U.C.Srivastava, J. - (1.) This petition is directed against the order passed by Deputy Director of Consolidation and Assistant Settlement Officer (Consolidation) who have held that a step mother is widowed mother (within the meaning of Section 171 of UP ZA and LR Act) and is entitled to-succeed to the property of her step-son. It is not in dispute that Ghirrau was the last male tenant cultivator of the disputed land about 15 years ago and after his death his son Shakoor inherited the property. The said Shakoor also died in 1973 leaving behind a widow and opposite party No. A Smt. Munni his step-mother who was the second wife of Ghirrau and had a son from her previous husband. Basic year entry was in the name of Shakoor and on publication of basic year records Petitioner and opposite party No. 4 filed objections for entering their names in the revenue records in place of Shakoor. The matter was referred to the Consolidation Officer who allowed the claim of the Petitioner and rejected that of opposite party No. 4 and directed that the Petitioner alone may be substituted as the Petitioner was the heir of Shakoor. Against the order passed by Consolidation Officer the opposite partly No. 4 filed an appeal before the Settlement Officer (Consolidation) who partly allowed the appeal and directed that in view of the provisions of Section 171 of UP ZA and LR Act both the widowed mother and step mother were entitled to succeed. As such the name of step mother of Shakoor which according to him was "widowed mother" was also to be mutated along with the Petitioner. Against the order passed by Settlement Officer (Consolidation), the Petitioner filed a revision which was dismissed by the Deputy Director of Consolidation who also adopted the very same view of law.
(2.) Sri P.N. Mathur, learned Counsel for the Petitioner, challenged the orders passed by Settlement Officer (Consolidation) and Deputy Director of Consolidation on the ground that they had wrongly interpreted Section 171(b) of the Act inasmuch as they have wrongly held that widowed mother includes a step mother. The present case thus involves interpretation of Section 171(1)(b) writ reference to the Muslim family though Section 171(b) applies equally to Hindus and Muslims notwithstanding the fact that in personal law there is some difference so far as the position and status of step mother is concerned.
(3.) The notions of Hindu Law or Muslim Law cannot be imported for interpreting the provisions of UP ZA and LR Act and the rights of the parties are to be decided on the basis of the provisions of the said Act only. Even under the Mohammedan Law the step mother is not an heir of her step son, the reason appears to be because there is no tie of consanguinity between the two. Under Section 35 of U.P. Tenancy Act after mother, step mother being a widow was also an heir of the deceased male tenant. Under the UP ZA and LR Act the step mother being a widow was also an heir of a deceased male tenant and that too in preference to an unmarried daughter, but this position was changed by U.P. Act XX of 1954 and step mother ceased to be an heir and mother, who has not re-married continued to be an heir of the deceased male tenant. Under U.P. Land Reforms (Amendment) Act, 1958 a new Clause 171(b) was added which reads as under: "(b) Widow and widowed mother and widow of a predeceased male lineal descendant in the male line of descent, who have not re-married." From the above facts it is clear that the Legislature was conscious of difference between mother which meant own mother and step mother, but by means of the amendment of the year 1954 the step mother ceased to bean heir and mother continued to be an heir. Under U.P. Tenancy Act or UP ZA and LR Act if a person died leaving behind sons from his first wife and a second wife, the second wife was not given any right in the tenancy land but the step mother was entitled to succeed her step son after exclusion of a few heirs and it seems that there was deliberate deletion of the word step mother and that is why in the year 1954 only mother being widow was retained as an heir. In place of mother, the step mother was separately shown till before the amendment of the year 1954. From the scheme of the Act it is thus clear that wherever the word 'mother' was used by the Legislature, in Section 171 of U.P. Zamindari Abolition Act, it meant own mother and not 'step mother'. Section 171(b) of the Act used the word 'widowed mother' which means none else than ones own mother who may ever be adoptive mother who is a widow and not a 'step mother' who is a widow. In some cases it will create a hardship but for that Legislature alone can make the necessary amendments. It is desirable that some amendment in this connection may be made. For instance, a tenure-holder leaves a son from the first wife and his second wife also and if soon thereafter his son dies, then the step mother will not be entitled to the holding of her own husband which may go to others and she may go to the dogs.;