A. R. VENKATACHALA IYENGAR v. STATE OF MYSORE — 1979 DIGILAW 152 (KAR)

JAGANNATHA SHETTY, J. ( 1 ) THIS full Bench ha,s been constituted to decide the following question: whether under the provisions or by virtue of the provisions of the Mysore (Personal and Miscellaneous) Inams Abolition Act, 1954, there is a legal or statutory duty on the part of the State Government to collect rents payable by the tenants to be continued under Section 9a of the Act between the date of vesting and the determination of claims under Section 9a of the Act?" ( 2 ) THE reference arises out of Appeal No. 62 of 1973 which was preferred from a decree of the Civil Judge Shimoga. The appellants were the Inamdars of lands measuring about 345 acres comprised in the Inam villages of Kannur and Gowlampur situated in anandapuram Hobli, Sagar Taluk, Shimoga District. The said. Inam was abolished and vested in the Government with effect from first February 1959 consequent on the issuance of a notification dated 13th January 1959 under Section 1 (4) of the Mysore (Personal and Miscellaneous) Inams abolition Act, 1954 (hereinafter referred to as "the, Act" ). The lands were then in the occupation of tenants. The appellants and their tenants made claims for registration of occupancy rights before the Special Deputy commissioner. Upon investigation, it was found that the tenants did not belong to any of the categories like Kadim tenants, permanent tenants or quasi-permanent tenants on whom occupancy rights as against Inamdars were expressly conferred by the Act. They were however, registered as ordinary tenants under Section 9a with inamdars registered as occupants under S. 9 of the Act. But after the date of vesting till date of registration of occupancy rights the appllants did not and indeed could not collect rents from their tenants. The appellants complaining that they have lost rents payable by their tenants during that interregnum instituted O. S. No. 50 of 1969 in the Court of the Civil Judge, Shimoga claiming from the government three years rent amounting to Rs. 98,550/- payable by their tenants. The trial Judge dismissed the suit on the ground that the Government had no opbligation to collet rents from those tenants and pay in turn to the appellants. A Bench which heard the appeal against that decree, formulated the question and referred the same to a Full Bench for opinion and that is how the matter has come up before us. A Bench which heard the appeal against that decree, formulated the question and referred the same to a Full Bench for opinion and that is how the matter has come up before us. ( 3 ) IN order to reflect the real controversy as between the parties, we modify the question to read as follows: "whether under the provisions of the Mysore (Personal and miscellaneous) Inams Abolition Act, 1954, the State Government is under a tegal or statutory duty to collect rents payable by the tenants entitled to continue under Section 9a for the period between the date of vesting and the determination of claims under Sections 9 and 9a of the Act, and pay in turn to the occupants registered under Sec. 9?" ( 4 ) FOR a proper consideration of the question, it is necessary to have regard to the relevant provisions of the Act. The short title of the Act provides that it was expedient in the public interest to provide for the abolition of personal Inams and certain other Inams in the Mysore area except Bellary District. Section 2 (2) defines date of vesting to mean the date appointed by a notification issued under sub-section (4) of Section 1 section 2 (8), (12), and (14) defined 'kadim tenant' Permanent tenant' and quasi-permanent tenant respectively. Section 3 provides for consequences of the vesting of an inam. The Section so far as it is material provides:"3. Section 2 (2) defines date of vesting to mean the date appointed by a notification issued under sub-section (4) of Section 1 section 2 (8), (12), and (14) defined 'kadim tenant' Permanent tenant' and quasi-permanent tenant respectively. Section 3 provides for consequences of the vesting of an inam. The Section so far as it is material provides:"3. Consequence of the vesting of an inam in the State.