LAXMI PRASAD Vs. DISTRICT JUDGE BANDA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE writ petition was admitted on 17-2-1976 and petitioner's dispossession was stayed on the condition that the petitioner deposited a sum of Rs. 2,200 (Rupees two thousand two hundred) with the Sub-Divisional Officer, Karvi, Banda (Prescribed Authority) by 17-4-1976 and 'continued to make similar deposit by 17th April of every succeeding year.

(2.) THE writ petition is directed against the declaration of 18.91 acres of land as surplus. THE amount of Rs. 2,200 has been fixed on the expected profit from the land in dispute for the period the petition remains pending in this Court.

(3.) IT has been urged by the learned Standing Counsel that the petitioner has been directed to deposit the amount as he shall be deriving benefit from the land which is deemed to belong to the State under the provisions of the Ceiling Act. The argument is untenable. A tenure holder continues in possesssion not because the land belongs to the State Government or to any other person but because he is the owner of it. He has a right to cultivate and earn his livelihood from it. As a result of the area being declared surplus the tenure holder does not become an unauthorized occupant. His possession is not of a trespasser but an owner. The benefit that he derives is by virtue of the ownership and not because of wrongful possession.