Baby
v.
Travancore Devaswom Board
(Supreme Court Of India)
C. A. No. 5502- 5504 of 1998 | 06-11-1998
2. These appeals are filed against the judgment of the High Court in revision given under the Kerala Land Reforms Act (hereinafter referred to as the). The High Court set aside the judgment of the Appellate Authority dated 20th December, 1989 which affirmed the order of the Land Tribunal dated 24th November, 1980. The dispute between the parties before the (sic) was as to whether the appellant before us was the cultivating tenant.
3. A limited notice was issued in these appeals as to whether the High Court had acted within its jurisdiction under S.103 of the. That Section reads as under :
"103. Revision by High Court :- (1) Any person aggrieved by-
(i) any final order passed in an appeal against the order of the Land Tribunal: or
(ii) any final order passed by the Land Board under this Act, or
(iii) any final order of the Taluk Land Board under this Act,
may within such time as may be prescribed, prefer a petition to the High Court against the order on the ground that the appellate authority or the Land Board., or the
Taluk Land Board, as the case may be, has either decided erroneously, or failed to decide, any question of law."
4. Learned senior counsel for the appellant contended that the Taluk Land Board and the Appellate Authority have not failed to decide any question of law nor could it be said that any such question was erroneously decided. The High Court had interfered with the order of the tribunals on the ground that several material documents including judicial proceedings were not adverted to by the tribunals. The High Court held that the legal effect of these documents was not considered by the tribunals. On those grounds, it was argued, the High Court was not entitled to interfere under S.103 of the. Learned senior counsel for the appellant submitted that if certain documents were not considered or their legal effect was not taken into consideration, still that did not amount to an erroneous decision on a question of law, nor failure to decide a question of law. Learned senior counsel for the appellant submitted that the question of existence of tenancy was a question of fact and if certain documents which were relevant in that connection were not taken into consideration it could not be said that the question of law was erroneously decided or was not decided.
5. We find sufficient force in the contention of the learned senior counsel for the appellant in regard to the meaning of the words "has either decided erroneously or failed to decide any question of law". On the facts of the present case learned senior counsel is justified in submitting that the lower tribunals had neither decided any question of law erroneously nor failed to decide any question of law. Mere non-consideration of relevant documents including the relevance of certain Judicial Proceedings would not strictly fall within S.103 of the.
6. But that, in our opinion, is not the end of the matter. The High Court had still powers under Art.227 of the Constitution of India to quash the orders passed by the tribunals if the findings of fact had been arrived at by non-consideration of the relevant and material documents the consideration of which could have led to an opposite conclusion. This power of the High Court under the Constitution of India is always in addition to the powers of revision under S.103 of the. In that view of the matter the High Court rightly set aside the orders of the tribunals. We do not, therefore, interfere under Art.136 of the Constitution of India. The appeals fail and are dismissed.
7. No costs.
Advocates List
For the Appellant P. Subramanian Poti, Malini Poduval, Advocates. For the Respondents P. Krishnamoorthy, K. Sukumaran, Advocates.
For Petitioner
- Shekhar Naphade
- Mahesh Agrawal
- Tarun Dua
For Respondent
- S. Vani
- B. Sunita Rao
- Sushil Kumar Pathak
Bench List
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE S.B. MAJMUDAR
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE M. JAGANNADHA RAO
Eq Citation
AIR 1999 SC 519
(1998) 8 SCC 310
[1998] (SUPPL.) 2 SCR 552
JT 1998 (7) SC 552
1998 (6) SCALE 52
LQ/SC/1998/1072
HeadNote
Civil Procedure Code, 1908 — Or. 43 R. 1 — Revision — Revisional powers of High Court under S103 of Kerala Land Reforms Act — Scope of — Held, mere nonconsideration of relevant documents including relevance of certain judicial proceedings would not strictly fall within S103 of Kerala Land Reforms Act — But that is not the end of the matter — High Court had still powers under Art. 227 of Constitution of India to quash the orders passed by tribunals if the findings of fact had been arrived at by nonconsideration of the relevant and material documents the consideration of which could have led to an opposite conclusion — Kerala Land Reforms Act, 1963 (1 of 1964) — S103 — Constitution of India, Art. 227