LexPURUSHOTHAMAN NAMBUDIRI versus THE STATE OF KERALA
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• (1) S.C.R. SUPREME OOURT REPOR~ 758 PURUSHOTHAMAN NAMBUDIRI v. THE STATE OF KERALA (P. B. GAJENDRAGADKAR, A. K. SARKAR, K. N. WANCHOO, K. C. DAS GUPTA and N. RilAGOPALA AYYANGAR JJ.) .Agrarain Relations-Constitutional validity of enaetment- Di8solution of State A8'embly pending President's asBent-Re· consideration of Bill by New Asseml,ly-Pandarvaka Verumapat· tom and Puravaka l,a.nds-JJ amount to estales-"Estate", meaning of-Kerala Agrarian Relations Act, 1.960 ( Kerala 4 of 1961).-Constitution of India Arts. 31A, 172, 194(3), 196, 200, 201. The Kerala Agrarian Relations Bill was introduced in the Kerala Legislative Assembly on December 21, 1957, and was ultimately passed by it on June JO, 1959. It wa• then reserved by the Governor of the State for the assent of the President under Art. 200 of the Constitution of India. Meanwhile, on July 31, 1959, the President issued a procla- mation under Art. 356 and the Assembly was dissolved. In February 1960 fresh elections took place in Kerala and on July 27,1960, the President for whose assent the Bill was pend- ing sent it back with his message requesting the Legislative Assembly to reconsider the Bill in the light of the amendments suggested by him. On October 15, 1960, the Bill as amended in the light of the President's recommendations was pac;sed by the A'8embly. It then received the assent of the President on January 21, 1961, and became law as the Kerala Agararian Relations Act, 1960. The petitioner challenged the validity of the Act on the ground that the Bill which was pending before the President for his assent at the time when the Lcgis· lativc Assembly was dissolved lapsed in consequence of the said dissolution and so it was not competent to the President to give his assent to a lapsed Bill with the result that the said assent and all proceedings taken subsequent to it were consti- tutionally invalid. Ht!d, that the Constitution of India radically departs from the practice obtaining in the Parliament of the United Kingdom under which Bilis not assented to before the dissolu- tion of the Houses arc treated as having lapsed on that event occuring. Under Art. 196 of the Constitution ": Bill which is pending assent of the Governor or the Prestdcnt does not lapse on the dis>olution of the Legislative Assembly of the State. IHI December 1. 1161 l'urwhoth11m01t N amhvdiri v. Tiu 81a11 of Kttala 754 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [19fi2] SUPP. ~ Held, further, that the consideration of the remitted Bill by the new Legis)ati\'e Assemhly diet not violate the provisions of Art. 201 of the Con<titution. Per Gajendragadkar, Sarkar. Wancboo and Das Gupta, JJ.-(1) Clause (5) of Art. 196 of the Constitution of India deals exhaustively with the circumstance-s under "·hich Bil1s would lapse on the di,,olution of the L·~islative Assembly of a State, and all cases not faJJing within it~ scope are not , aubject to the doctrine of lapse of pending business on the dissolution of the AS>embly. \2) Under Ans. 200 and 201 th-.re is no time limit within which the Governor or the President should reach a decision on the Bill referred to him for his assent and those Articles do not rrquire that th• mil which is sent back with the message of the Governor or the Pn·sident should be to the same House which had considered it in the first instance. Per Ayyangar, J.-(1) A Bill before the legistative Assembly of a State ceasrs to be pending, uncfrr Art. 196(5) when it has pa!!!ed through all the proe<dure pr.scribed for its passage through the Home and bas been pa•sed by it, and h not deemed as pendin~ beforr the Hou<e till the receipt of the assent of the Governor or the President as the case may be. (2) Though under Art. 172 each Le~islative A"enihly of a State is conceived of a• having' a life of Jimitecl duration, in Art. 201 the expression "The House of the Legislature" . used in the sense of a House regarded as a permanent body.' Attom•y-Gmeralfor New South Wal~• v. Pennie, [1896) A.C. 376, relied on. . The Kerala Agrarian Relations Act, I 960, was enacted with the object of providing for the acq11isition of c.rtain types of agricultural lands in the State beyond the 'pecific maximum extents laid down in the statute. 'fhe petitioner who was the owner of certain lands in Trichur of which 900 acres were classified in the land records of the State as Pandar.lvaka Verumpattom lands and the remaining wer
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