TARAMANI BADIAL Vs. TH DASS

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS is a suit for declaration that the plaintiff is the owner in possession of the suit land and Manager of a temple known as Thakur Dwara Narsing Jee Maharaj situate in the land the subject matter of the suit.

(2.) MR . Joginder Singh on behalf of the defendant No. 2 made an application that in view of the provisions of Section 52 of the J & K Agrarian Reforms Act, 1972, the present suit must abate. On this application the plaintiff was required to submit his objections which he has done. I have heard the learned counsel for the parties and I am afraid the submission made by Mr. Joginder Singh cannot prevail. For a correct appreciation of the question it is necessary to reproduce section

(3.) , 51 (1) and 52 of the Agrarian Reforms Act, 1972. Section 3 of the Agrarian Reforms Act reads as under : - "Vesting in the State of rights of owners and intermediaries in land not held in personal cultivation. Notwithstanding anything contained in any law for the time being in force, the right of ownership of any person and the right of any intermediary in land not held by him in his personal cultivation on the first day of September, 1971, shall extinguish and shall vest in the State with effect from the appointed date. Provided that nothing in this Section shall affect the right of a mortgagee without possession, if any, on the land." Section 51 Sub -section (1) reads as under : - Repeal and savings: With effect from the appointed date, the provisions of : -