1The petitioners in these cases question the Constitutional validity of S.4(2) of the Agricultural Income Tax Act, 1950 (hereinafter, the Act). They are sought to be assessed under that Act in respect of also the agricultural income derived from their lands, according to them, in the possession and enjoyment of their mortgagees under possessory mortgages. The said provision is impugned on the grounds that it is beyond the legislative competence of the State Legislature, and is also arbitrary, confiscatory, irrational and discriminatory

2S.4(2) of the Act reads:
"4. Total Agricultural Income
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(2) For the purposes of sub-s.(1), agricultural income derived from any land situated within the State, which is in the possession of the mortgagee thereof, shall, notwithstanding anything contained in S.23, be deemed to be agricultural income received by the mortgagor:
Provided that where the agricultural income tax charged on such agricultural income cannot be recovered from the mortgagor, such tax shall be payable by and recoverable from the mortgagee, and the mortgagee shall be entitled to recover from the mortgagor the amount of the tax so paid.
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