediary, a kanamdar, a kanam-kuzhikanamdar, a kuzhikanamdar, a verumpattamdar of any description and the holder of a kudiyiruppu; but does not include a 'mulgenidar' as defined in the Mulgeni Rent Enhancement Act, 1920, in the villages in the South Kanara District specified in the Schedule."

There can be no doubt that a kanamdar comes within the definition. The definition of the expression "Landlord" is S.3 [19] of the Act is: "a person under whom a tenant holds and to whom he is liable to pay rent or michavaram and includes a jenmi."

6. The expression "Rent" is define