Summary
The Court upheld the invalidation of a sale of Rajasthan land allotted to a Scheduled Caste landless person. The purchaser, a Scheduled Caste member ordinarily and permanently resident in Punjab, could not claim Rajasthan Scheduled Caste status to avoid the transfer restriction in Section 42 of the Rajasthan Tenancy Act. His ancestors’ ownership of Rajasthan land did not establish his ordinary residence there. Independently, compounding under Section 13A(2) of the Rajasthan Colonisation Act was unavailable because ejectment had already been carried out and possession restored to the plaintiff.
Issues
- Whether a Punjab Scheduled Caste purchaser could invoke that status to purchase protected Scheduled Caste land in Rajasthan.
- Whether compounding remained available after actual ejectment and restoration of possession.
Provisions considered
- Section 42, Rajasthan Tenancy Act, 1955The purchaser’s Punjab Scheduled Caste status did not save the sale of protected Rajasthan land from the statutory bar. (¶¶ 7-10, 12)
- Section 13A(2), read with Section 13, Rajasthan Colonisation Act, 1954Compounding could not regularise this transaction after actual ejectment had already occurred. (¶ 11-12)
- Articles 341 and 342, Constitution of IndiaState-specific recognition principles explained in the Constitution Bench precedents also applied to the protected land transfer, beyond employment and education. (¶ 7.1-10)
Held
- The purchaser’s address in the sale deed and mutation record was in Punjab, and he admitted Punjab residence in cross-examination. His father’s and grandfather’s acquisition of agricultural land in Rajasthan did not establish that he was ordinarily resident there. (¶ 6.1)
- Scheduled Caste recognition and its corresponding privileges are State-specific. The principles in Marri Chandra Shekar Rao and Action Committee were not confined to employment or education: they applied to purchase of land allotted to a Rajasthan Scheduled Caste landless person. (¶ 7-10)
- As a Scheduled Caste member ordinarily and permanently resident in Punjab, the purchaser could not claim the benefit of Rajasthan Scheduled Caste status for this protected purchase. The transaction violated Section 42 of the Rajasthan Tenancy Act. (¶ 10)
- Section 13A(2) could apply where an ejectment order had been passed but actual ejectment had not occurred. Here possession had already been recovered from the person in actual occupation and delivered to the plaintiff before the Board of Revenue granted compounding. That compounding order was contrary to the provision, supplying an independent ground against the transaction. (¶ 11-12)
Result
Appeal dismissed; High Court’s invalidation of the sale upheld; no order as to costs.