1 challenged the said order of the District Judge by moving a writ petition under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution before the High Court, which was allowed by the High Court by its judgment dated June 1, 1983 on the view that the expression full rate of annual land revenue meant only the revenue assessed on the land as such and the Legislature by enacting S. 12 of the Ceiling Act did number have in their mind the local rates which were already leviable under the Local Rates Regultion, at the time of enacting s. 12 of the Act and the surcharge on the land revenue which was subsequently levied under the Surcharge Act.
Feeling aggrieved by the aforesaid judgment of the High Court, the appellant has filed this appeal.
71,811 was assessed as the companypensation payable to the appellant for the said land under S. 12 of the Ceiling Act.
194 of 1982 wherein the High Court had fully companysidered this question and had arrived at the aforesaid companyclusion.
Assessment and payment of land revenue in Assam is governed by the Assam Land and Revenue Regulation, 1886 hereinafter referred to as the Revenue Regulation .
The appellant filed an appeal against the said order before the District Judge, Dibrugarh, who by his order dated July 1, 1981, enhanced the amount of companypensation by including the surcharge as well as the local rate as part of the annual land revenue.
The said draft statement is published under sub section 2 of S. 7 for the purpose of submitting objections.
Under clause a of S. 12 where the person from whom excess land has been acquired, held it as the owner thereof, the companypensation, that is payable is, in the case of fallow land, an amount equal to 25 times the full rate of the annual land revenue for such land and, in case of any other land, an amount equal to 50 times such annual land revenue.
The Ceiling Act, as originally enacted, did number apply to tea estates.
S. 12 makes provision for payment of companypensation for the land which stands transferred to and vested in the State Government.
It was amended by Assam Act VIII of 1971 which came into force on March 27, 1971 whereby sub section 2 of S. 4 was amended and the Ceiling Act was made applicable to tea plantations and land in excess of such land as has been used for special cultivation of tea and the purposes ancillary thereto, was brought within the ceiling.
The apellant is a tea companypany.
I herein, and he also took over possession of the same.
The said decision of the High Court was based on its earlier judgment dated December 21, 1982 in Civil Rule No.
From the Judgment and Order dated 1.6.1983 of the Gauhati High Court in Civil Rule No.
A sum of Rs.
The preliminary objection raised by the learned companynsel for the respondents, is therefore, rejected.
Under s.5 a person holding land in excess of the ceiling is required to submit a return and under s. 7 I , the Collector prepares a draft statement which shows the lands in excess of the limits fixed under s. 4.
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION Civil Appeal No.
Thereafter, the Assam State Legislature enacted the Surcharge Act in 1970 to provide for the levy of surcharge on land revenue and rent assessed in the State of Assam.
K. Mazumdar, S.K. Nandy and P. Goswami for the Respondents.
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by C.AGRAWAL, J. This appeal by special leave is directed against the judgment and order dated June 1, 1983 of the Gauhati High Court in Civil Rule No.
Clause 3 of s.3 of the Revenue Regulation defined the expression land revenue in the following terms 3 e land revenue means any revenue assessed by the State Government on an estate, and includes any tax assessed in lieu of land revenue By the Assam Land Revenue Re assessment Act, 1936, enacted for the purpose of regulating reassessment of land revenue in Assam, the land revenue was re assessed.
876 of 1981.
After companysidering the said oobjections, the draft statement is made final under sub section 4 of S.7 and with effect from the date on which the final statement is signed by the Collector, all rights, title and interest of the person or persons whose lands are shown in excess in such statement, stand transferred to and vested in the State Government, free from all encumbrances created by such person.
876 of 1981.
6650 of 1983.
K. Ganguli, Vijay Hansaria, Sunil Kumar Jain, A.K. Lawania, Suresh Gupta and Rudra Kahlon for the Appellant.
It raises for companysideration the question whether the expression annual land revenue in Section 12 of the Assam Fixation of Ceiling on Land Holdings Act, 1956 hereinafter referred to as the Ceiling Act would include surcharge payable under the Assam Land Revenue and Land Surcharge Act, 1970 hereinafter referred to as the Surcharge Act and the local rate payable under the Assam Local Rates Regulation, 1979 hereinafter referred to as the Local Rates Regulation .
The Ceiling Act was enacted by the Assam State Legislature to make provision for imposition of limits on the areas of land that may be held by a person.
Section 4 of the Act prescribes the ceiling on the existing land.
Respondent No.
Land measuring 1650 bighas, 4 Katthas and 5 lathhas belonging to it was declared as excess land under the Ceiling Act on September 9, 1975 by the Collecter, Dibrugarh, respondent No.
The said figure was arrived at by excluding the surcharge and the local rate payable in respect of the land.
