BHARTU versus RANDHIR SINGH & ORS.

Citation: [1985] 2 S.C.R. 638 · Decided: 22-01-1985 · Supreme Court of India · Bench: O. CHINNAPPA REDDY · Disposal: Dismissed

Cited by 1 judgment(s) · see the full citation network in Lexace

Judgment (excerpt)

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BHARTU 
v. 
RANDHIR SINGH & ORS. 
January 22, 1985 
[0. CHINNAPPA REDDY AND R.B. MISRA, JJ.] 
Pepsu Tenancy and Agricultural Lands Act 1955 Sections 7, 1A and 8. 
Whether landowner has to wait for a term of three years before terminal 
ing tenancy. 
The PEPSU Tenancy and Agricultural Lands Act, 1955 which was 
originally passed in 1955 and amended in 1955 was again amended in 1956. The 
Act purports to amend and consolidate the law relating to tenancies of agri-
cultural land and to provide fqr certain measures of land reforms. 
A tenancy may be terminated in accordance with the provisions of the 
Act or on any of the grounds enumerated in section 7 ; namely non-payment of 
rent within a period of six months, subleting without written consent,,cessation 
of personal cultivation of the tenant, user of the land in a manner which is likely 
to render it unfit, and refusal by the tenant on demand in writing to execute a 
kabuliyat. 
In the case of tenancies subsisting at the cornmencerr:ent of the Pepsu 
Tenancy and Agricultural Lands (Second Amendment) Act, 1956, section 7·A 
provided for two grounds for termination of tenancy in addition to the grounds 
specified in section 7, namely, (i) that the land comprising the tenancy has been 
reserved by the landlord for his personal cultivation in accordance with the 
provisions of Chapter·II, and (ii) that the landowner owns 30 standard acres 
or Jess of land and the land falls within his permissible limit. 
In the case of tenancies commencing after the commencement of Pepsu 
Tenancy and Agricultural Lands (Second Amendment) Act, 1956, section 8 
provided that the minimum term of the tenancy shall be three )ears, subject to 
the provisions of section '1. 
In the appeals to this Court on the question, whether in the case of 
tenancies commencing after the commencement of the Pepsu Tenancy and 
Agricultural Lands (Second Amendment) Act, 1956, section 8 provided for an 
additional ground for terminating a [tenancy, namely, the expiry of the period 
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of tenancy provided it is not less than three years. 
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BHARTU V. RANDHIR SINGH (Chinnappa Reddy, J.) 
639 
Dis missing the Appeals, 
HELD : The proper way of looking at the scheme of sections 7, ?·A 
and 8 is to hold that while section 7 enumerates the grounds on which any 
tenancy may be terminated, section 
7~A provides for additional grounds on 
which tenancies subsis ing at the commencement of the Pepsu Tenancy and 
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Agricultural Lands (Second Ame11dment) Act, 1956 may be terminated and 
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section 8 provides for the termination of a tenancy commencing after the 
commencement of the Pepsu Tenancy and Agricultural Lands (Second Amend-
ment) Act, 1956 apart from the grounds mention·.d in section 7. Thatjs why 
section 7 itself uses the word 'no tenancy shall be terminated except in accor-
dance with the provisions of the Act or except on any of the following grounds.' 
that is to say, a 1enancy may be terminated either on the grounds mentioned in 
section 7 or in accordance with the provisions of the Act. [642A-C] 
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Civil Appeal Nos. 803, 834 to 
83J of 1971. 
From the Judgment and Order dated 4th January, 1971 of 
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Punjab & Haryana High Court at Cha11digarh in Letters Patent 
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Appeal No. 22( of 1970. 
T. S. Krishna Murthy Iyer and E.C. Agarwala for the Appel-
!ant. 
V. C. Mahajan, Mrs. Urmila Sirur and Sanjive Puri for the 
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Respondents. 
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by 
CHINNAPPA REDDY, J. Though we confess that during the course 
of the hearing we did feel somewhat perplexed as to the proper cons-
truction to be placed on the provisions of secs. 7, 7 A and 8 of the 
PEPSU Tenancy and Agricultural Lands Act, 1955, on second thou-
ghts we think that only one conclusion is permissible. The PEPSU 
Tenancy and Agricultural Lands Act, 1955 which was originally 
passed in 1955 and amended in 1955, was again amended in 1956. 
The Act purports to amend and consolidate the law relating to tenan-
cies of agricultural land and to provide for certain measures of land 
reforms. Section 3 broadly defines "permissible limit" for the pur-
poses of the Act to mean 30 standard acres of land and where such 
30 standard acres on being converted into ordinary acres exceed 80 
acres, such 80 acres. Section 5 enables every land owner owning land 
exceeding 30 standard acres to select for personal cultivation from the 
land held by him in the Stiite in parcel or parcels

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