Holding

The lease was of a building with land appurtenant, exempting it from Chapter II of the Kerala Land Reforms Act, 1963, and the respondent could not claim any right under Section 72B.

Summary

The appellant, a lessor, executed a 1951 lease of a residential building together with adjoining land, expressly prohibiting the lessee from making any improvements on the land and allowing only the usufruct of existing trees. After the Kerala Land Reforms Act, 1963 came into force, the respondent, claiming to be a cultivating tenant, sought assignment of the landowner's rights under Section 72B of the Act, and the lower tribunals granted his application. The appellant appealed, contending that the lease was of a building with land appurtenant and therefore exempt from Chapter II of the Act. The Supreme Court examined the meaning of "appurtenant" using the principle of noscitur a sociis and considered the lease terms, the retained separate building, and the prohibition on land improvements, concluding that the land was merely an adjunct to the building. Consequently, the lease fell within the exemption under Section 3(1)(ii) of the Kerala Land Reforms Act, and the respondent could not claim rights under Section 72B. The appeal was allowed and the application under Section 72B was dismissed.

Issues considered

Whether the 1951 lease constituted a lease of a building with land appurtenant, thereby exempting it from Chapter II of the Kerala Land Reforms Act, 1963.
Whether the respondent, as a cultivating tenant, could claim rights, title and interest of the landowner under Section 72B of the Act.

Legislation cited

Kerala Land Reforms Act, 1963s. 3(1)(ii), s. 72B

Subjects

leaseappurtenant landKerala Land Reforms ActSection 72Bcultivating tenantinterpretation of statutesnoscitur a sociisbuilding lease

Judgment

A K. BHAGIRA THI G. SHENOY AND ORS.
v.
K.P. BALLAKURA YA AND ANR.

APRIL 6, 1999

B [K.T. THOMAS AND D.P. MOHAPATRA, JJ.]

Land Laws:

Kera/a Land Reforms Act, 1963 : Ss. 72 Band 3(i)(ii)-Lease deed-
C Lease of residential building with land appurtenant thereto-No right to
enjoy the land independent of building created-Lessee not allowed to make
any improvement on the /and-Lessee, as cultivating tenant, claiming right,
title and interest of the landowner-Entitlement <ff-Held, the lease was of
building with land appurtenant thereto-Thus, exempted from the purview of
D the· Act-Lessee cannot claim any right under the Act.

Words & Phrases:

"appurtenant".,-Meaning'-Of in the context of sec.3(i)(ii) of Kera/a
Land Reforms Act, 1963. '

E Maxim ''noscittur a sociis ''-Applicability of

The predecessor-in-interest of appellants 'executed a lease deed in
favour of the predecessor-in-interest of the responden~s. The property leased
put comprised of a residential building along with certain land adjoining the
building with trees. However, another building situated within the boundaries
F of the said land was retained by the lessor. The said lease deed stipulated that
the less.Ce will have no right to make any improvements on the land and was
only permitted to take the usufructs of the trees standing on the land. In the
meantime, the Kerala Land Reforms Act, 1963 came into force. Respondent
claiming to be cultivating tenant of the leased land, filed an application under
G sec. 72B of Act for assigning on him the right, title and interest oflandowner,
The said application was allowed by the Land Tribunal and further confirmed
by Appellate Authority. On revision High Court concurred with the findings
of the courts below. Hence the present appeal.

On behalf of Appellant-Lessor it was contended that the lease was of
H a building with the land appurtenant thereto and hence it does not fall within
438
K. BHAGIRATHI G. SHENOY v. K.P. BALLAKURA YA 439

the purview of the Act. A
Allowing the appeal, this Court

HELD : 1.1. The lease was of building with the landed area meant as
appurtenant thereto. Consequently, the said lease is exempted from Chapter
II of the Kerala Land Reforms Act, 1963 and respondent cannot claim any B
right under Sec. 72B of the Act. (446-B]

1.2. A perusal of the lease deed· indicates that there was no idea for the
lessor to create a right to enjoy the land independent of the building but only
to take usufruct of the trees standing thereon while residing in the building.
The area of the land alone cannot be a determinative factor. It was common C
practice in olden days for residential buildings to have sprawling areas as
adjuncts to such buildings. That practice could well have been followed by
the parties in the lease deed in the instant case. [445-G-H; 446-A)

1.3. The fact that another building situated within the boundaries has
been ~etained by the lessor is a pointer indicating that the land was only to D
be used as adjunct to the residential building. Over and above all those, the
interdict against making any improvement on the land is a stirring feature
which is in conflict with the idea of land becoming the dominant factor of the
lease. No lease of land can possibly be conceived without the lessee being
given freedom to use the land to generate· profit there from. Here the lease E
imposed a complete ban on the lessee to use the land for such purposes. All
that he is permitted thereon is to take usufructs of the trees already standing
on the land. (445-E-G]

Maharaj Singh v. State of UP., (1977) 1 SCC 155; .Mis Larsen and
Toubro Ltd v. Trustees of Dharmamurthy Rao Bahadur Calavala Cunnan, p
[1988] 4 SCC 260 and Suryakumar Govindjee v. Krishnammal and Ors.,
[1990) 4 sec 343, relied on,

''The Law Lax icon of British India'', referred to.

