VERMA, J. - (1.) -
(2.) ALL the above-said writ petitions involve the same question of law and are being decided together. Writ petitions have been filed by the khatedars or the legal heirs of the khatedars in the respective writ petitions who had been subjected to the declaration of land ceilings as per the provisions of the Rajasthan Imposition of Ceiling on Agricultural Holdings Act, 1973 and the rules framed therein. All the writ petitions belong to district Kota where their lands were situated at the time of declaration of the ceilings. The petitioners state that as per Section 30-C of Chapter III-B of the Rajasthan Tenancy Act, the ceiling area for a family consisting of five or less than five members is to be thirty standard acres of land provided that where the members of a family exceed five, the ceiling area in relation thereto, shall be increased for each additional member by five standard acres, so however that it does not exceed sixty standard acres of land. `Standard acres' has been defined and shall mean the area of land which, with reference to its productive capacity, situation, soil classification and other prescribed particulars, is found in the prescribed manner to be likely to yield ten maunds of wheat yearly. Section 30-C reads as under:- `30C Extent of Ceiling area: The ceiling area for a family consisting of five or less than five members shall be thirty standard acres of land: Provided that where the members of a family exceed five, the ceiling area in relation thereto shall be increased for each additional member by five standard acres, so however that it does not exceed sixty standard acres of land. Explanation A. `Standard acre' shall mean the area of land which, with reference to its productive capacity, situation, soil classification and other prescribed particulars, is found in the prescribed manner to be likely to yield ten maunds of wheat yearly, and in case of land not capable of producing wheat, the other likely produce thereof shall, for the purpose of calculating a standard acre, be determined according to the prescribed scale so as to be equivalent in terms of money value to ten mounds: Provided that, in determining a ceiling area in terms of standard acres, the money value of the produce of well irrigated (Chahi) land shall be taken as being equivalent to the money value of the produce of an equal area of un-irrigated (Barani) land." Calculation of the standard acres is to be determined on the basis of the `standard acres' which has been defined. The State Government have determined for each village the extent of the ceiling area on the basis of principle contained in Section 30. Details of such area so determined or contained in Annexure to the Rajasthan Tenancy (Fixation of Ceiling on land) (Government) Rules, 1963. The Rule 19 requires the formation of ceiling groups. Appendix A of the Rules contains principles for arriving at the ceiling area. The extent of an ceiling area has been arrived at after formation of the Ceiling Groups as per Rule 19 on the basis of the principle contained in Section 30C. It has been declared that for the purpose of formation of Ceiling Groups, soil classification u/s 150, assessment circles or assessment groups u/s 149 of the Rajasthan Land Revenue Act, 1956 have been taken as foundation. Where the irrigation facility is provided and it falls under Chambal Command Area, the total area that would remain with an agriculturist will be 22 ordinary acres equivalent to 30 standard acres for the villages falling under Group I. For Group II, it will be 26 ordinary acres and for Group III, it is 32 ordinary acres and for un-irrigated land known as `MAL-A', the ceiling area is 31 ordinary acres equivalent to 30 standard acres in Group I. As compared to the land in Kota District, in Ganganagar villages have been classified under four Groups and in irrigated project area, 29 ordinary acres equivalent to 30 standard acres have been prescribed in Group I villages. For Group II it is 35 ordinary acres and for Group III, it is 39 ordinary acres and for Group IV, it is 43 ordinary acres. The petitioner submits that the agriculturists in Kota district have been treated arbitrarily and have been discriminated by prescribing low ceiling limit for their agricultural holding, as compared to agriculturists in Ganganagar where cost of land and yield of wheat or any other product is much more than the villages of Kota District. The different criteria has been provided to the effect that a farmer in Ganganagar can retain 29 acres of agricultural land which is considered to be equivalent to 30 standard acres of land whereas in Kota district it is 22 ordinary acres which is equivalent to 30 standard acres. The petitioner has produced a chart hereinafter mentioning of different groups. District Classification Ceiling area in acres I II III IV V Ganganagar `Nahari' 29 35 39 43 -do- Not Nahari 64 78 78 79 Alwar `Nahari' 28 32 40 -do- Not Nahari 57 63 79 Jaipur `Nahari' 35 37 45 56 64 -do- Not Nahari 69 74 90 112 128 Bundi `Nahari' 24 30 -do- Not Nahari 34 43 Kota `Nahari' 22 26 32 -do- Not Nahari 31 38 45 It is the submission of the petitioners that the farmers of Ganganagar have been put in much advantageous position than farmers of any other district. Prayer has been made for a direction to quash Rule 19 of the Old Ceiling Rules along with its Annexure-1 on the ground that it is ultravires and void.
(3.) REPLY has been filed by the State. It is stated that the standard acres have been defined in Section 30C of the Rajasthan Tenancy Act and that the computation of standard acres of the land is to be divided into groups according to its productivity. Rule 19 of the Rules prescribes the formation of ceiling groups for the purpose of determination of ceiling area. The assessment circles or assessment groups are formed. Rule 19 reads as under:- `19. Formation of Ceiling Groups- For the purpose of determining ceiling areas, the assessment circles or assessment groups formed or deemed to have been formed, under Section 149 of the Rajasthan Land Revenue Act, 1956 (Rajasthan Act No. 15 of 1956) shall be grouped into ceiling groups as shown in Annexure I to these rules, and the ceiling area in respect of the various soilclasses mentioned in column 2 of Part A of the said Annexure shall be that shown in column 3 to 7 of the same part against the ceiling group in which the villages mentioned in column 2 of Part B of the said Annexure have been placed.' Appendix-A has been attached to Rule 19. Rules have been framed on the assessment made by the Government and after going through the requirement as are required u/s 30C of the Ceiling Act. ;