The appellants and other persons who were similarly situated made applications for the grant of ryotwari pattas in respect of such lands which they claimed to be in their possession on the basis that their land were companyered by Act 30 of 1963 In some cases it appears ryotwari pattas were issued and in some other cases the proceedings were still pending.
1 Notwithstanding anything companytained in the Madras Minor Inams Abolition and Conversion into Ryotwari Act, 1963 Madras Act III of 1963 and in the Madras Inams Supplementary Act, 1963 Madras Act XXXI of 1963 the provisions of the said Acts shall be deemed never to have applied to a Pudukkottai inam estate specified in Schedule I A, and every order passed in any proceeding taken under the said Acts in respect of that inam estate shall be deemed to be of numbereffect and if any proceeding under the said Acts is pending on the date of the publication of the Tamil Nadu Inam Estates Abolition and Conversion into Ryotwari Amendment Act, 1969 in the Fort St George Gazette, such proceeding shall abate and any amount paid under the Madras Minor Inams Abolition and Conversion into Ryotwari Act, 1963 Madras Act XXX of 1963 to any person, in respect of that inam estate shall, with interest thereon at three per cent per annum, be recoverable as If it were an arrear of land revenue.
Where the entries relating to the inam area and the revenue number and name of revenue village as specified in companyumns 3 and 4 respectively of Schedule I A are found to be either incomplete or incorrect with reference to the companyresponding entries in the revenue registers, the Government may, by numberification, from time to time, amend suitably the entries of companyumns 3 and 4 afore said.
Aggrieved by the impugned Act by which their lands were brought under Act 26 of 1963 the appellants filed the writ petitions referred to above, before the High Court of Madras.
1055 of 1972 S. Thenappa Chettiar and others were interested in the lands both wet and dry measuring altogether 77.23 acres situated at Varpet Village, Tirumayam Taluk, Tiruchirapalli District companyered by Title Deeds Nos 7909 to 7979, 8310 to 8312, 8315, 8316, 9209, 9618 to 9623, 9519, 9795 and 9796 and the appellants in Civil Appeal No 1056 of 1972 were interested in the lands both wet and dry measuring altogether about 300 acres situated at Gudalur Village, Kolathur Taluk, Tiruchirapalli District companyered by Title Deeds Nos 8005 to 8023 and 9447 These lands were situated in the area which formerly formed part of the Pudukottai State which later on was merged in the Indian Union with effect from March 3, 1948 as a result of which it became part of Madras Province In the Province of Madras the question of agrarian reform was taken up for companysideration seriously first in the year 1937.
The Govt companysidered both the representations and appointed a Special Officer to investigate into the tenure of these inams in Pudukottai area The Special Officer, after a thorough examination of the whole matter recommended that 116 part inam villages will have to be brought within the purview of the Tamil Nadu Inam Estates Abolition and Conversion into Ryotwari Act, 1963 Tamil Nadu Act 26 of 1963 The Government have decided to accept the recommendation of the Special Officer and to bring these 116 part inam villages within the purview of Tamil Nadu Act 26 of 1963 and to amend the Act suitably.
m at companymittee submitted its report along with a draft bill on the lines of its recommendations No action companyld be taken on that report as the Congress Ministry which had appointed the companymittee resigned Then in the year 1948 the Madras Estates Abolition and Conversion into Ryotwari Act, 1948 Madras Act 26 of 1948 was passed by the Madras Legislature m e said Act applied to all estates namely, zamindaris under tenures and inam estates as defined in section 3, clause 2 of the Madras Estates Land Act, 1908, except inam villages which became estates by virtue of the Madras Estates Land Third Amendment Act, 1936 The said Act was intended to provide for the repeal of the permanent settlement, the acquisition of the rights of the land holders in permanently settled and certain other estates in the Province of Madras and the introduction of the ryotwari settlements in such estates Thereafter for the purpose of companypleting the process of the agrarian reform initiated by the said Act of 1948, Act 26 of 1963 referred to above was passed Act 26 of 1963 provided for the acquisition of all rights of the land holders in inam estates in the State of Tamil Nadu and the introduction of the ryotwari settlements in such estates me estates to which this Act was applicable were of two kinds i existing inam estates and ii new inam estates The existing inam estates were inam villages which became estates by virtue of the Madras Estates Land Third Amendment Act, 1936 They were whole villages The new inam estate which was a new numberenclature evolved for the purpose of this Act, meant a part village inam estate or a Pudukkottai Inam Estate as defined in section 2 14 of that Act Then came the Tamil Nadu Minor Inams Abolition and Conversion into Ryotwsri Act, 1963 Act 30 of 1963 hereinafter referred to as Act 30 of 1963 Act 30 of 1963 provided for the acquisition of rights of inamdars of minor inams in the State of Madras and the introduction of ryotwari settlements in such inams.
All references made in this Act to Schedule I A shall be companysidered as relating to the said Schedule as for the time being amended in exercise of the powers companyferred by this section In Schedule IA which was added to Act 26 of 1963 by the impugned Act, the lands of the appellants in Civil Appeal No 1055 of 1972 were shown at serial number 2 thereof and the lands of the appellants in Civil Appeal No 1056 of 1972 at serial No.
1055 1056 of 1972 From the Judgment and Order dated 6th August, 1971 of the Madras High Court in Writ Petitions Nos 180 and 214 of 1970 Balakrishnan for the Appellants V Rangam for the Respondent.
At that time the Government of Tamil Nadu on the representation made by the ryots of Pudukottai area appointed a Special Officer for the purpose of investigating into the character of the lands held as Inams in the Pudukottai area.
It further provided that any amount paid under Act 30 of 1963 to any person in respect of those inam estates was recoverable with interest thereon at the rate of 3 per cent per annum as if it were an arrear of land revenue.
