SAVATRI DEVI Vs. STATE OF HARYANA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Did the tenants holding land under the landowner Devi Singh lose their right under Section 18 of the Punjab Security of Land Tenures Act, 1953 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Act') to purchase the land held by them upon the death of said Devi Singh ? This is the question that calls for determination here.

(2.) The respondents Bhola, Norata, Chitru, Rasala and Punna had applied for the purchase of land held by them as tenants under Devi Singh. During the pendency of these proceedings, Devi Singh died on October 8, 1969. It is the case of the petitioners, who are Devi Singh's widow and children, that on his death, they become small landowners, as defined in the Act and the application for purchase of land could not, therefore, proceed against them.

(3.) The contention raised cannot be sustained in view of the binding precedent provided by the judgment of the Supreme Court in Rameshwar and others v. Jot Ram and others, 1976 AIR(SC) 49. The matter here arose from applications by tenants of a landowner for the purchase of land under Section 18 of the Act. After the primary authority had found them eligible for such purchase and the tenants had deposited the first instalment of the price fixed, the landowner died during the pendency of the appeal filed by him against the order permitting the purchase of land by the tenants. The heirs of the deceased landowner would have become small landowners if the land inherited by them were to be divided amongst them. It was held that the right of the tenants fixed under Section 18(1) and (4) of the Act could not be uprooted by the supervening circumstances. It being observed that it was basic to our processual jurisprudence that the right to relief must be judged to exist as on the date a suitor institutes the legal proceedings and later developments cannot defeat his right.