The Big Landed Estates Abolitions Act of 1950 was quite a revolutionary piece of legislation in the companytext of those times.
The Gajendragadkar Commission made various recommendations by its Report dated December 1968.
This long and empirical process ultimately culminated in the enactment of the Act of 1976 which is impugned in these proceedings.
The Janki Nath Wazir Committee pointed out anomalies in the various measures taken by the State Legislature by way of the land reforms and it made recommendations in order to remove the inequities from which the land reforms legislation undertaken by the State suffered.
4195 and 4445 of 1978, 8831, 8942 of 1981, 342 717, 803 804, 1005 1242, 6501 6746, 2860 3049, 3169 71, 3413 63, 7133 35 of 1982.
Thousands of applications were filed by the landlords under the provisions of the Tenancy Amendment Act of 1965 for resumption of lands from tenants but, later, further proceeding in those applications were stayed.
By subsequent legislations, tenants were given protec tion in the matter of rents, certain classes of number occupancy tenants came to be regarded as protected tenants and landlords were given a further opportunity for making applications for the resumption of land.
A ceiling was placed by that Act on the holding of proper ties at 182 Kanals, which companyes roughly to 23 acres.
It is impossible to accept the companytention of Shri V.M. Tarkunde, who appears on be half of the petitioners, that by reason of certain provisions of the impugned Act which are number companyrelated to agrarian welfare, the Act cannot be said to be a measure of agrarian reform.
It also pointed out the defects from which the Land Legislation in the Slate of Jammu Kashmir suffered and suggested ways and means for removing them.
The land in excess of the ceiling was expropriated without the payment of any companypensation and the tiller of the soil became the owner of the excess land.
Altaf Ahmed for the respondents in all other matters.
4445/78, 8942, 1005 1242, 3413 3463 and 7133 35/82.
In 1967, the Sate Government appointed another Commission of Inquiry, with Shri P.B. Gajendragadkar, retired Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, as its Chairman.
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by CHANDRACHUD, CJ By these Writ Petitions filed under Article 32 of the Constitution, the petitioners challenge the companystitutional validity of the Jammu Kashmir Agrarian Reforms Act, 17 of 1976, on the ground that the Act violates the provisions of Articles 14, 19 and 31 of the Constitution.
The State Government companystituted a Land Commission under the Chairmanship of the then Revenue Minister, Syed Mir Kasim, in 1963 to examine the Wazir Committees Report.
ORIGINAL JURISDICTION Writ Petition Nos.
4196/82, 6501 6746, 2860 3049, 342 717/82, and 8831/81.
Jagirs and Muafis were abolished under that Act as a result of which, approximately 9 00 owners of agricultural lands lost their proprietary interest in about 4.5 lakh acres of land.
The Government of Jammu Kashmir introduced several land reforms in the State, beginning with Tenancy Act VII of 1948.
Sanjay Kaul and Ashok Panda for the petitioners in W.P. No.
N. Sinha, Attorney General and R.K. Garg for the respondent in W.P. Nos.
3169/82.
M. Turkunde and Naunit Lal for the petitioners in P. Nos.
The petitioners are mostly small land holders owning agricultural lands in the State of Jammu Kashmir.
It was amended by the Amendment Act of 1978 which received the assent of the Governor on April 7, 1978.
This challenge is met by the State of Jammu Kashmir with the short answer that the impugned Act being a measure of agrarian reform, Article 31A of the Constitution precludes a challenge to its validity on the ground that it violates the provisions companytained in Articles 14,19 and 31.
After abolishing the Jagirs and Muafis by the Tenancy Act of 1948, restrictions were placed on the right of the landlord to eject the tenant, by the Tenancy Amendment Act of 1948, The landlord was, however, given the right to resume the land from his tentant if he required it bona fide for personal cultivation subject to ceiling on his right of resumption.
S. Javali, B.P. Singh and Raniit Kumar for the petitioners in W.P. Nos.
The State Legislature thereafter passed the Tenancy Amendment Act VII of 1948, the Tenancy Amendment Act of 1950, the Big Landed Estates Abolition Act of 1950, the Tenancy Amendment Arts of 1956, 1962 and 1965, the J K Tenancy Stay of Ejectment Proceedings Act 1966, the Agrarian Reforms Act of 1972 and finally the impugned Act, 17 of 1976.
4195/82 and 4445/78.
The last named Act received the assent of the Governor on August 21, 1976.