2. It is not a sound principle in interpretation of statutes to lay emphasis G
on one word disjuncted from its preceding and succeeding words. A word in
a statutory provision is to be read in collocation with its companion words.
The pristine principle based on the maxim "noscittur a sociis" (meaning of
a word should be known from its accompanying or associating words) has
much relevance in understanding the import of words in a statutory provision.
(441-E-F) H
440 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1999) 2 S.C.R.

A CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Civil Appeal No. 9156 of
1996. .

·fr,om the Judgment and Order dated 18.8.94 of the Kerala High Court
in C.R.P. No. 1746of1989-E.

B G. Viswanatha Iyer and LG. Narayanan Nair for the Appellants.

T.L. Viswantha Iyer and S.N. Bhat for the Respondent No. 1

G. Prakash for the Respondent No. 2

C The Judgment of the Court was delivered by

THOMAS, J. Whether alease is of land appurtenant to a building or
vice-versa continues to remain an issue providing pabulum for many a litigation.
In the instant case also that issue has assumed decisive dimension. Our
D efforts to have this case settled out of court did not fructify despite the active
role played by counsel on both sides. So we have to determine this issue on
the facts of this case.

This case reached the Supreme Court after drifting through a long
stream of vicissitudes. Genesis of this litigation is traced- to a lease created
E during pre-independence days when one of the two buildings situated in the
disputed property was rented out by its owner, (a bureaucrat then stationed
at Delhi) to one Somappa Naik. On 28-7-1951 a new lease deed was executed
by the said Somappa Naik in respect of the disputed property having an· area
of 1.60 acres containing the same pucca residential building thereon, for a
monthly rent of Rs.9/-. When the lessee continued under the lease he assigned
F his rights in favour of the present respondent (who is a practising advocate
of Kassargod District Court) on 17-8-1968.

When the Kerala Land Reforms Act, 1963 (for short' the Act') came into
force the respondent filed an application before the Land Tribunal, Kassargod
G in 1974 as per Section 72B of the Act for assigning to him the right, title and
interest of the landowner, claiming that he is a cultivating tenant of the
disputed land. Despite resistance made by the appellant (landowner) the said
application was allowed by the Land Tribunal but the Appellate Authority
remitted the case back to the Land Tribunal for fresh consideration and
disposal. The Land Tribunal again allowed the application and when appellant
H appealed, the Appellate Authority confirmed the order.
K. BHAGIRATHI G. SHENOYv. K.P. BALLAKURA YA [THOMAS, J.] 441

Appellant moved the High Court in revision under Section I 03 of the A
Act. A Single Jud~e referred the case to a Division Bench as he felt that the
legal question involved was to be determined by a larger Bench. By the
impugned order a Division Bench of the High Court concurred with the
conclusion made by the Land Tribunal and the Appellate Authority. Hence
this appeal by special leave.
B
The main ground on which the appellant resisted the application of the
respondent is that the lease was of a building with the land appurtenant
thereto and hence it does not fall within the purview of the Act. Under
Section 3 of the Act such a lease is exempted from the provisions relating to
tenancies subsumed in Chapter II of the Act. Section 3(1)(ii) can be extracted C
here:

'"Nothing in this Chapter shall apply to--

xxx xxx xxx xxx
(ii) leases only of buildings, including a house, shop or warehouse D
and the site thereof, with the land, if any, appurtenant thereto."

Shri T.L. Vishwanatha Iyer, learned senior counsel who argued for the
respondent laid emphasis on the monosyllable "only" in order to bolster up
his contention that the legislative intent was to limit the exemption to leases
of buildings. It is not a sound principle in interpretation of statutes to lay E
emphasis on one word disjuncted from its preceding and succeeding words.
A word in a statutory provision is to be read in collocation with its companion
words. The pristine principle based on the maxim "noscittur a sociis" (meaning
of a word should be known from its accompanying or associating words) has
much relevance in understanding the import of words in a statutory provision. F
If the clause was worded as "lease of buildings" there would have been
difficulties in cases where land also adjoins the building. But the legislature
choose to frame the clause as "leases only of the buildings with the land, if
any, appurte.nant thereto". The legislature was conscious of many such leases
where the dominant factor is the building, or the object of the lease is to G
demise building which has landed areas as adjunct or appendage or incident
to the building.

