Holding

The amendments to the West Bengal Land Reforms Act are constitutionally valid, fall within the ambit of Article 39(b), and are not violative of Articles 14, 19 or 31C; the petition is dismissed.

Summary

The petitioners challenged the constitutional validity of Sections 14M, 17(c), 17(1) and 21B of the West Bengal Land Reforms Act, 1955 as amended by the 1972 and 1977 Amendment Acts, alleging that the amendments were confiscatory, violated Articles 14, 19 and 31C, and were not covered by the Ninth Schedule. The Court examined whether the ceiling limits on agricultural land retained by raiyats and the provisions relating to bargadars were in line with the Directive Principle of State Policy under Article 39(b) and whether the Acts could be struck down on the ground of arbitrariness or lack of nexus with the objective of land redistribution. Relying on earlier decisions such as Sri Sri Kalimata Thakurani v. Union of India, Minerva Mills, and Sanjeev Coke Manufacturing, the Court held that the amendments were a reasonable means to achieve the socialistic goal of equitable land distribution and fell within the spirit of Article 39(b). The Court also clarified that even if the Acts were not in the Ninth Schedule, their validity could not be questioned because they were not arbitrary or violative of fundamental rights. Consequently, the petition was dismissed without any order as to costs.

Issues considered

Whether Sections 14M, 17(c), 17(1) and 21B of the West Bengal Land Reforms Act, 1955 (as amended) violate Articles 14, 19 and 31C of the Constitution.
Whether the amendments are confiscatory and therefore unconstitutional.
Whether inclusion of the Acts in the Ninth Schedule bars judicial review of their constitutional validity.
Whether the amendments have a sufficient nexus with the objectives of Article 39(b) concerning equitable distribution of agricultural resources.

Legislation cited

Constitution of Indias. Art.14, s. Art.19, s. Art.31C, s. Art.39(b)
West Bengal Land Reforms Act, 1955s. 14M, s. 17(1), s. 17(c), s. 21B
West Bengal Land Reforms (Amendment) Act, 1972
West Bengal Land Reforms (Amendment) Act, 1977

Subjects

agrarian reformland ceilingconstitutional validityArticle 39(b)Ninth ScheduleWest Bengal Land Reforms Actraiayatbargadarproperty rights

Judgment

849

MADHUSDAN SING A & ORS.

v.

UNION OF INDIA AND OR.S. •
November 22, 1983
•
[S. MuRTAZA FAZAL ALI AND M.P:Tf:!AKKAR~ JJ.) . ·

west Bengal Land 'Reforms Act, 19~5 as amended _by A1nendment Acts of
1972 and 1977-Sections 14M, !7(c) 17(6) and 2/B of constitutional validit,1' of.

The petitioners, in this round of'challenge assailed _the validity ofSCction
J4M, 17(c), l7(1i) and 21 B of the West Bengal Landi Reforms Act, calllng"to
:their aid certain obscfvations made by this Court in Sri Sri Kalin1ata Thak1irani .
and Sri Sri Raglrunath Jain & Ors etc v. Union Of India·& Ors..- [1981) 2 S.C.R.
950 and the· decisions ill Mintrrva Mills· Ltd. v. Union-of india & Or_s. [1981]
. 1 S.C.R. 206 and. Haman Rao & Ors. v. Union of India & Ors, (1981] 2 S.C.R. I.

The petitioners raised tJ:ie following p_oints :

(i} that the total ceiling area aIJowed to b_e.retained by the 1953 Act -in
respect of agricultural land in klias possession_ of the· Raiyats Was drastically
reduced;

(ii) that ~Ithongh ihe status of raiyats. was co~ferrcd ofl the erstwhile
Jahdlords which was heritable and transferable,' th~ ins.titution of bargards was.

and,
. .
introduced in Order to enable the_raJyats to cultivate their lands on a 50:50 basis"

,•
'· (iii) that while the Amendment Act of 1972 had given a ·right to 'the
raiyats ·to resume the lands given to the . baraardars for th~ir p:rsonal
·~ ·cultivation; the subsequerit amendments.took awaY this right arid made the .

