STATE OF UTTAR PRADESH Vs. SURESH CHANDRA TEWARI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Leave granted.

(2.) Vide The Uttar Pradesh Imposition of Ceiling on Land Holdings Act, 1960 in the State of Uttar Pradesh the land over and above a certain limit was to be declared surplus and was then to vest with the State. The Uttar Pradesh Imposition of Ceiling on Land Holdings Act, 1960 as well as the earlier Uttar Pradesh Zamindari Abolition and Land Reforms Act, 1950 were enacted in the State of U.P. immediately after the independence of the Country with this purpose. We must not forget that one of the main commitments of the leaders during the freedom struggle was that the wide disparity and inequality in distribution of land will be changed for the better and abolition of Zamindari and placing a ceiling on land, would be a step towards this goal towards the redistribution of land, based on the principles of equity and justice. Since land was in List II i.e., the State List under the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution of India, these legislations regarding land reforms were to be made by the States, and this was done not just in U.P. but throughout the country.

(3.) Out of the various provisions in the 1960 Act, Sec. 9 and Sec. 10 are important here for our purposes, which are as under :-