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HIGH COURT OF ORISSA
NARASIMHAM,G.C.DAS, JJ.
Nabin Chandra Gantayet
Versus
State of Orissa
O.J.C. No.146 of 1956
Decided On : 26-10-1956
ORISSA TENANTS RELIEF ACT, 1955 - CONSTITUTIONALITY - ARTICLES 14 AND 19(1)(F) - VALIDITY - CHALLENGED - PROTECTION FROM EVICTION - REDUCTION OF PRODUCE RENT - DISCRIMINATION - UNREASONABLE RESTRICTION ON RIGHT TO HOLD PROPERTY - HELD - ACT VALID.
Fact of the Case:
The Orissa Tenants Relief Act, 1955 (the Act) was challenged on the grounds that it violated Articles 14 and 19(1)(f) of the Constitution. The Act provided protection from eviction to tenants and reduced the produce rent payable by them to their landlords. The petitioner, a landowner, argued that the Act discriminated against certain classes of tenants and imposed unreasonable restrictions on his right to hold property.
Finding of the Court:
The Court held that the Act was valid and did not violate Articles 14 and 19(1)(f) of the Constitution. The Court found that the classification of tenants under the Act was reasonable and that the reduction in produce rent was not so drastic as to amount to an unreasonable restriction on the landlord's right to hold property.
Issues: 1. Whether the Act violated Article 14 of the Constitution by discriminating against certain classes of tenants? 2. Whether the Act imposed unreasonable restrictions on the petitioner's right to hold property under Article 19(1)(f) of the Constitution?
Ratio Decidendi: 1. The Court held that the classification of tenants under the Act was reasonable because it was based on the object of the Act, which was to prevent large-scale eviction of tenants by landlords in anticipation of land reforms. The Court found that the Act did not discriminate against any particular class of tenants and that the classification was necessary to achieve the object of the Act. 2. The Court held that the reduction in produce rent under the Act was not so drastic as to amount to an unreasonable restriction on the landlord's right to hold property. The Court found that the landlord would still be left with a reasonable return on his investment after the reduction in rent.
Final Decision: The Court dismissed the petition and upheld the validity of the Act.
Judgement
NARASIMHAM, C. J. :- This is an application under Art. 226 of the Constitution by the owner of wet lands in village Raghunathpur, in Chatrapur Taluk of Ganjam district, challenging the validity of the Orissa Tenants Relief Act 1955 (Orissa Act V of 1955) (hereinafter referred to as the Act).
2. In 1948 the Orissa Legislature passed an Act known as the Orissa Tenants Protection Act for the purpose of granting temporary protection from eviction to the tiller of the soil (usually known as Bhagchassis) and also for reducing the produce rent payable by a tenant to his landlord. After the coming into force of the Constitution the validity of this Act was unsuccessfully challenged before a Division Bench of this Court in the case reported in Sashi Bushan v. Mangal, ILR (1953) Cut 45 : (AIR 1953 Orissa 171) (A).
In that decision the full history of the circumstances leading to the passing of the Orissa Tenants Protection Act was given and it is unnecessary to repeat the same here. It is sufficient to say that the Legislature thought that the insecurity of tenure of the actual cultivator was mainly responsible for the deficiency in agricultural production and that the incidence of produce rent was so heavy as to leave a very inadequate return to the actual cultivator for his labour and enterprise.
It was to remedy these defects that the said Act was passed and it remained on the statute book after being extended from time to time by competent authorities, till 15th April 1955. In 1951 the Orissa Legislature passed the well-known Orissa Estate Abolition Act whose main purpose was to eliminate intermediaries between the Government and the actual cultivators by acquiring their rights on payment of compensation.
In pursuance of that Act most of the estates of proprietors in North and South Orissa have been taken over by Government but there still remains a large class of intermediaries in North Orissa known as tenureholders whose interests have not yet been acquired. Moreover, there are a number of ryots both in North and South Orissa who are in possession of large tracts of land which they are unable to cultivate personally and which are generally settled on produce rent with the Bhagchassis who are the actual tillers of the soil. The Tenants Protection Act doubtless gave those Bhagchassis protection from eviction and also substantial reduction in the produce rent payable to their immediate landlord.
But as the life of that Act expired on the 15th April 1955 and there was a genuine apprehension that further legislation relating to land reform would be initiated by Government resulting in the elimination of other classes of intermediaries between the Government and the actual tiller including even big ryots, there was a danger that these intermediaries would attempt to evict the actual cultivators from their lands on a large scale. With a view to avoid this evil, the Orissa Tenants Relief Act was passed on the 21st April 1955, and the Preamble to that Act which makes the object clear is as follows :-
"Whereas subsequent to the passing of the Orissa Estate Abolition Act 1951 and pending further legislation relating to land reforms large-scale eviction of tenants from actual cultivation of agricultural lands is being resorted to by the owners of such lands :
And whereas pending such further legislation it is expedient to afford relief to such person by providing for their temporary protection from such eviction and for conferring on them certain other privileges in the manner hereinafter appearing; etc."
The Act was given retrospective effect from the first day of July 1954 and the Orissa Tenants Protection Act was also repealed retrospectively from that date. There was, however, a saving clause (Section 19) by which the rights and privileges acquired under the Tenants Protection Act, as well as pending proceedings, appointments orders, etc., made under that Act, were all saved.
The Act closely follows the pattern of the Orissa Tenants Prote
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