>. right of the bargardar both' heritable and transferable causing sericius d'etfiment
and prejudice to the· raiyats." ·· · ' ·

Dismissing the petitions, the Court.
c
· . HELD : 1 1 The impugne_d amend1nents were· manifeStly and p~intedly ·
1nade for.1he ptlrpose of_gfvin~ effect to and securing the objects.of Article 39(b)
because:these A'Cts clearJy intended to ,distribute the' niaterial resources of the
Community viz, the agricultural land's to a large number oftillerS"Ofthe soil .iri
'. ·order to Serye the common good of the afores~id peOple. The Amendments
' ._,\, fall .within tfie letter and spirit of Artide 39(b) of the -C-onstitution. The ·Acts· H
j have not touched the non-agricultural home stead land.S, or ·buildirigs of ·ti1e
Land owriers standing thereon but has taken over Qnly a ri1ajor portion of the
asdcultura1 l~nds,-Ieaviri~ .with the lan4Iords a portion prescribed within the;.
850 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1984] l S,C;R,

ceiling.limit-and distribU;ted the excess to the ti.liefs of the soil which alone
constitute their main ·source of sustenance and livelihood. The claim of the
raiyats-(erstwhile landlords) that the Acts amount to c<?nfiscatioO is absolutely
untenable and amoun.ts only t.o shedding crocodile tears and an anathema or
.taboo. [860 H; 861 A-B; 860 Gj
•
1.2 The erro~ regarding the addition of Amrnding Acts as items.of ·Entry
in the Ninth Schedule was inadvertantly crept in the deci~ion of Sri Sri Kali111ata ,
Tha:kuriJni's case. Ev!!n if the Acts were not in.eluded in th~ Ninth Schedule •.
their constitutional validity could not be questioned because the provisions are
otherwiS~ reasonable and give full .effect to. the progmatic and socialistic
approach as contained in Article 39(b) of the Con~tituiion.

·Sri Sri Kciiimata Thakurani and Srf Sri Raghunath few and Ors v. Union-of
India & Ors. [1981] 2 S.C.R. 950; Minerva Mills Ltd v. Union of India and Ors
(198lj 1 S.C.R. 206; Wa•nan Rao & Ors v. Union of India &1 Ors, [1981] 2 S.C.R;'
1: Sanjee11 _Coke ManufacturiTJg Co. v. Mfs. Bharat Cokihg Coal Ltd. and Anr:,
[1983] 1 S.C.R. 147; Sasanka·Sekhar Malty & Ors. Union of India & Ors, [1980]
4S.C.C. 716, State of Tamil Nadu etc v. L. Abu Kavur Bai and Ors . .CA Nos
957-966 (N) of 1973 decided on 31'.10-83 followed.·

D 1.3 The Amendment Acts cannot be challeng~d as violative of thC ·
doctrine of nexus or involving no process .of distributions.

State of Karna/aka v. Rangnatha Reddy .& Anr. [1978] 1 S.C.R. 641,
Minerva Mills Ltd v. Union of India & Ors. [1981] 2.S.C.R. 950, $anjeeva Coke
Manufacturing Co. v. Mfs. Bhara_t Coking Coal Ltd and Anr. [1983] 1 S.C.R: 147~
and StateofTamiltul(fu etc. v. L. ;Jbukavur Bai &-Ors. C.A. No. 957-966 (N) "of
E 1973 decided on 31-10·1983 followed, ·
•
1.4 ·The provisions of ~he Amendment "by which the raiyat is enjoined tO
reside.in the village itseJf for a large part of the year c_annot be said to be Cither
harsh or arbitrary .
. Sri Sri KJJ/1~1aJa Tflakura11i etc v»Unio11 of India & Ors. [1981] 2 S.C.R.
F . 950, applied. ·

01'.IGINAL JuR1so1cnoN : Writ Petition No. 5545 of 1980.

(Under Article 32 of the Constitution of India.)

G Pankaj Malik 'and Mr. R. P. Singh for the Fetitioncrs.

