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In Schedule III to the Tenancy Act, 1948, was given a list of Land Tenures Abolition Act, including the Taluqdari Abolition Act, 1949. Therefore, the effect of s. 87A aforesaid was that nothing in the Tenancy Act, 1948, affected the provisions of the Taluqdari Abolition Act, 1949, in so far as the provisions in s. 5A of the Taluqdari Abolition Act 1949, conferred the right of an occupant in favour of a permanent tenant in possession of any taluqdari land on payment of the sums mentioned therein. The arguments before us have proceeded on the footing that before the coming into force of the impugned Act, 1958, the status of a permanent tenant in possession of any taluqdari land was to be determined by the provisions in s. 83 of the Revenue Code; in other words by the two circumstances mentioned in that section.

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The tillers' day referred to above was the first day of April, 1957. The argument on behalf of the petitioners is that according to the decision of this Court, the title of the petitioners to lands held by tenants who were entitled to the benefit of ss. 32 to 32R passed immediately to the tenants on the tillers' day and there was a completed purchase or sale thereof as between the petitioners and the tenants. So far as permanent tenants in possession of taluqdari lands were concerned, they were governed by s. 5A of the Taluqdari Abolition Act, 1949, and nothing in the Tenancy Act, 1948, affected their right under that section. But non-permanent tenants in possession of taluqdari lands became purchasers of their lands on the tillers' day with an obligation to pay the purchase price mentioned in s. 32H of the Tenancy Act, 1948. Section 32H, in so far as it bears upon non-permanent tenants, says:

On behalf of the respondents it was stated at the Bar that the petitioners had made applications for a declaration under s. 6 of the impugned Act, 1958, and that those applications are still pending. We have no materials in support of this statement. No affidavit has been made on behalf of the respondents to this effect; nor do we know if those applications related to all the non- permanent tenants of the petitioners. What we know is that in a stay application made by the petitioner in petition No. 120 of 1958 it was averred that the petitioner had filed several declaratory suits before the Mamlatdar under s. 70(b) of the Tenancy Act, 1948, for a declaration that the tenants concerned were not permanent tenants. Those suits were however, filed prior to the coming into force of the impugned Act, 1958. The petitioner asked for a stay of those suits on two grounds: firstly, that after the coming into force of the impugned Act, 1958, the suits would become infructuous, and secondly, that the Mamlatdar concerned would have no jurisdiction to adjudicate upon the constitutional validity of the provisions of the impugned Act, 1958, and in view of those provisions would be bound to hold that the tenants had become permanent tenants. This Court passed no order on the application for stay. But the petitioner, it appears, moved the Mamlatdar to stay the hearing of the suits pending the disposal of the writ petition in this Court and the suits were stayed. In a second petition filed on behalf of the petitioner it was stated that after the coming into force of the impugned Act, 1958, the petitioner received a notice to show cause why the non-permanent tenants under him should not be declared to be permanent tenants and the record of rights amended accordingly. The petitioner applied to the Revenue Officer concerned to stay the proceedings in view of the writ petition pending in this Court. This request was, however, turned down. The petitioner then came to this Court and it appears that an order was made to the effect that any investigation which might be necessary for the proceedings pending before the Revenue Officer might be continued, but no final order or entry should be made till the disposal of the writ petition. Such an order appears to have been made in respect of a number of villages and the petitioner stated that he had thousands of tenants in 24 villages, some of whom were permanent, some protected, and some ordinary. Nothing was stated in those petitions or in the replies thereto as to whether the tenure-holder had made an application for a declaration within the meaning of s. 6 of the impugned Act, 1958. All that has been stated in the application is that in response to a notice received from the Revenue Officer, the petitioner, as a tenure-holder, had moved this Court for a stay of the proceedings. If the petitioner had filed no application for a declaration within the meaning of s. 6 of the impugned Act, 1958, and within the time allowed by that section, then it is obvious that the Revenue Officer dealing with the suits under s. 70(b) of the Tenancy Act, 1948, pending before him, or the Revenue Officer dealing with other proceedings before him, must give effect to the provisions of ss. 3, 4 and 6 of the impugned Act, 1958. It is, therefore difficult to see how the pendency of the suits or other proceedings before the Revenue Officers concerned can be of any assistance to the petitioners. The question, therefore, boils down to this. Section 6 of the impugned Act, 1958 does give one opportunity to the petitioners to make an application for a declaration that any tenant under him is not a permanent tenant, but that opportunity was to be availed of within six months from June 10, 1958. Once that opportunity is lost, the tenure-holder cannot claim that a tenant who fulfils cls. (a) and (b) of s. 4 is not a permanent tenant. Our attention was drawn to sub-ss. (3), (4) and (5) of s. 5A of the Taluqdari Abolition Act, 1949. Those sub-sections say in effect that if any question arises whether any person is a permanent tenant, the State Government or an officer authorised by the State Government in that behalf shall decide the question; where such officer decides such question any person aggrieved by the decision may file an appeal to the State Government within 60 days from the date of the decision; and the decision of the State Government shall be final. It was not suggested before us that the aforesaid sub-sections would give the tenure-holder a second opportunity of contesting the claim of the tenant, and it seems to us quite clear that the tenure- holder who had failed to make an application within the time mentioned in s. 6 of the impugned Act, 1958, would not be in a position to take advantage of sub-ss. (3), (4) and (5) of s. 5A of the Taluqdari Abolition Act, 1949. If ss. 3, 4 and 6 of the impugned Act, 1958, are good and valid in law, then whichever be the authority that has to decide the claim of the tenant, it must decide it in accordance with those provisions.

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In these circumstances, can it be said that the opportunity given by s. 6 is a real opportunity and does it amount to merely changing a rule of evidence ? We think that this question must be answered in the negative.

It is to be noted that on April 1, 1957 the petitioners ceased to be tenure-holders of the lands held by non-permanent tenants and as held by this Court, ss. 32 to 32R of the Tenancy Act, 1948, clearly contemplated the vesting of the title in the tenants on the tillers' day, defeasible only on certain specified contingencies. This Court held that those sections were designed to bring about an extinguishment, or in any event a modification of the landlord's rights in the estate within the meaning of Art. 31A (1) (a) of the Constitution. If that was the true effect of ss. 32 to 32R of the Tenancy Act, 1948, then on April 1, 1957 the petitioners were left only with the right to get the purchase price under s. 32H. That right of the petitioners was undoubtedly a right to property. In Bombay Dying and Manufacturing Co. Ltd. v. The State of Bombay (1) this Court observed, with regard to unpaid wages of an employee, that when an employee had done his work, the amount of wages earned by him become a debt due to him from the employer and this was property which could be assigned under the law. The provisions of the Bombay Labour Welfare Fund Act (Bombay Act XL of 1953) were under consideration in that case. Section 3 of the Act transferred inter alia all unpaid accumulation of wages to a fund known as the Bombay Labour Welfare Fund. This Court held that s. 3 (1) of the Act in so far as it related to unpaid accumulation in s. 3(2) (b) was unconstitutional and void by reason of the right guaranteed under Art. 19(1)