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High Court of Judicature at Madras
VEERASWAMI & RAGHAVAN
State of Madras, represented by the Collector of Thanjavur
Versus
Arulraj Sunder
C. R. P. No. 2430 of 1969 & 2262 & 2321 of 1970 & 1503 of 1971
Decided On :Decided on: 26-02-1973
LAND REFORMS - CEILING ON LAND HOLDINGS - FIXATION OF CEILING AREA - FAMILY - MINORITY - DEFINITION - HINDU LAW - MAJORITY - STRIDHANA LAND - DEFINITION - LAND HELD BY UNMARRIED DAUGHTER - WHETHER TO BE INCLUDED IN FAMILY'S CEILING AREA.
Fact of the Case:
The Madras Land Reforms (Fixation of Ceiling on Land) Act, 1961, defines 'family' as including the person, spouse, minor sons and unmarried daughters, and minor grandsons and unmarried granddaughters in the male line whose parents are dead. The question arose whether a minor who had attained the age of 16 under the Hindu rule of majority, but not under the Indian Majority Act, should be considered a minor for the purpose of the Ceiling Act. In another case, the question was whether land gifted to an unmarried daughter by her maternal grandmother after the commencement of the Act could be considered as stridhana land and excluded from the family's ceiling area.
Finding of the Court:
The court held that the minor who had attained the age of 16 under the Hindu rule of majority should be considered a major for the purpose of the Ceiling Act, as the Act did not define 'minor' and the Indian Majority Act had not been extended to Karaikkal, where the minor was domiciled, until after the relevant date. The court also held that the land gifted to the unmarried daughter after the commencement of the Act could be considered as stridhana land and excluded from the family's ceiling area, as the definition of 'stridhana land' in the Act was not limited to land held on the date of the commencement of the Act.
Issues: 1. Whether a minor who had attained the age of 16 under the Hindu rule of majority, but not under the Indian Majority Act, should be considered a minor for the purpose of the Ceiling Act. 2. Whether land gifted to an unmarried daughter by her maternal grandmother after the commencement of the Act could be considered as stridhana land and excluded from the family's ceiling area.
Ratio Decidendi: 1. The definition of 'family' in the Ceiling Act includes minor sons and unmarried daughters, but does not define 'minor'. The Indian Majority Act, which defines 'minor' as a person who has not completed the age of 18 years, had not been extended to Karaikkal, where the minor was domiciled, until after the relevant date. Therefore, the court held that the minor should be considered a major for the purpose of the Ceiling Act. 2. The definition of 'stridhana land' in the Ceiling Act is limited to land held on the date of the commencement of the Act by any female member of a family in her own name. However, the court held that this definition should be interpreted to include land held subsequent to the date of the commencement of the Act by any member of the family, in her own name. This interpretation is supported by the fact that the purpose of the Ceiling Act is to prevent the concentration of land holdings in the hands of a few individuals, and this purpose would be defeated if land gifted to an unmarried daughter after the commencement of the Act were excluded from the family's ceiling area.
Final Decision: The court dismissed the petition by the State in the first case and allowed the other petitions.
VEERASWAMI
1. These cases raise interesting questions. But, eventually, we are of the view that the orders of the courts below will have to be accepted as correct in one of them but reversed in the rest of them. In C.R.P. 2430 of 1969, the question is whether the property, which has been acquired by a minor under a settlement or gift dated 27th August 1955, should be taken into account under S. 5(2) read with the definition of ‘family’ in the Madras Land Reforms (Fixation of Ceiling on Land) Act, 1961 in fixing the ceiling area for the family. The Act commenced to operate from 6th April 1960. The notified date, for the purpose of these cases, was 2nd October 1962. The court below took the view that the minors property should not be taken into account for the purpose of S. 5(2). This was on the view that he was a domicile in the French territory of Karaikal and was governed by the Hindu rule of majority, according to which a person who had attained the age of 16 would be regarded as a major. That event happened on 23rd January 1961, the minors birth being 23rd January 1945. The view of the court below was that, since the Indian Majority Act had no application to him and there is nothing in the Ceiling Act in respect of that matter, the minor for the purpose of the Act should be regarded as a major and, that being so he was not a member of the family of his father.
2. In the other civil revision petitions, a Hindu family consists of a father, mother and an unmarried daughter. The unmarried daughter had received a gift from her maternal grandmother of land of an extent of 48 acres and 1 cent equal to 12.002 standard acres. That was on 3rd December 1962. The court below, with reference to the definition of the expression ‘Stridhana land’ in the Act, held that the property obtained by the unmarried grand daughter from her maternal grandmother could not be regarded as s tridhana property.
3. The Ceiling Act is one intended to provide for fixation of ceiling on agricultural land holdings and for certain other matters Connected therewith. The Act extends to the whole of the State. S. 2 defines a number of expressions which occur in the Act. A person is defined to include any trust, company, family, firm, society or association of individuals, whether incorporated or not. The expression ‘family’ in relation to a person means the person, the wife or husband, as the case may be, of such person and his or her minor sons and unmarried daughters and minor grandsons and unmarried grand daughters in the male line, whose father and mother are dead. There is an Explanation which clarifies that, for the purpose of the clause, in the case of persons governed by Hindu law, ‘minor sons’ and ‘minor grandsons’ shall not include sons or grandsons between whom and the other members of the family a partition by means of a registered instrument had taken place or in respect of whose family properties a preliminary decree for partition has been passed before the date of the commencement of the Act. S. 4 gives the Act an effect overriding other laws, custom, usage or contract or decree or order of a court in so far as they are inconsistent with the provisions of the Act. S. 5 fixes the ceiling. Sub-s. (1) of the section provides that subject to the provisions mentioned therein, the ceiling area, in the case of every family consisting of not more than five members shall be 30 standard acres. For every additional member, an additional 5 standard acres shall be added. Then follows Sub-s. (2).
“For the purposes of this section, all the lands held individually by the members of a family or jointly by some or all of the members of such family shall be deemed to be held by the family”.
This is a strange provision, which on the face of it, appears to be unreasonable if not unjustified, in as much as properties traceable to different titles are brought into the vortex of family properties for the purpose of fixing the ceiling. A suggestion was made that havi
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