MAHESH CHANDER Vs. CHUNGO

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an appeal by two minor land-owners (Maesh Chander and Mohinder Kumar) against an order dated August 14, 1967 of the District Judge, Mandi, unholding the orders dated November 9, 1966 or the Compensation Officer who refused to give to the appellants the benefit of sub-section (2) of Section 11 of the Himachal Pradesh Abolition of Big Landed Estates and Land Reforms Act (hereinafter referred to as 'the Act) and allowed the application of the respondents-tenants for the grant of proprietary rights in the land held by them as tenants under the said land-owners.

(2.) The land originally belonged to one Shri Parma Nand the grand-father of the appellants. On August 24, 1963 he made a gift of the same in favour of the minor appellants each of whom is a son of one of his two sons. On October 16, 1963 an application was made against Shri Parma Nand by the respondents-tenants for the grant of proprietary rights in the land in dispute. On Shri Parma Nand raising an objection that he had already gifted the land in favour of the appellants, the latter were brought on record as the land-owners. The Compensation Officer by his order dated June 26, 1967 held that the appellants were not entitled to the benefit of sub-sect ion (2) of Section 11 of the said Act as he did not agree that the minors have no other means of livelihood. He, therefore, granted the proprietary rights in the land in favour of the tenants. On appeal the learned District Judge. Mandi, upheld the order of the Compensation Officer and dismissed the appeal. The minor-landowners have, therefore, come up to this Court in this Miscellaneous Second Appeal.

(3.) Mr. K. C. Sud, the learned counsel for the appsllants, his confined his arguments on the question of the eligibility of the minor appellants to the benefit of sub-section (2) of Section 11 of the Act. Sub-section (1) of Ssction 11 of the Act provides that a tenant after the commencement of the Act is entitled on application to acquire on payment of compensation the right, title and interest of the land-owner in the land of the tenancy held by him under the land-owner Sub-section (2) of the said Section reads as under :-