- (1.) Leave granted. The only question before us is whether the lands gifted to Sumathi the unmarried daughter of deceased Govindasamy by his father Swami Goundar could be included in the holding of Govindasamy's family for the purpose of calculating the ceiling area.
(2.) The relevant facts which are not in dispute are as follows :
(3.) The Tamil Nadu Land Reforms (Fixation of Ceiling on Land) Act 1961 (hereinafter referred to as the Act") received the assent of the President on 13th April, 1962. It was amended by the Tamil Nadu Land Reforms (Reduction of Ceiling on Land) Act 17 of 1970. According to Section 3 (11), the date of commencement of the Act means the 15th day of February, 1970. Section 3 (31) defines the notified date as the date specified by the Government in a Notification which shall be a date after the publication of the Act. The relevant notified date in this case is 2-10-1970. Between 15-2-1970 and 2-10-1970 Swami Gounder had executed deeds of settlement gifting an extent of 17.615 standard acres to his grand daughter Sumathi through his son Govindaswami under three documents. When the Authorities under the Act initiated proceedings to calculate the ceiling area of Govindaswami's family, they included the lands gifted to Sumathi by her grand father. An order was passed by the Assistant Commissioner (Land Reforms) holding that the family of Govindaswami consisting of himself, his wife and unmarried daughter had a surplus of 18.178 standard acres and directed Govindasami to declare the same. On an appeal to the Land Tribunal, the order was confirmed in so far as it related to Sumathi's property. A revision petition was filed in the High Court of Madras which was later transferred to the Land Reforms Special Appellate Tribunal, Madras on the constitution thereof. The Tribunal dismissed the revision by order dated 14-8-95 holding that the question is concluded by a judgment of this Court in Civil Appeal No. 4419 of 1989 dated 27-10-1993. It is that order which is challenged in this petition.;