- (1) when the notification under sub-section (4) of Section 1 in respect of any inam has been published in the Mysore Gazette, them notwithstanding anything contained in any contract, grant or other istrument or in any other law for the time being in force with effect on and from the date of vesting and save as otherwise expressly provided in this Act, the following consequences shall ensue, namely :- (a) the provisions of the Land Revenue Code relating to alienated holding shall, except as respects minor inams to which this Act is not applicable be deemed to have been repealed in their application to the inam : and the provisions of the Land Revenue, Code and all other enactments applicable unalienated villages shall apply to the said inam; (b) all rights, title and interest vesting in the inamdar including those in all communal lands, uncultivated lands, whether assessed or waste lands, pasture lands, forests, mines and minerals, quarries, rivers and streams, tanks and irrigation works, fisheries and ferries shall cease and be vested absolutely in the State of Mysore free from all encumbrances; (c) the inamdar shall cease to have any interest in the inam other than the interests expressly saved by or under the provisions of this act, (d) all rents and land revenue including cesses and royalties accruing in respect of lands comprised in such inam on or after the date of vesting shall be payable to the State and not to the Inamdar and any payment made in contravention of this clause shall not be valid; (c) all arrears of revenue, whether as jodi, quit-rent, or khayamgutta, and cesses remaining lawfully due on the date of vesting in in respect of any such inam shall after such date continue to be recoverable from the inamdar by whom they were payable and may, without prejudice 1o any other mode of recovery, be realised by the deduction of the amount of such arrears and, cessesi from the compensation money payable to such inamdar under this Act". Sections 4, 5 and 6 provide for registration of Kadim tenants, permanent tenants and quasi-permanent tenants as occupants on certain conditions. Section 9 provides that every inanidar with effect on and from the date of vesting, shall be entitled to be registered as occupant cf all the lands other than communal lands, waste lands etc. or lands in respect of which any person is entitled to be registered under Ss. 4 to 3 of the Act. Sec. 9-A provides tha,t every tenant of the inamdar, ether than the tenants entitled to be registered as occupants under S. 4, 5 and 6 shall be entitled to continue as a tenant of the lands with effect on and from the date of vesting and subject to the provisions of Chapter III-A. In accordance with these provisions, the appellants were registered as occupants of the lands under Section 9, and their tenants were continued as ordinary tenants under Section 9a. ( 5 ) THE Act does not expressly or impliedly confer a right on the inamdars to collect rents after the date of vesting from the tenants entitled to continue till the occupancy rights are registered But Mr. Krishnamurthy, leaned counsel for the, appellants urged, that the government was under a legal duty to collect rents from those tenants and pass on the same to the appellants. According to him, that duty is implied by the provisions of Section 3 (1) (b) and Section 26-A of the Act, He also urged that upon the abolition of Inams and vesting the same in the State the Iramdar's right in personam was not extinguished and it was only his right in rem was terminated. He further said that Section 3 (1) (d) operates as a statutory assignment for the Sta,te to collect rent without consideration. ( 6 ) WE do not think that these contentions could be accepted. Section 3 enumerates the consequences of the vesting of an Inam in the State. By section 3 (1) (a), the Inams arei abolished notwithstanding anything contained in any contract, grant or other instrument or in any other law for the time being in force. By Section 3 (1) (b), all rigts title and interest vesting in the Inamdar including those in lands and forests, mines and minerals, fisheries and ferries have been extinguished, and those rights are vested aboslutely in the State free from all encumbrances. By Section 3 (1) (b), all rigts title and interest vesting in the Inamdar including those in lands and forests, mines and minerals, fisheries and ferries have been extinguished, and those rights are vested aboslutely in the State free from all encumbrances. Section 3 (1) (c) declares that the Inamdar shall not have any interest in the Inam other than the interest expressly saved by or under the provisions of the act, When Section 3 (1) (b) provides that all rights, title and interest vesting the Inamdar shall cease and be vested absolutely in the Stale free from all encumbrances, it means every right, title and interest of the inamdar in relation to the Inam. The right of the Inamdar to collect rents or land revenue from the tenants in possession of the lands comprised in such Inam is also not excluded from the sweep of Section 3 (1) (b) as a corollary, Section 3 (1) (d) directs the tenants not to pay their rents to the Inamdar. It states that ail rents and land revenue accruing on or after the date of vesting shall be payable to the State and not to the Inamdar. It