Constitution and Amendments
THE CONSTITUTION (SEVENTEENTH AMENDMENT) ACT, 1964
India
THE CONSTITUTION (SEVENTEENTH AMENDMENT) ACT, 1964
Act 17 of 1964
- Published in Gazette of India on 30 April 1964
- Commenced on 20 June 1964
- [This is the version of this document from 30 April 1964.]
- [Note: The original publication document is not available and this content could not be verified.]
Statement of Objects and Reasons appended to the Constitution (Nineteenth Amendment) Bill, 1964 which was enacted as THE CONSTITUTION (Seventeenth Amendment) Act, 1964STATEMENT OF OBJECTS AND REASONSArticle 31A of the Constitution provides that a law in respect of the acquisition by the State of any estate or of any rights therein or the extinguishment or modification of any such rights shall not be deemed to be void on the ground that it is inconsistent with, or takes away or abridges any of the rights conferred by article 14, article 19 or article 31. The protection of this article is available only in respect of such tenures as were estates on the 26th January, 1950, when the Constitution came into force. The expression "estate" has been defined differently in different States and, as a result of the transfer of land from one State to another on account of the reorganisation of States, the expression has come to be defined differently in different parts of the same State. Moreover, many of the land reform enactments relate to lands which are not included in an estate. Several State Acts relating to land reform were struck down on the ground that the provisions of those Acts were violative of articles 14, 19 and 31 of the Constitution and that the protection of article 31A was not available to them. It is, therefore, proposed to amend the definition of "estate" in article 31A of the Constitution by including therein, lands held under ryotwari settlement and also other lands in respect of which provisions are normally made in land reform enactments. It is further proposed to provide that where any law makes a provision for the acquisition by the State of any estate and where any land comprised therein is held by a person under his personal cultivation, it shall not be lawful for the State to acquire any such land as is within the ceiling limit applicable to him under any law for the time being in force or any building or structure standing thereon or appurtenant thereto, unless the law relating to the acquisition of such land, building or structure provides for payment of compensation at a rate not less than the market value thereof.(i)in clause (1), after the existing proviso, the following proviso shall be inserted, namely:- "Provided further that where any law makes any provision for the acquisition by the State of any estate and where any land comprised therein is held by a person under his personal cultivation, it shall not be lawful for the State to acquire any portion of such land as is within the ceiling limit applicable to him under any law for the time being in force or any building or structure standing thereon or appurtenant thereto, unless the law relating to the acquisition of such land, building or structure, provides for payment of compensation at a rate which shall not be less than the market value thereof.";(ii)in clause (2), for sub-clause (a), the following sub-clause shall be substituted and shall be deemed always to have been substituted, namely:- `(a) the expression "estate" shall, in relation to any local area, have the same meaning as that expression or its local equivalent has in the existing law relating to land tenures in force in that area and shall also include-(i)any jagir, inam or muafi or other similar grant and in the States of Madras and Kerala, any janmam right; (ii)any land held under ryotwari settlement; (iii)any land held or let for purposes of agriculture or for purposes ancillary thereto, including waste land, forest land, land for pasture or sites of buildings and other structures occupied by cultivators of land, agricultural labourers and village artisans;'.