S. N. Katker and Rathin Das for the Respondent..

The Judgment of the Court was delivered by
H
FAZAL Au; J. True to the spirit and Jetter of our Constitution
and in .fulfilment of the promises made by our national Jeadei:s to the .
people of India, the Government. sought to introdutle agrarian
MADHUSUDAN v. UNION. (Fazal Ali, J.) .•. 851

reforms so as to reserve the lands· to. the. tiliers of the soil giving
marginal relief or coifipensationto the erstwhile landlords or tenants-
in-chl<;.f, through variOus statutes passed by almost all the States in
the country, In order to ha.sten and safeguard the agrarian ·reforms
the Constitution takes full care by virtue of the insertion of the
directive principles of State policy contained in part IV, which are
undoubtedly. the heart and soul of our Constitution and have in fact
been complied with in a variety of spheres. Ceaseles_s attempts made
. by the landlords to challenge the constitutional validity of the afore•
said reforms met with little success. Having failed in their attempts
to undo ·the socialist reforms ·passed for the purpo5e of building an
egalitarian society and bringing about marked improvement in the
condition of the poor suffering tillers. by the various Acts passed by
the States, the landlords left no stone unturned and were always on .
the look out for an opportunity to seize ·the lands. from the tenants
. on one pretext or the other through manpower, muscle-power or
money-power. Nevertheless, th·e constitutional validity of most of
the Acts came up for decision in the High Courts and in this Court"
I
and by and large each one of them was held to be constitut(onally
·.valid, thus setting at naught the· attempts of the landlords to take
back possession of the lands which· should have been given to the
tillers of the soil long before. Tbe lan<)lords were thus unable to get
. hold of any opportunity to pounce upon the land which went and
should have gone to. the actual tillers o.f the ;oil. . ' '
•
. Thereafter, some of the bigger landlords tried through· their.
dextrous methods aud legal ingenuity to defeat the laudable social
endeavour of the Government by making. a show of the · so-called
cm.uplete destruction of their assess and properties red~cing them to
starvation .. · Thfs case is yet another glarfng illustration of such an.
adroit . attempt made by the teuants-in-chief to deprive the actual
.tillers of the rights conferred on them by the Land Reforms Acts of
West Bengal passed from 1953 to 1977. In view, however, of the
. modern trends of the.decisions of this Court, which always made a
practical and pragmatic approach to ·any progressive· step taken by
_the Parliament, the attempts of the landlords ultimately proved to be
a grotesque failure.

· Comming now to the facts of the,cyse; a brief history of.the H
admirable obje~t of the agrarian reforms introduced by the Govern-
ment of West Bengal mllY be necessary as a preluc\e to our discussion
on the suliject. fo fact, all the coatentioni raised before us stand
I

852 . SUPRB.~B COURT REPORTS [1984] 1 s.C.R.

concluded by.a recent ·decision of this Court as we shall show here,·
after. Not conte~t with the addjt-ion of Art..31C of the Constitution ·
which was introduced by the Constitution· (25th Amendment) Act,
1971, the petitioners chose to. call. into
'-
aid the decisions of this
' ...
Cou~t
ia Minerva Mills .Ltd. v. ·Union of India & Ors(1) and Waman Rao &
Ors. v. Union of India & Ors('5.," which als~ proved to be an exercise
futility.because the ratio of these cases is in no way of any· assis-
tance to the petitioners.
. .
In the instant case, we are concerned· with agrarian reforms·
achieved from time to time by the Goverrlment of West Bengal in
order to improve the lot of the tillers of the land.by giving-them as
' many faciliti.es as could be-possible within .the framework of !he law
and .the Constitution. Having realised thanhe West Bengal Estates
Acquisition Act, 1953.(hereinafter referred to as the· '1953 Act')·
could not be challenged·the .landlords "faited for ·future ·Jitigaliiqns'
swoop down on the validity..of the West Bengal Land Reforms Act,
) as
195'5 (hereinafter referred to the '1955 Act') as amended by the
West Bengal La~d Reformq (Amendment) Act, 1972 and the West
Bengal Land Reforms (Amendment) A~t, 1977 (for faeility, to be
referred to as the 'Amendment Act of 1972' .anil 'Amendtnent Act
ofl?77' respectively) .. •

In the firs\ round which was the subject matter. of a decision of'
this Court Sri Sri Ka/imata thakurani and Sri Sri Raghunaih ·Jew· & · .·
Ors.. etr:.·y. Union qf India &Ors .. (3) to which one of us (Fazal Ali).)
was a party, this .Court ·negatived the co·nstitutional objections and
contentions raised by -the landlords· against the reforms introdace\I by
the 1955 A9t and the 1972 and.1977 Amendment. A~ts. Un'fortuna-
tely, however, there appe~rs to be some ·small lacuna in ..the above
. judgment which was µnhesitatingly exploited by 'the petitioners so ·as
·to attempt to destroy the progressive amendments of J9n. and. 1977·
particularly taking advantage M certain observations made. in that .
. case to. l'(hich we shall come later~
/