The word "appurtenant" when used in connection with leases of
properties, has gained wider. as well as narrower interpretations through
judicial pronouncements. Such divergence in the interpretation was H
442 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1999) 2 S.C.R.

A necessitated to comply with legislative intent while considering facts of each
case. In an early decision Budhi Mal v. Bhati, AIR (1915) All. 459, the
Allahabad High Court understood the word as an appendage, or adjunct, or
something belonging to another thing which is the principle matter. Quoting
from Abbot's Law Dictionary, Ramanatha Iyer ·in his treatise on 'The Law
B Lexicon of British India' has extracted the following meaning to the word
'appurtenant':

"belonging to another thing as principle, as hamlet to another village,
garden to a home; that which passes as incident to the principle thing,
a thing used with and related to or dependent upon another thing
C more worthy and agreeing in its nature and quality with the thing
whereunto it is appendant or appurtenant; that which belongs to
something else, an adjunct, an appendage."

In Maharaj Singh v. State ofU.P., [1977] 1 SCC 155 a two-Judge Bench
of this Court considered the claim of a defendant that "the hat, bazar and
D mela" as areas appurtenant to the buildings in the property on the ·premise
that they have not vested in the government under Section 6 9f the U.P.
Zamindari Abolition and Land Reforms Act, 1950. Learned Judges observed
thus:

"What is integral is not necessarily appurtenant. A pos1t10n of
E subordination something incidental or ancillary or dependant is implied
in appurtenance."

In Mis. Larsen and Toubro Ltd. v. Trustees of Dharmamurthy Rao
Bahadur Calavala Cunnan, [1988] 4 SCC 260 the company (Larsen and
p Toubro) was a tenant of "all that plot of vacant land and buildings erected
thereon and more particularly described in the schedule and delineated in the
plan annexed and measuring 17 grounds and 321 sq. ft. or thereabouts." The
company claimed protection under Section 9 of the Tamil Nadu City Tenants
Protection Act, 1922 which applied only to "tenancies of lands" in certain
G to~ns. The word 'building' in the said Act was defined as any building "and
includes the appurtenances thereto". The company contended that since
apart from the building a large area ofland was also included in the lease deed
it cannot be considered as "appurtenances" to the building. Learned Judges
pointed out that the question whether a land is appurtenant or not is one of
fact. After adverting to the different clauses contained in the lease deed
H involved in that case their Lordships concluded :
K. BHAGIRATHI G. SHENOYv. K.P. BALLAKURAYA [THOMAS,J.] 443

"It is not possible to infer from these clauses that the parties had A
entered into two separate transactions of iease, though incorporated
in a single document. In our opinion, this was a composite lease, as
we have already said, of a building with appurtenant land and having
regard to the definition contained in the Act, the lessee is not entitled
to the rights conferred by Section 3 or Section 9 of the Act."
B
In Suryakumar Govindjee v. Krishnammal and Ors., [199] 4 SCC 343 a
two-Judge Bench of this Court has observed thus :

"If a very strict and narrow interpretation is given to the word
'appurtenant', it is arguable that a considerable part of the surrounding
land is surplus to the requirements of the lessee of the building. But, C
we think, no argument is needed to say that such a lease would be
a lease of building for the purposes of the Rent Control Act. Where
a person leases a building together with land, it seems impermissible
in the absence of clear intention spelt out in the deed to dissect the
lease as (a) of building and appurtenant land covered by the Rent D
Control Act and (b) of land alone governed by other relevant statutory
provisions. What the parties have joined, one would think, the court
cannot tear as under."

In the light of the legal principles laid down by this court we have now
to judge whether the lease in this case is of a building with the land appurtenant E
thereto or it comprises of two leases--one of building and the other of land
by bringing both of them under one deed.

The lease deed dated 28-7-1951 incorporated all the terms and conditions
for the lease. Its English translation is produced as Annexure-B. The lessor.
was described as Secretary to the Minister for communication, Government F

' of India, and the lessee was described as a clerk of the Panchayat Board,
Kassargod Kasba. In the prefatory portion it refers to the tiled building
belonging to the lessor which was demised to the lessee for a period of 11
months as per a "Chalageni Chit" (rent deed) dated 6-5-1947 and on the expiry
of the said period the lessee was permitted to continue under the same terms G
and conditions.

After saying so the lease deed continues to state that "while so, as per
the request made by the lessee to grant him lease of some portion of the Jand
adjoining the leasehold property and as agreed to by the lessor the additional
portion is taken possession of by the lessee, and this Chalageni Chit is H
444 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1999] 2 S.C.R.

A executed."

