No raiyat to hold land in excess of the ceiling area. ~ LLBH

No raiyat to hold land in excess of the ceiling area.

Question: State the ceiling area as has been framed by the West Bengal Land Reforms Act,1955.

Question: State the extent of land which a raiyat is entitled to own under section 14M.

Question: Describe in detail the ceiling area of land which a raiyat is entitled to own.

Section 14L. No raiyat to hold land in excess of the ceiling area.- Subject to the provisions of sub-section (3) of section 14Q, section 14Y and sub-section (2) of section 14Z, on and from the commencement of the provisions of this Chapter, no raiyat shall be entitled to own, in the aggregate, any land in excess of the ceiling area applicable to him under section 14M.

Section 14L lays down that on and from the commencement of chapter 2B no raiyat shall be entitled to hold any land in excess of the ceiling area as applicable to him under Section 14M.

The words used in this section "on and from the commencement of the provisions of this Chapter" indicates that the relevant date for determining the ceiling area of the family is the date of commencement of the provisions of Chapter 2B of the Act.

(Chapter 2B consisting of Sections 14J to 14Y ins. by s.13 of the West Bengal Land Reforms (Amendment) Act,1972 (West Ben. Act XII of 1972) (w.r.e.f. 15.2.1971).

Imposition of the ceiling area would be relevant not only on the date of commencement of chapter 2B, but also in future, i.e. at any time after the commencement of the said chapter 2B.

The ceiling area shall be reduced in case of decrease of the members of the family - H.K. Patra v. State of West Bengal. 1982(1) CHN 81.

Section 14M(1) of the West Bengal Land Reforms Act 1955 - The ceiling area shall be,—

(a) in the case of a raiyat, who is an adult unmarried person, 2.50 standard hectares;

(b) in the case of a raiyat, who is the sole surviving member of a family, 2.50 standard hectares;

(c) in the case of a raiyat, having a family consisting of two or more, but not more than five members, 5.00 standard hectares;

(d) in the case of a raiyat having a family consisting of more than five members, 5.00 standard hectares, plus 0.50 standard hectare for each member in excess of five, so, however, that the aggregate of the ceiling area for such raiyat shall not, in any case, exceed 7.00 standard hectares;

(e) in the case of any other raiyat, 7.00 standard hectares.

The term "ceiling area" means the extent of land which a raiyat shall be entitled to own [Section 14K(a)].

The term "standard hectare" means in relation to an agricultural land, an extent of land equivalent to -

(i) 1.00 hectare in an irrigated area, and

(ii) 1.40 hectare in any other area [section 14K(f)].

Section 14M prescribes the ceiling area for different classes of raiyats.

"Raiyat" means a person or an institution holding land for any purpose whatsoever [Section 2(10)].Clauses (a) to (d) of section 14M (1) prescribe the ceiling area of a raiyat being a natural person and clause (e) has provided for the ceiling area of a juridical person- Sri Sri Iswar Saradiya Durga Thakurani v. Revenue Officer. 1981(1) CLJ 251.

Section 14M(2) of the West Bengal Land Reforms Act 1955 - Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), where, in the family of a raiyat, there are more raiyats than one, the ceiling area for the raiyat, together with the ceiling area of all the other raiyats, in the family shall not, in any case, exceed,-

(a) where the number of members of such family does not exceed five, 5.00 standard hectares;

(b) where such number exceeds five, 5.00 standard hectares, plus 0.50 standard hectare for each member in excess of five, so, however, that the aggregate of the ceiling area shall not, in any case, exceed 7.00 standard hectares.

Section 14M(3) of the West Bengal Land Reforms Act 1955 - For the purposes of sub-section (2), all the lands owned individually by the members of a family or jointly by some or all the members of such family shall be deemed to be owned by the raiyats in the family.

All the lands owned individually by the members of a family or jointly by same shall be deemed to be owned by the raiyats in the family.

For example, A,B,C are the members of a family. A and B are raiyats, 'x' is the land of A and 'y' is the land of B. A and C are the joint owners of land 'z'. Therefore , for the purpose of subsec.(2), 'x', 'y' ,'z' shall be deemed to be owned by A and B.

Section 14M(4) of the West Bengal Land Reforms Act 1955.- In determining the extent of land owned by the raiyats in a family or the sole surviving member of a family or an adult unmarried person, the share of such raiyat or raiyats, or such sole surviving member, or such adult unmarried person, as the case may be, in the lands owned by a co-operative society, company, cooperative farming society, Hindu undivided family or a firm shall be taken into account.

Explanation.—For the purposes of this sub-section, the share of a raiyat in a family or the sole surviving member of a family or an adult unmarried person in the lands owned by a cooperative society or a joint family shall be deemed to be the extent of land which would be allotted to such raiyat or person had such lands been divided or partitioned, as the case may be.

Section 14M(5) of the West Bengal Land Reforms Act 1955.- The lands owned by a trust or endowment other than that of a public nature, shall be deemed to be lands owned by the author of the rust or endowment and such author shall be deemed to be a raiyat under this Act to the extent of his share in the said lands, and the share of such author in the said lands shall be taken into account for calculating the area of lands owned and retainable by such author of the trust or endowment, and for determining his ceiling area for the purposes of this Chapter.

Explanation.—The expression "author of trust or endowment" shall include the successors-in-interest of the author of such trust or endowment.

Section 14M(6) of the West Bengal Land Reforms Act 1955 - Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), a trust or an institution of public nature exclusively for a charitable or religious purpose or both shall be deemed to be a raiyat under this Act and shall be entitled to retain lands not exceeding 7.00 standard hectares, notwithstanding the number of its centres or branches in the State.

In the context of the question as to the constitutional validity of sub-section (6) of section 14M, it was urged before the learned judge in Paschim Banga Bhumijibi Sangha v. State of West Bengal,(1992) 1 CHN 496 that an Institution of certain Mission having number of branches are doing its activities. It would not be possible for it to run activities if it retained only 7 hectares of land.It was observed by the learned Judge that there is special provision in the Act for exceptional cases where the law does not impose any ceiling on them due to public good.

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Exemption of Section 14M

Section 14R of the West Bengal Land Reforms Act 1955 -The provisions of section 14M shall not apply—

(a) to any land owned as a raiyat by a local authority or any wholly Government company as defined in section 617 of the Companies Act, 1956, or an authority constituted or established by or under any law for the time being in force;

(b) for such period as may be specified by the State Government, by notification in the Official Gazette, to any land in such hilly portion of the district of Darjeeling as may be specified in the said notification.

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