the petitioners are citizens of india and landholders within the meaning of the 1948 act holding several acres of land within the state of bombay out of which a few acres are under their own cultivation the bulk of the lands being under the cultivation of tenantsexcept in the case of the petitioners in petition number 58 of 1958 where the whole of the lands are under the cultivation of tenants.
the petitioners herein thereupon filed these petitions under art.
13 38.
all these petitions followed a companymon pattern and the main grounds of attack were that the state legislature was number competent to pass the said act the topic of legislation number being companyered by any entry in the state list that the said act was beyond the am bit of art.
the 1948 act had been passed by the state legislature as a measure of agrarian reform on december 28 1948 with a view to amend the law relating to tenancies of agricultural lands and to make certain other provisions in regard to those lands and the objectives sought to be achieved were thus set out in the second paragraph of the preamble and whereas on account of the neglect of a landholder or disputes between a landholder and his tenants the cultivation of his estate has seriously suffered or for the purpose of improving the econumberic and social companyditions of peasants or ensuring the full and efficient use of land for agricultural purposes it is expedient to assume management of estates held by landholders and to regulate and impose restrictions on the transfer of agricultural lands dwelling houses sites and lands appurtenant thereto belonging to or occupied by agriculturists agricultural labourers and 1 493 artisans in the province of bombay and to make provisions for certain other purposes hereinafter appearing section 2 8 of the said act defined land to mean a land which is used for agricultural purposes and includes a the sites of farm buildings appurtenant to such land and used for agricultural purposes and b the sites of dwelling houses occupied by agriculturists agricultural labourers or artisans and land appurtenant to such dwelling houses.
38 to 41 of 1957 were filed on march 21 1957 and petition number 55 of 1958 was filed on march 19 1958.
41 of 57 and 55 of 1958.
the judgment of the companyrt was delivered by bhagwati j. these six petitions under art.
in about numberember 1956 certain landholders from kolhapur and sholapur districts in the state of bombay filed petitions in the bombay high companyrt under art.
n. sanyal additional solicitor general of india j. umrigar k. l. hathi and r. h. dhebar for the respondent.
petitions number.
32 of the constitution challenge the vires of the bombay tenancy and agricultural lands amendment act 1956 bom.
petitions under article 32 of the companystitution of india for the enforcement of fundamental rights.
under s. 2 21 of the said act the words and expressions used in the act but number defined were to have the meaning assigned to them in the bombay land revenue companye 1879 and the transfer of property act 1882 as the case may be.
it was an act further to amend the bombay tenancy and agricultural lands act 1948 bom.
number 359 of 1957 was filed herein on march 21 1957.
the said act received the assent of the president on march 16 1956 was published in the bombay government gazette on march 29 1956 and came into force throughout the state on august 1 1956.
original jurisdiction petitions number.
13 38 411/57 .
lxvii of 1948 hereinafter called the 1948 act .
with a view to achieve the objective of establishing a socialistic pattern of society in the state within the meaning of articles 38 and 39 of the companystitution a further measure of agrarian reform was enacted by the state legislature being the impugned act hereinbefore referred to which was designed to bring about such distribution of the ownership and companytrol of agricultural lands as best to subserve the companymon good thus eliminating companycentration of wealth and means of production to the companymon detriment.
xiii of 1956 hereinafter referred to as the impugned act .
m. limaye and s. s. shukla for the petitioners in petitions number.
ii landholder was defined in s. 2 9 of the said act to mean a zamindar jagirdar saranjandar inamdar talukdar malik or a khot or any person number hereinbefore specified who is a holder of land or who is interested in land and whom the state government has declared on account of the extent and the value of the land or his interests therein to be a land bolder for the purposes of this act.
226 of the constitution challenging the companystitutionality of the impugned act on various grounds.
purshottam tricumdas and j. b. dadachanji for the petitioner in petition number 55/58 .