·To.begin with,. in the 1953 Act which was enforced with effect
from 12th February, 1~54, Section 4 introduc·ed a mo.re or less redical
reform for the benifit of the .. actual tillers by abolishing the rights of
H
(I) [1981] IS.C.R. 206.
(2) [1981) 2 S.C.R. I. .
(3J . [198112 s.c.R.. 9so.
'.

M~HUSUDAN v. UNION (Fazal Ali, J.) 853
~. .
the-intermediary (eiHandfords). ·By vi~tue of this section all estates .
I and the rights of every intermediary . was to .vest in the State free A
from all encumbrances from a date mentioned in a· notification issued
by the Government. · In order, however, to be just and fair to the
erstwhile landlords tl)ey were conferred the status of raiyats. or
tenants. By virtue of s. 6 they were entitled to. retain certain catego-
. ries of lands \ike lands co·mprised in 'home-steads or appertaining to
buildings and. structures.. etc., or non-agricultural. land in khas
possession.· Section 6(d) expressly provided that so far as·agricultural
·land iti. khas possession w.as. concerned.it would. not exceed twenty.
five acres in area to ]>e chosen by the landlord, ·.No serious grievanc~
was made before us ·regarding the provisions of sections 4·to 6 excep-
ting that the ceiling of twenty five.acres was not sufficient for the c
landlords to make both their ends meet and enable ·them to earn
·their livelihood. ~uch· a plea has to be stated only to be rejected
because the lan.dlords who had huge land~ comprising home-.stead ·
lands orthose appertainillg to buildings or structures and non-agri-
.. . cultu~al lands in kbas possession were not at· all touched by the 1953
Act. In these ·circumstances, therefore, we .do not take• any · serious
D
notice of this. grievance which in fact was not ; pressed before us.,
~

Realising the current !rends· in the· social approach of the
· ·agrarian reforms made by.the courts, the counsel for the petitioners
. confined his arguments to three infirmities from which the 1953 Act
0
•E ·
and the 1972 and 19J7 Ameridment Acts suffered; However, during
the course •of· arguments the challenge remained confined only to
c~rtain sp~cific amendments made by the 1972 and 1977 Amendment
Acts and the points raised before us may b.e summarised thus : ·

(!) ·that the total ceiling area allowed to· be retained by
the 1.9.53 Act· in respect of agricultural land i.n khas '
: possession. of the raiyats was drastically reduced,·

(2) that although the : stat~s of raiyats was conferred on
the erstwhile .landlords .. whkh was heritable and
G
transferable, the· institution of bargardar·s was intro•
duced in order to enable the raiyats to cultivate their
lands on a -so:so basis, and ·
' .
.(3) that while the Amendment Act or 1972 had given a
H.
right to the rniyats to resume the lands given to the
1,

854 SUPREME COURT. REPORTS . [1984] l S,C.R.

bargardars for their pcrsoual cultivation, the subse-'
A quent amendments took away this right and made
the right of the bargardar bofh heritable and trans·
· . ferable ·causing serious detriment and prejudice to .
the raiyats.

B We now procc_ed to refer only to ·those provisions whose ·con·
stitut_ional validity ha~ _been seriously challenged by the petitioners.
It appears that by the 1972 Amendment 'Act certain. changes were
made and a reference was made particularly to s. 14M which may be
extracted thus :

c. "14M. Ceiling area-(1) The ceiling,area shall be,-
•
(a) . irt the case of a raiyat, who is an adult unmarried
person_, 2. 50 standard hectares; .

