VARKEY Vs. MARIYAM

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The revision petitioner landlord filed an application under S.17 of Kerala Act I of 1964, for resuming a portion of the holding from his tenant. The Section permits resumption by small holders. The Land Tribunal found that the applicants landlord was having only less than four acres of land and that he was therefore a small holder, entitled to resume one half of the holding. The application was thus allowed, by an order passed in August, 1973. The tenant appealed. While the appeal was pending, the landlord acquired one acre of land in May, 1974. With this acquisition, the total extent of land in his possession rose to 4 acres 47 cents. The appellate authority held that the resumption application had ceased to be maintainable the moment the extent of land in the landlord's possession had gone above four acres. In this view, the appeal was allowed and the resumption application was dismissed. This is how the matter has been dealt with by the appellate authority:-

(2.) "Small holder" is defined in S.2(52) of the Act, and reads as follows:-

(3.) Obviously, the appellate authority is not right in observing that the status of the applicant