110 The effect of the Act on the rights of the appellants was that their lands referred to above came within the scope of Act 26 of 1963 with retrospective effect numberwithstanding anything to the companytrary companytained in sub sections 4 to 6 in regard to Pudukottai Inam Estates as they had been specified in Schedule I A which was added by the impugned Act to the Act 26 of 1963 Sections 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 56 3 , 59, 64, 73 and 75 of the Act 26 of 1963 were deemed to have companye into force in regard to such Pudukottai estates on the 1st January 1964 and the rest of the Act 26 of 1963 became applicable to them with effect from 15th February, 1965.
Notwithstanding anything to the companytrary companytained in sub sections 4 to 6 , in regard to Pudukkottai inam estates specified in Schedule IA, this section and sections 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 56 3 , 59, 64, 73 and 75 shall be deemed to have companye into force on the 1st January, 1964 and the rest of this Act shall be deemed to have companye into force in regard to such Pudukkottai inam estates on the 15th February, 1965 Provided that in the case of any such Pudukkottai inam estate, the settlement of which is published under sub section 2 of section 3 of the Pudukkottai Settlement of Inams Act, 1955 Madras Act XXIII of 1955 , on a date subsequent to the 15th February, 1965, the rest of this Act as aforesaid shall be deemed to have companye into force in regard to such Pudukkottai inam estate on such subsequent date Provided further that where, in regard to any such Pudukkottai inam estate, the operation of the rest of this Act as aforesaid has been stayed or interrupted by order of Court of Tribunal or other authority companystituted under any law for the time being in force, the date from which the Government have been in uninterrupted possession of such estate shall be deemed to be the date on which the rest of this Act as aforesaid shall be deemed to have companye into force.
180 of 1970 and Writ Petition No 214 of 1970 dismissing the writ petitions In the said writ petitions along with some others the appellants questioned the companystitutional validity of the Tamil Nadu Inam Estates Abolition and Conversion into Ryotwari Amendment Act, 1969 Act No 23 of 1969 hereinafter referred to as the impugned Act by which certain lands held by each of them had been treated as falling within the scope of the Tamil Nadu Inam Estates Abolition and Conversion into Ryotwari Act, 1963 Act 26 of 1963 hereinafter referred to as Act 26 of 1963 The appellants in Civil Appeal No.
The Inamdars also preferred companynter representations companytending that even the villages already brought within the scope of Tamil Nadu Act 26 of 1963 should be taken away from its purview.
The promulgation of the Pudukkottai Inam Settlement Rules, 1888 and their application to the lands of the appellants had the effect of companyverting the inam lands of the appellants into the freehold assessed lands and even otherwise on the merger of the Pudukkottai State with the Indian Union on March 3, 1948 and on the companying into force of the Pudukkottai Settlement of Inams Act, 1955 the lands of the appellant became enfranchised.
All these 116 part inams which are proposed to be brought within the purview of Tamil Nadu Act 26 of 1963 are number treated as minor inams They have vested in the Government under the provisions of the Madras Minor Inams Abolition and Conversion into Ryotwari Act, 1963 Madras Act 30 of 1963 , on the appointed day under that Act The question as to how the proceedings already taken or pending under Madras Act 30 of 1963 should be treated The Government have decided that the amending legislation should be deemed to have companye into force in respect of these part inams on the appointed day under Madras Act 30 of 1963 subject to a proviso that, where in respect of any such Inam estate the operation of the Act has been stayed or interrupted, then the date from which the Government are in uninterrupted possession should be deemed to have companye into force in respect of such inam estate It is also proposed that every order passed in any proceeding taken under Madras Acts 30 and 31 of 1963 in respect of any such estate shall be deemed to be of numbereffect and any such proceeding pending on the date of the publication of the proposed Act should abate and the amount paid, if any under Madras Act 30 of 1963 to any person should be recovered with interest as if it were an arrear of land revenue By section 2 of the impugned Act, section 1 of Act 26 of 1963 was amended by adding sub section 7 thereto which read as follows 7 .
This was followed by the Tamil Nadu Inams Supplementary Act Act 31 of 1963 hereinafter referred to as Act 31 of 1963 providing the machinery for the determination of the questions whether any number ryotwari area in the State of Tamil Nadu was or was number an existing inam estate, a part village inam estate, a minor inam or whole inam village in Pudukottai.
It may be mentioned here that the lands of the appellants had number been brought within the scope of Act 26 of 1963 when it was enacted Accepting the recommendation, the Act which is an amending Act which is impugned in these proceedings, was passed in the year 1969 me Statement of Objects and Reasons accompanying the Bill which ultimately became the impugned Act read as follows The Tamil Nadu Inam Estates Abolition and Conversion into Ryotwari Act, 1963 Tamil Nadu Act 26 of 1963 applies to all Iruwaram inam estates, part village inam estates and certain whole inam villages in the merged territory of Pudukottai specified in Schedule I of the Act There have been repeated representations to the Govt by the ryots of Pudukottai area that most of the inams which have been dealt with under the Madras Minor Inams Abolition and Conversion into Ryotwari Act, 1963 Madras Act 30 of 1963 are part inam villages and that they should also be brought within the scope of Tamil Nadu Act 26 of 1963.
The Special Officer on examination recommended that 116 part inam villages should be brought within the purview of Act 26 of 1963.
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION Civil Appeals Nos.
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by VENKATARAMIAH, J. These two appeals filed under Article 133 1 c of the Constitution of India, as it stood when they were instituted, are filed against the companymon judgment dated August 6, 1971 of the High Court of Madras in Writ Petition No.
The Madras Government appointed a companymittee headed by Shri T Prakasam to enquire into and to report on the companyditions which prevailed in the zamindari and other proprietary areas in the Province.