(b) in the case of a raiyat, who is the sole'sufviving
D member of a family, 2.50. standard hectares; . ..
{c) in the case of ii raiyat having a family consisting
of two or more _but not more than five members, .
5.00 standard hectares;
E
(d) in the care of a raiyat having afamily ~o~sisting
of more than five· members, 5.00 standard heel·
ares; pius 0.50 standard hectare for each member-
. in.excess of five, so, however, that the. aggregate
of the ceiling area for. such raiyat shall not, in
F any case, exceed 7o00 standard hectares;

(e) in the case of any other raiyat, 7.00 standard "
. ·h.ectares;

(2) Notwithstanding anything· contained in sub-section
G (1), where, in the family of a raiyat, ·there are niore
raiyats than O)le, the ceiling area for the raiyat,
together with the ceiling area of all the other- raiyats
... iri the family shall not, in any case, exceed,-
H (a) . where the number of' members of such family
does not exceed five, 5.00 standard hectares;
..
•

MADHUSUDAN v. UNION (Fazai Ali, J.) SSS
(b) where such number exceeds five, 5.00 standard
hectares, plus 0.50 standard hectare for each A
·member in excess of five, so, however, that the
aggregaie of the . ceiling area shall not, in any ·
case, exceed 7.00 standard hectares.

(3) For the purpose of s·ub-section (2), all the lands
B
oi.vned individually by the ·members of.a family or
jointly by some or all the members of such family ·
shall ·be deemed to \Je owned by the raiyats in the
family."

. It was submitted that the drastic reduction or' the area of the C
raiyat has been reduced to 2.50 standard hectares being the minimum
and 7.00· standard hectares being the maximum according to the
nature of cases mentioned in cls.(a). to (e) of s. J4M(I). and cls.(a)
and (b) of s. 14M(2), as extracted above; which worked serious inju~-
tice to the tenants.
D
·A strong exceptibn was taken to the amendment of s.17 of the
1955 Act particularly the substitution of s.17(c) and.the various
·provisos to that section. The va~id-ity of s.17(6).was also challenged
~n the ground that the legislation was confiscatory.
I
;_.
. ' E
· The provisions of the proviso to cl.(8) of s'.2 added by the 1977 ·
Amendment Act to the 19S5 Act was seriously assailed. The. said
proviso runs thus.:

"Provided that such person or member of his family
res'ides for the greater. part of the year in the locality F
• where the land is situated ·and the principal source of his ·
incom". is woduced from such land.'.' ·

A similar challenge was made to the addition of- s. 2 lB in the
1955 Act by the 1977 Amendinent Act. On similar grounds the G
aforesaid provisfons were also challenged in the decision of this Court
· in Sri Sri Kplimata Thakurani's case (supra) which did not meet with
any .success. It was, however, pointed out by the coun;el for the
petitioners that this Court did not accept the arguments of the
petitioners in that case because it was under an erroneous impression H
• that the 1955 Act and the .Amendment Acts of 1972 and 1977 were
added to the Ninth Schedu!e in the Consiitution· of India and were
856 SUPREME COURT REPORTS iJ9S4) i S.C.R,
therefore, immune from challenge. To some extent the counsel is
.A right in his statement that such an inapvertent mistake has crept in
due to oversight because the 1955 Act and the Amendment Acts of
· l972 and 1977 were added to tl;e Ninth Schedule. by the 4th Amend,
ment of.the Constitution of 1976 being entry· numbers IS I to i 85.
Hence, it could be reaso"nably argued that the, constitutional v~lidity ·
of the provisions, menti6ned above~ was jus(iciable and could be
B
:gone into. · Befofe dealing wi.th these arguments it may be necessary
to extract. certain· portions of the decision of this ·Court in Sri Sri
..
Ka/imata Thakurani's· case (supra) where this Court after dealing with
·the various provisjon<i observed thus: ·
. '. . I , . . '

c "In the iiistant case, it is clear that the 1955 Act as
also the Amendm-~nt Act of 1972 were added to the Ninth
Scheduie, being entry Nos. 60 and 81 ,'prior to April 24,
• 1973. In these circumstances,' it is manifest that the·
aforesaid Acts are completely .immune from challenge ori
the ground that they are violative of any of the rights ·
D
enshrined in .Pa.rt· III of the C~nstitution. The. learned
counsel for· the petitioner, therefore, ·.was fully justified
in making the concession before us."