In the next paragraph of the lease deed it is stated that the property
-
described thereunder in which the house wherein the lessee resides now, is
included, together with the bath-room (which was constructed by the lessor)
and the trees on the property, have been demised by the lessor to the lessee
B for a period starting from 1-7-1951 and ending with 30-6-1952. The other
stipulations in the lease deed are the following:

(I) The lessee is liable to pay the monthly rent ofRs.9/- by the 10th day
-
of every succeeding month. (2) If the rent falls in arrears it shall bear interest
at the rate of 5 per cent per annum from the date of default. (3) All the
C improvements standing on the landed area would belong to the lessor. (4) The
lessee has no right (a) to effect any kinds of improvement on the land, (b)
to make any repairs to the building without the written consent of the lessor
or to make any claim for the cost incurred for such repairs, (c) to cut any of
the trees without any proper reasons, (d) to sub-lease or to alienate to any
D other person.
The description of the property is as follows: The western portion of
the property lying in survey R.S. No. 112/1, having an extent of 1.60 acres and
the tiled residential building (in which lessee is residing) together with a
bathroom, 33 coconut trees (among which 21 are yielding), 7 jack trees, 7
E mango trees, 50 cashew trees, 2 nellikai trees, and 2 casuarina trees. It is made
clear that the other pucca building situated on the land is not included in the
lease. - I

Learned counsel contended that factors such as the nomenclature as
''Chalageni" and that the lease is expansion of the original lease, are positive
F indications in favour of the lease being mainly one of land. Nomenclature
does not matter in this case because even the previous deed of 1947 also
contained the same appellation. Nor can the fact that it is expansion of the
first lease be of any decisive impact, for that feature can be highlighted by
both sides as a supporting factor to their respective stand.
G One standard by which this document can be tested for discerning the
predominant factor therein-building or land--can be this: Was it one lease
for the building and the landed portion was added as appendage or incidental
thereto? Or was it one document for two separate demises i.e. one for building
and the other for the land? It is difficult to make out a third possibility that
H it would have been only one lease where the predominant factor was land,
K. BHAGIRATHI G. SHENOYv. K.P. BALLAKURA YA [THOMAS, J.] 445
the building being of subsidiary importance. A
Learned counsel for the appellant first pointed out the situation at
which both parties were placed then. The lessor having such a pucca residential
building with a sprawling compound altached to it had to remain in New Delhi
as he was working as Secretary to the Government of India. The lessee who
was a public servant working at Kasarcodu needed a house to live in at that B
place. Such facts, according to the learned counsel, would clearly show that
it was the building which was of prime consideration for the lease. The
attached compound could not have been left out, for practical reasons, uncared
by any one and hence it became necessary to include that compound area
also as part of the lease. The said contention cannot be sidelined as without C
force.

Learned counsel then highlighted the factors such as provisions for
payment of rent every month and liability to pay interest from the date of
default and contended that they are clear indications in favour of the lease
being that of building with the land adjoining thereto. The very fact that the D
land portion is described as "adjoining to the building" is proof positive of
itS" object, according to the learned counsel. He also contended that if the land
was intended to be enjoyed, de hors the building, no provision was necessary
to prohibit the lessee from effecting any improvement on the land. It is only
the fruits of the trees which the lessee was permitted to take.
E
The fact that another building situated within the boundaries has been
retained by the lessor is a pointer indicating that the land was only to be used
as adjunct to the residential building. Over and above all those, the interdict
against making any improvement on the land is a stirring feature which is in
conflict with the idea of land becoming the dominant factor of the lease. No F
lease of land can possibly be conceived without the lessee being given
freedom to use the land to generate profit therefrom. Here the lease imposed
a complete ban on the lessee to use the land for such purposes. All that he
is permitted thereon is to take usufructs of the trees already standing on the
land.
G
A reading of the lease deed from the above angles indicates that there
was no idea for the lessor to create a right to enjoy the land independent of
the building but only to take usufruct of the trees standing thereon while
residing in the building. The area of the land alone cannot be a detenninative
factor. It was common practice in olden days for residential buildings to have
sprawling areas as adjuncts to such buildings. That practice could well have H
'.

446 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1999] 2 S.C.R.

· A been followed by the parties in the lease deed which is subject matter of the
case.

For the aforesaid reasons we take the view that the lease was of
building with the landed area meant as appurtenant thereto. Its corollary is
that the lease is exempted from Chapter II of the Act and the consequence
B is that respondent cannot claim any right under Section 72B of the Act.

in the result, we allow the appeal and set aside the impugned judgment
as also the order of the Land Tribunal as confirmed by the Appellate Authority.
Accordingly, the application filed by the respondent under Section 72B of the
Act will stand dismissed.
c
S.V.K.1 Appeal allowed.