K RAMACHANDRAN Vs. THANGAVEL PADAYACHI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This revision is directed against the order passed by the Revenue Court, Thanjavur, in Petition No.135 of 1980 on its file. The petitioner herein has filed an application under section 4-AA of the Tamil Nadu Cultivating Tenants Protection Act (XXV of 1955) for an order of resumption of the lands alleging that he was discharged from the Indian Air Force on 29th January, 1964, and that he requires the land for his personal cultivation and that he does not own more than one veli of land as required under Act 58/61. The said application is resisted by the respondent/tenant on the ground that the requirement is not bona fide and this case has been filed 15 years after the discharge from the Indian Air Force of the petitioner and that the petitioner is a resident of Thanjavur and that since the respondent refused to comply with the demand of the petitioner to give up the leasehold right, this petition has been filed. On the side of the petitioner, himself was examined as P.W.1 and on the side of the respondent himself was examined as R.W.1 and the learned Presiding Officer of the Rent Court dismissed the application on the ground that the petitioner, who admittedly was discharged from the Indian Air Force in 1964, has come forward with this application after a period of 15 years and that there is no bona fide in the requirement of the petitioner. Aggrieved by the same, this revision has been filed.

(2.) The learned Counsel for the petitioner contended that there is no time limit prescribed under section 4-AA of the Act for the landlord to apply for resumption of possession from any cultivating tenant for purpose of personal cultivation and states further that, the question of bona fide does not arise in the case of the petitioner and as such, the order impugned is liable to be set aside. On the other hand, the learned Counsel for the respondent/tenant contended that admittedly the respondent herein became the tenant of the petition-mentioned land in the year 1960 and that the petitioner was discharged from the Indian Air Force on 29th January, 1964 that section 4-AA of the Act was introduced only by virtue of the Amendment Act IX of 1965 and that the said Act has no retrospective effect. Further, to invoke the provision of section 4-AA of the Act, the petitioner should be a member of the Armed Forces on the date of the coming into force of the Act and admittedly, he was not a member of the Armed Forces on that date and hence, he is not entitled to maintain this application claiming the benefit under the provisions of section 4-AA of the Act. It was also further contended by the learned Counsel for the respondent that he must also establish that he was a landlord who was enrolled as a member of the Armed Forces to apply for an order of resumption, as per sub-clause (3) of section 4-AA of the Act and in the instant case, there is nothing to satisfy the requirement and further, there is no bona fide on the petitioner, since the petition is filed after 15 years and even though no limitation is prescribed, he must have filed the petition within reasonable time.

(3.) Sub-clause (3) of section 4-AA of the Act reads as follows: