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5. Having heard the learned counsel for the parties, it is important to first advert to the Scheme of the 1948 Act. Section 2(6) refers to persons who cultivate personally. Explanation - I is important and is set out hereinbelow:

“2. Definitions.-In this Act, unless there is anything repugnant in the subject or context, xxx xxx xxx (6) “to cultivate personally”… Explanation I – A widow or a minor, or a person who is subject to physical or mental disability, or a serving member of the armed forces shall be deemed to cultivate the land personally if such land is cultivated by servants, or by hired labour, or through tenants.” The deeming provision contained in Explanation I makes it clear that the four categories mentioned are deemed to cultivate land personally even if such land is cultivated through tenants.

6. Under Section 2(8), “land” is defined as referring to land which is used for agricultural purposes. Under Section 2(18), “tenant” includes three categories of persons – deemed tenants under Section 4, protected tenants and permanent tenants, as defined. Under Section 4 of the Act, a person who cultivates lawfully any land belonging to another person shall be deemed to be a tenant if such land is not cultivated personally by the owner or a member of his family or by a servant on wages payable in cash or kind or by a mortgagee in possession. Under Section 4-B tenancies cannot be terminated merely on the ground that the period fixed by an agreement has expired. Section 31 is important and is set out hereinbelow:-

“32. Tenants deemed to have purchased land on tillers’ day – (1) On the first day of April 1957 (hereinafter referred to as “the tillers day”) every tenant shall, subject to the other provisions of this section and the provisions of the next succeeding sections, be deemed to have purchased from his landlord, free of all encumbrances subsisting thereon on the said day, the land held by him as tenant, if, –
(a) Such tenant is a permanent tenant thereof and cultivates land personally;
13. It can thus be seen that the Scheme of the 1948 Act, and in particular, the 1956 Amendment, which introduced Tillers’ Day, is that an absentee landlord’s rights in the land must give way to a cultivating tenant. Statutorily, on Tillers’ Day, the landlord is divested of title and the tenant is vested with title to agricultural land which he cultivates by dint of his own effort. It is only in three cases that such purchase becomes ineffective – if the tenant fails to appear within the time prescribed after notice is given to him, or appears and declines purchase, or if the tenant fails to pay the entire purchase price. The widow, the minor and the person subject to a disability are placed on the same pedestal, and throughout their widowhood, minority or period of disability are deemed to cultivate the land personally through their tenants – the Explanation - I to Section 2(6) makes this clear. As we have seen from the case law extracted above, in the vast majority of cases, the landlord is divested of his title on a fixed date i.e. 1st April, 1957. It is only in exceptional cases where the landlord is a widow, minor or a person subjected to disability that this right of the tenant is postponed. What is important to note is that it is to the knowledge of both landlord and tenant that the tenant becomes the owner statutorily on a fixed date i.e. 1st April, 1957. Even otherwise, on postponed dates that are mentioned under Section 32, the tenant shall be deemed to have purchased the land on such postponed date under the first proviso to sub-section (1) of Section 32 when an application for possession made by the landlord under Section 29 is finally rejected – a date that is to the knowledge of both landlord and tenant. Also, under the circumstances prescribed under Section 32(1A), again the tenant shall be deemed to have purchased the land on a date on which a final order is passed by the Tribunal in the circumstances mentioned in the said sub-section. Again, under sub-section (1B), in the circumstances mentioned in the aforesaid sub-section, land gets restored to the tenant upon which deemed purchase takes place. Statutorily, therefore, in all cases covered by Section 32, the landlord is divested of his title either on Tillers’ Day or on a postponed date which is to the knowledge of the tenant, as the aforesaid date is on and from a final order of a Tribunal or a Tahsildar, as the case may be.