is further declared that the, payment made in contravention of that provision shall be invalid. ( 7 ) THE cumulative effect of all these provisions is that the Act extinguishies ail rights, title and interest vesting in the Inamdar. Those rights, title and interest are vested absolutely in the State. The abolition of Inams is by Legislative decree and its consequences must therefore be sought only in the statute itself and not apart from the statute when Section 3 (1) (c) states that the Inamdar shall cease to have any interest in the Inam other than the interests expressly saved by or under the provisions of the Act. It is not open to the Inamdar to rely upon the principles of common law or any other law to save his right to collect rents from the tenants. The Act provides for compensation for the loss of Inam rights in land and also provides for occupancy rights to Inamdars falling under Section 9. Inamdar's (since called occupant) right to collect reasonable rents from the tenants entitled to continue under section 9-A is a fresh right conferred by Section 26-B of the Act and not a continuation of his age old right in the Inam. Inamdar's (since called occupant) right to collect reasonable rents from the tenants entitled to continue under section 9-A is a fresh right conferred by Section 26-B of the Act and not a continuation of his age old right in the Inam. It must be stated that the Act specifically deals with Inams and is obviously protected under Article 31a from any attack under Articles 14. 19 or 31 of the Constitution. Inams being estates within the meaning of Article 31a (2) the) rights of the Inamdars to collect remits from their tenants can be nothing more than a right in an estate. See Gangadhara Rao v State of Bombay, AIR 1961 SC. 288 . When once the Inam is abolished and vested in the State the Inamdar's very source of right to collect the, rents in respect of the lands comprised in the Inam disappears. ( 8 ) APART from that it seems to us that the Act casts no duty on the State to recover rents from those tenants and pay the same to their landlord. Section 3 (1) (d) is one of the consequences of vesting the Inam in the State. It does not impose a legal duty of the State to recover rents from the tenants nor does it confer a legal right on the inamdar to claim rents after the date of vesting. The duty of the State may arise only if there is a corresponding right possessed by the inamdars. We respectfully agree with thq enunciation made by this Court in k. Doraiswamy v. The Special Deputy Commissioner for Abolition of inams, Bangalore, (1966) 1 Mys. L. J. 756 at 759. It was observed. "in regard to the mandamus sougnt by the petitioner that the rent payable to the Inamders should be collected by the Government it is obvious that we should issue no such mandamus Section 3 (1) (d) to which Mr. Ramaswamy Iyengar appealed does not in our opinion afford any assistance to him. All that that clause says is that one of the consequences of the vesting of the imam village is that the rents and, land revenue payable to the Inamdar shall be payable to the State Government. Ramaswamy Iyengar appealed does not in our opinion afford any assistance to him. All that that clause says is that one of the consequences of the vesting of the imam village is that the rents and, land revenue payable to the Inamdar shall be payable to the State Government. There is no other statutory provision to which cur atlertion was called on the basis of which we could issue any mandamus to the State Government or on the foundation of which we could come to the conclusion that there is any legal duty on the part of the State Government to assist the inamdar in that way. " ( 9 ) THE liability of one should not be confused with the duty of another. It has been stated by Salmond: (3 ). "a duty is roughly speaking an act which one ought to do, an act the opposite of which would be a wrong. . . . To ascribe a duty to a man is to claim that he ought to perform a certain act. . . . . . Moreover a duty consists in positive acts, not in mere abstaining from action. "we are, therefore, of the opinion that the Act does not expressly or impliedly cast a duty on the Government to recover rent from such tenants and pass on the same to the appellants. The appellants could exercise only those rights in respect of their Inams which have been expressly saved by or under the provisions of the Act, and the right to recover rents from their tenants after the date of vesting before they are registered as occupnats is not one of those rights preserved by the Act ( 10 ) IN the result, we answer the question in the negative. ( 11 ) WITH this opinion, the records will now go back to the Beach for disposal of the case. --- *** --- .