The error is undoubtedly· there· but' neither the counsel for the
E petitioners nor ihe counsel for. the respondc1it drew our ·attention to
this omission. Even if the Acts were not included in the Ninth
Schedule their constitutional validity could not be questioned because.
this Court ·has clearly held. in Sri Sri Kalimata Thakurani's case that
the provisions are o_therwise reasonable and give full effect to the
pragmatic and sbcialistic approach, where the following observations
F. were made :
'.
"It would be seen tha_t s.17 permits the cultivator to
terminate the culti\'.ation cif the land by a bargardar and
resume possession . under his own cultivation if the con' .
ditiOns mentioned in clauses·. (a), (b) and (d) of sub-
. section (I) of s. 17 ·are. satisfied. Clause (d) may be
extracied thus :-

"That the person owning the-land requires it bona fide
for, bringing it under personal ."cultivation." · .•
1
"Thus,_ the. cµJivator has a right.to ~t back the fand
for' personal cultivation if he requires it for·his bonafied
MADHUSUDAN v. UNioN (Faza/ Ali, J.) 857
' . .
use and proves the' same fo the. satisfaction of the autho'
· rity appointed under s.17(1).", · · • A
Referring to some of the provisions of the 1972 Amendment .·
A~t this Court held ,that the provision, by which the. right Of bargar-
dar was protected and made heritable could not be challenged as
being· either unconsiitutional, unreasonable or arbitrary. But this · B
~· Court made some observations which were in favour of the ·petitioner
and which may .be extracted as f~lows :

"But when the Barga:rdor o~ his o.wn volition surrea; ·•
ders or abandons the · land. there is. no reason why the
tenant. should not lie allowed to resume· cultivation ~nd
instead pe compelled to get the land cultivated by some
other persbn nominated by the.authority concerned· under
s.49 ofthe 1955 · A9t. This provision therefore appears
to us to be extr~mely harsh and works serious injustice to
the rights of the tenants particularly after the ceilmg are .-> .
. of the tenant has been considerably reduced by the Amen-
dment .Act of 1972 .. Thus, the tenant having .a small
area. guaranteed to him for his 'unit, he should · hcve at
v.
·. least fuller and more effective rights to get. that area cul-
tivated by him or · even . by . a bargardar <Jf his choice
subject to. resuming the same, if the bargardar surrenders. E.
or aba_ndons the land......... Unfortunately, however, ·
. though the provisions of sub,seetions (3), (4J and (5) of
s.20B, which ·is only a penal secti~n) ·perilously border on
•
. arbitrarfnsss and amounts t~ serious· curbs on the fund~
niental right of the cultivator to pursue his occupation,
·we cannot ·however strike down 'these . provisions because
. they are contained in the Amendment Act of 1972. which
has been placed in the Ninth Schedule prior to .April 54,
1973, and therefore fall within the protective umbrella
and are immune from challenge."

• A capital was therefore made out of the abo~e observations in
Sri Sri Kalimata Thakuran.i's case. Reliance was also plaeed on a
decision of ..this. Court in Sasan,ka Sekhar 'Maity & Ors. v Union 0j
India &.Ors(') where A.P.Sen,J., speaking for the'Court, made the
following observatiom : . · H
'
"
(!) [198014 s.c.c. 716.
SUPREME COURT REPORTS i19g4j I s.c.R.

Tn order, therefore, to reconcile the fundamental
A • rights of the community as 'a whole w!th the individual
rights of the more fortunate section of the community, it
was fundamentally necessary to
make the impugned Jegis-
· lation to serure to a certain extent the rights oftliat part
of'the community whjch is denied its legitimate share in
the means of livelihood, •·
B
"The broad objectives o& any legislation relating to
agrarian reforms are ma.terially four, viz., (I) to maximise
the agricultural output and' productivity, (2) a fafr.and
equitable distribution of agricultural income, (3( increase
c in employment oppor\unities, and (4) a sosiai'or ethic,al
order. Though the· abolition of the zal)lidari system in
the State of West .Bengal was' an important step' forward, ""-.·.
the feudal structure remained so far as the peasants were'
concerned. These .objectives 11·ave·b~en achieved through
.D progressiv.e legislation.''

