Allahabad High Court
C/M Randhir Singh U.M.Vidyalaya ... vs State Of U.P. And 7 Others on 10 April, 2019
Bench: Pankaj Mithal
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD
A.F.R.
Court No. - 29
Case :- WRIT - C No. - 44098 of 2014
Petitioner :- C/M Randhir Singh U.M.Vidyalaya And Anr.
Respondent :- State Of U.P. And 7 Others
Counsel for Petitioner :- Arvind Kumar Singh Ii
Counsel for Respondent :- C.S.C.
Hon'ble Pankaj Mithal,J.
Heard learned counsel for the parties.
A very interesting question arises in this petition for which purpose it would be appropriate and necessary for me to first state the background facts.
The dispute is regarding plot No.398/0.058 Are and plot No.398Sa/0.113 Are situate in Village Pinjari Summer Singh, Pargana Azam Nagar, Tehsil Aliganj, District Etah.
The aforesaid land was the land of the Gaon Sabha. It was allotted in favour of scheduled caste persons respondents No. 5 to 8, under Section 198 of the U.P. Z.A. & L.R. Act, 1950 (hereinafter referred to as the Act). It was accordingly leased out in their favour. The said scheduled caste persons with the passage of time acquired bhumidhari with transferable rights over the said land under Section 131-B of the Act.
The aforesaid persons gifted the said land to the petitioners, Randhir Singh Uchchttar Madhyamik Vidyalay which is run by a Society known as Randhir Singh Shiksha Samiti vide gift deed dated 13.05.2004.
A complaint was made by respondent No.4 that the transfer of the aforesaid land in favour of the petitioners is in violation of Section 157-AA of the Act. On the basis of the said complaint, impugned orders have come to be passed holding that the aforesaid gift deed is void as it is hit by Section 157-AA of the Act and thus vesting the land in the State.
On the writ being preferred against the aforesaid order, the court observed that as the Institution or the Society has no caste it is to be seen if the transfer of land by a scheduled caste person in its favour would attract the provisions of Section 157-AA of the Act.
In addressing the above question whether the transfer (gift) made by the scheduled caste persons (respondents No. 5 to 8) of the land in favour of the Institution/Society without the previous approval of the authority concerned would be in violation of Section 157-AA of the Act, it would be important to quote the provisions of Section 157-AA of the Act in the first instance.
The relevant provisions of Section 157-AA of the Act reads as under:-
"(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in Section 157-A and without prejudice to the restrictions contained in Sections 153 to 157, no person belonging to Scheduled Caste having become a Bhumidhar with transferable rights under Section 131-B shall have the right to transfer the land by way of sale, gift, mortgage or lease to a person other than a person belonging to a Scheduled Caste and such transfer, if any, shall be in the following order of preference--
(a) land less agricultural labourer;
(b) marginal farmer;
(c) small farmer; and
(d) a person other than a person referred to in Clauses (a), (b) and (c).
(2)...........................
(3)...........................
(4) No transfer under this sections shall be made except with the previous approval of the Assistant Collector concerned."
A plain reading of Sub-Section (1) of Section 157-AA of the Act demonstrates that a person belonging to scheduled caste shall have no right to transfer the land of the nature specified therein by way of sale, gift, mortgage or lease to a person other than a person belonging to a scheduled caste and if such a transfer is made, it shall be in the order of preference provided therein. Therefore, there is a complete embargo upon the scheduled caste person to transfer land to a person other than a scheduled caste.
In a strict literary sense "a person" as per the Black's Law Dictionary Ninth Edition refers to a human-being that is to a "natural person" but under the U.P. General Clauses Act, 1904 "a person" has been defined under Sub-Section (33) of Section 4 so as to include any company or association or body of individuals, whether incorporated or not. Thus, in this legal sense, the Institution/Society will fall within the definition of a person i.e. an artificial person in contrast to a natural person.
Article 341 of the Constitution of India makes provision for the scheduled caste and it provides that the President may by public notification in relation to each State/Union Territory after consultation with the Governor may specify the castes which shall be deemed to be scheduled castes in relation to the said State or the Union Territory and the Parliament may by law include or exclude from the said list any particular caste but the said list so specified by the Governor would not be varied by any subsequent notification.
In compliance with the above Article the list which has been notified by the President for the State of U.P. and by the Parliament does not in any manner confer the status of a scheduled caste to any Institution/Society or a company or an association or body of individuals or upon any artificial person. Therefore, by necessary implication even if it is assumed that any Institution or a Society is a person, it would not be a person specified and notified to be scheduled caste.
Section 157-AA of the Act in permitting transfer of the land from one scheduled caste person to another scheduled caste person implidely prohibits transfer of land by the scheduled caste person to a non-scheduled caste person or a person having no caste.
In short, what is sought to be conveyed is that an Institution/Society may be a person but cannot be a person belonging to a schedule caste or to any caste. It would be a person of no caste. The transfer of the land in the present case as such is by scheduled caste persons to a person other than a scheduled caste. Therefore, on the plain reading of Sub-Section (1) of Section 157-AA of the Act no such transfer could have been made by the said scheduled caste persons (respondents No. 5 to 8) in favour of the Institution/Society (petitioners) that has no caste.
In the case at hand the transfer of the land by the scheduled caste persons by way of gift is in favour of an Institution/Society which has no caste but certainly it is not a person belonging to a scheduled caste.
This apart Sub-Section (4) of Section 157-AA of the Act is also very crucial and important. It envisages that even if any transfer under the above provision is to be made i.e. by a schedule caste person it shall be made with the previous approval of the Assistant Collector.
The transfer made by the gift deed herein this case is without the previous approval of the Assistant Collector. Therefore, it is in violation of Sub-Section (4) of Section 157-AA of the Act.
Section 166 of the Act provides that every transfer made in contravention of the provisions of the Act shall be void and Section 166 of the Act provides that where the transfer is so void , the land under transfer shall be deemed to be vested in the State Government free from all encumbrances.
Thus, in view of the above provisions, as the transfer by gift deed by the scheduled caste persons is in favour of a non-scheduled caste person i.e. the Institution/Society which has no caste and that too without the prior approval of the Assistant Collector, the transfer is within the teeth of Section 157-AA of the Act and is void as the consequence of which the land vests in the State.
In view of the aforesaid facts and circumstance, the petition is devoid of merit and is accordingly, dismissed with no order as to costs.
Order Date :- 10.4.2019
piyush
