53. Surrender deeds executed by tenants previously not to affect their rights in certain cases.
(1)Subject to the provisions of sub-section (2), any document executed by a cultivating verumpattamdar after the 28th July 1950 and before the commencement of the Malabar Tenancy (Amendment) Act, 1954 (Tamil Nadu Act VII of 1954) purporting to affect his rights or status as tenant shall be voidable at the option of the cultivating verumpattamdar:Provided that the landlord or his successor-in-interest has not admitted any other tenant to the possession of the land before the 28th March 1953.(2)Any person entitled to rescission of a document under the provisions of sub-section (1) shall, within three months of the commencement of the Malabar Tenancy (Amendment) Act, 1954 (Tamil Nadu Act VII of 1954), send a notice by registered post to the landlord demanding possession of the land. On such notice being sent, the cultivating verumpattamdar shall be entitled to be restored to possession of the land as if no such document had been executed and he shall have all the rights (including the right to dispossess any other person who has been let into possession of the land on or after the 28th March 1953) of a cultivating verumpattamdar as if he had been in possession as such verumpattamdar on the date of commencement of the Malabar Tenancy (Amendment) Act, 1954 (Tamil Nadu Act 24 of 1954), and shall become liable to restore to the landlord any money or other consideration received from him under the document.(3)A person who has sent a notice under sub-section (2), may institute a suit for possession of the land within six months of the commencement of the Malabar Tenancy (Amendment) Act, 1954 (Tamil Nadu Act VII of 1954), against the landlord and any person let into possession of the land on or after the 28th March 1953. The Court shall, in such suit, on proof of the facts stated in sub-section (1), pass a decree for possession:Provided that, if the plaintiff has received any money or other consideration under the document from the landlord, the Court shall make the execution of such decree conditional on the restoration of such money or the money equivalent of such consideration with such interest as the Court may deem just.(4)The rights conferred by sub-sections (1), (2) and (3) are personal to the cultivating verumpattamdar who executed the document and cannot be exercised by any person claiming to be such cultivating verumpattamdar's successor-in-interest as heir, assignee or otherwise:Provided that, if such cultivating verumpattamdar dies during the pendency of a suit instituted by him under sub-section (3), such suit may be continued by his legal representative subject to the defences available against the original plaintiff.