Th es~ observations put ihe petitioners completely out of court -)
,demolish the contentions advanced ~efore us.. The four objectives.
mentioMd by Sen,J. in .the passage extracted above -are clharly
brought out and implemented by virtue of the impugned amendments
E in the 1955 Act. ·

· So far as the deci.sion in the case of Sri Sri Kalimata Thakurani
(supra) is concerned, in view of the crystallisation of ihe law in •
Minerva Mills, Warnan Rao (supra) and Sanjeev Coke Manufacturing
F Co. v. M/S. Bharat Coking Coal Ltd. & Anr.( 2) cases 'Which have been
followed and amplified in the recent decision of this Court in State
of Tamil Nadu, etc v. L Abu Kavur Bai & Ors.,( 1) the matter is no ~.
longer res iiitegra and even if there was· an ·inadvertent ·error in the
observations of this Court in Sri Sri Kalima/a Thakurani's case, the
same has become redund'ant as the impugned provisions can be supp·
G orted as squarely.. ~alling within the four corners of Art.39{b) of the
Constitution as the inteniion of the Acts is to secure and promote the
objectives ·contained in Art.39(b). In this connection, we ·might
•extract a few observations from L. Abu Kavur Bai & Ors. (supra) :
' • I ~

H
(I) J1983) I $ C.C. 147. • . "
(2) ,c.A. N 0 s. 957-966 (NJ of 1973.etc. decided on 31.10.83.'
MADHUSUDAN v. UNION (Fazal Ali, J,) . &59

''In view of Art.31C, wliich gives protective umbrella
against Art.31(2) also, the Court cannot strike down the A
Act merely because the' compensation for taking" over the
transport services or its units is not provided for: The
reason for this is that Art.31 C was not merely a prag·
matic approach io socialism but imbibed a theoretical
aspect by which all means of production, key industries,
mines, minerTils, public supplies. utilities and services may B
be taken gradually under public owners~ip. management
and control."

It was further argued by the petitioners that there was no ~!ear
nexus between the Act and the. objectives contained in Art.39(b).
· We are, however, unable to agree with this argument becau.se the
c
~ question of nexus has been clearly exl?ounded by this .. Court both in •
the Minerva Mills· and Sanjeev Coke Manufaeturing Co.'s cases as •
· also in the case of L. Abu Kavqur Bai & Ors. (supra) where a Cons·
titution Bench of this Court, speaking through one of us (Fazlll
Ali,J .) , made the following observations : · D

'.'Another important fadet of Art.31C which has b;;en
emphasised by this Court.is that there should be a close
uexus between the statute pa5Sed by the legislature and
the twin objects mentioned in. clauses (b) and (c) of E
Art. 39. In approaching this problem and. considering
the qu·estion of nexus a narrow approach ought° not to be
· made·· because it . is well settled that the courts should
interpret a constitutional provision . in order to suppress
the mischief -and advance the object· of the Act. The
·dectrine of nexus cannot be extended to such an extreme F
limit that the very purpose of Art.39(b)&(c) is defeated ....
If the nexus is present in the law then the protection of
Art.31C becpmes complete and irrevocable."

It was also argued that by virtue. of the .various amendments
made by the 1972 and 1977 Amendment Acts no pr~cess of distri-
G
bution is involved. This argument cannot be accepted iu view of
the observations of this Court by Crishna lyer,J. in siate, of
Karnataka v. Ranganatha Reddy & .Anr.(1) etc. where the learned
Judge observed as follows·: ·
.,\
., I '
H

(1) [1978] 1 S.C.R. 641.

..
860 SUPREME COl/RT REPORTS .[1984] I s.c.R.

"The next question is whether nationalisation can
A have nexus, with ·distribution ....... : To 'distribute'; even
in its simple dictionary meaning, is to allot. to divide
·into Classes or into groups and 'distribution' embraces
arrangement, classification, piaceinent, disposition, appor·
a
tionmetlt;.the way in which items, quantity, or the .like
is divided or apportioned; the systeni of dispersing goods
B
· throu~hout .a co111munity." •

· Theabove observations were followed and amplified inL. Abu
Lavur liai's case {supra) thus.: ·
,..
c ·"It is obvioui, therefore, iil view of the vast range of..
transactions contemplated by the ·word 'distribution' as
. mentfoI'i.ed in the dictionaries referred to above, it will not
• be correct to construe the word 'distribution' in a purely
nteral sense. so .as to mean Only division of a particular
persons. The words, appuriionment, · allotment, allo- .
..... ·cation; classification, clearly fall within the broad sweep
of ihe ·word 'distribution'. So construed, · the. ·word
\
'distribution' as used in Art.39(b) will include various '1
facets, aspects, methodf and termcinology of a broad·
based concept of distribution/' ·
. ' \ . . '

In view of the aforesaid observations, the challenge tci the
impugned provisions of the Acts no longer s~ryives.

