Indian Kanoon - Search engine for Indian Law

tected by section 20.

There are also indications in the language of section 20 pointing to the same conclusion. Section 20(2) provides that the persons whose rights are terminated under the proviso to section 20(1) shall be entitled to compensation having regard to the value of the right which is terminated and the unexpired portion of the period for which the right is created. These words are more appropriate to connote rights which are to be exercised for specified periods, such as lease or contract for the exploitation of mines or forests for a term than "ownership of the estate". There is one other consideration, which lends support to this conclusion. The object of the Act was to establish direct relationship between the State and the tillers of the soil, and to abolish all intermediate tenures. In Madras, the rights and obligations of intermediate tenure holders were regulated by the Madras Estates Land Act, and under that Act the intermediaries consisted not merely of the holders of the estates as defined in section 3(2) of that Act but also holders of post-settlement minor inams as settled by decisions of the highest authority. If the purpose of the Act is to be fully achieved, it would be necessary to abolish not merely estates as defined in section 3(2) of the Madras Estates Land Act but also darmila minor inams. But if the contention of the respondent is to be accepted, it is only the estates mentioned in section 3(2) that will, on notification, vest in the Government and not the minor inams. These will continue to be held by the inamdars under section 20 until they are terminated in accordance with the proviso therein, and survive as islets in the landscape even after the parent estates have dis- appeared from the scene. The legislation must to this extent be held to have failed to achieve its purpose. And this is not all. If the contention of the respondent is correct, then the minor inamdars will not merely be unaffected by the Act but will actually be better off for it. Under section 3(a) of the Act, the Madras Estates Land Act stands repealed on and from the notified date, and as it is by virtue of this Act that the tenants became entitled to occupancy rights, the inamdars would, on notification, be free to eject tenants, and settle their own terms with them. We cannot accede to a contention which results not merely in the frustration of the object of the Act but further produces consequences, the reverse of what were intended. On the other hand, the contention of the appellant that minor inams fall outside section 20 and would vest straightaway in the State under section 3(b) will have the effect of extinguishing the rights of the inamdars, and enabling the State to issue ryotwari pattas to the tenants in occupation. We prefer to accept this contention, as it fully effectuates the intention of the legislature. In the result, we must hold that the one-sixteenth portion of the village of Karuppur forming a darmila inam will vest in the Government under section 3(b) of the Act, and that the only right of the inamdars is to share in the compensation under the terms of the Act. The petition of the respondent in so far as it relates to this inam must be dismissed.