Moreover, what could have been a better·mode of distributiOn
contemplated by Art.39(b) than io take away the surplus agricultural
'larids from the '1andlords and disti;ibute it amongst the poor suffering
landless tillers of the soil who bad suffered for centuries · as vassals
slaves of the rich zamindars. The Acts have not touched the nofi- A.
agriculturai homestead lands or buildings standing thereon but bas
taken over only a ·major portion of the agricultural lands, leaving
.G with the .landlords a-poriion prescribed wit}lin the ceiling limit, anil
distrjbuted the excess .to th'e tillers of the soil which along constitute
their main source of .sustenance and livelihood. The claim of the
~aiyats {erstwhile ·landlords) that the Acts amount to con6scation is
absolutely unte~able and, if we.dare say, it amounts only to ··shedding
H of crocodile tears and an. anathema or a taboo.· We are therefore · . -P_ ,· .·
convinc~d ihat the impugned ameridni.e;1ts were nianifestly and poin- ) .
·. tedly made for the ·purpose of giving effect to and securing the

:~ .
•
MADHUSUDAN .v. UNION (Fazo/, Ali, J.) , 861

objects of Art.39(b) because thesc Acts ciearJy intended to distribute
the material· resources of toe community, vii., the agricultural lands . A
to a large. number ortillers of the .soil in order to serve the common
good of the aforesaid people. ·The challenge to the impugned Acts
and amendments mus.I therefore fail as the amendnts fall within the
le.tter and spirit of Ari.39(b).
•
..
B
Finafly, it w<ts suggested that· the. provis!on of the amendment
by. which the raiyat is enjoined to reside in the village itself for a
large part of the year seems to be harsh and arbitrary._ Th.is argu-
ment does not hold any water for two reasons-

(!) that when once itis found that the Act is meant to c
promote· and. effectuate the objectives contained in
Art.39(b), which is no doubt the ca,e.here,.no other
ground of challenge weuld survive b.ecause. by virtue
o(Art.3!C any Act whicb seems to secure the objects·
• • of Art.39(b) cannot be challenged being violative. of·
Art. 14, 19 or JI..
D

(2) Secondly, the. provision that the land-owner should·
reside in the village is both salutary and beneficial,·
the object being that if a raiyat wants 'to cultivate his
own Jarid he must give his whole-hearted attentio.n to E
the said land instead of liv'ing the village and carrying
on other avocations of life.

One o.f us; (Fazal Ali,J.) had· clearly adverted to this aspect of
the matter in Sri Sri Kalimatq Thakurani's case (supra) and observed F
as follows :- . -

.''The dominant object. of the p'roviso is to abolish
the age,-old institutions of absentee Jand-hoider by insist-
ing that the 'cultivator to whom land is allotted must give G
full and .complete attention to the soil and a& a result of
.which there will be maximum utilisation of the agricul:
tural resources whic_h would .incre~se produciion ...... ·'·
. It is obvious that the tenant has to remaiQ iri the village
for the purpose of cultivating the Jonds. sowing the seed~,
H
growing it and harvesting it. These processes would
. doubtless requirs the. presence of thh tena"nt fora greater ··
par\ of the year which is what the proviso predicates. If.
862 ' SUPRBMB COURT RBPORTS (1984) 1 5.C.R.

the tenant is permitted to leave the village for more than
half the·year then _the very purpose of giving such a vast
area for cultivation to a tenant will be foiled. Moreover
the·proviso merely insists thafthe tenant should. rem_ain
in the village or its periphery for 'greater part of the year'
which appearsto.be not only responsible but ab'solutely
essential _if the land has to be cultivated in a scientific
B manner .in order to yield the maxlmum possible produ- .
ction, which ·would result in better and equitable distri-
bution of agricultusal products for the use of the people,
of the country."

c For the reasons given above aU.the contentions raised by the
petitioners fail and the writ .petition is ~ismissed but without any
order as to costs. •

S.R. Petitions desmissed.

. '

•