{"id":114415,"date":"1978-02-15T00:00:00","date_gmt":"1978-02-14T18:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/mir-fakir-mohd-vs-state-of-west-bengal-on-15-february-1978"},"modified":"2018-05-25T02:07:48","modified_gmt":"2018-05-24T20:37:48","slug":"mir-fakir-mohd-vs-state-of-west-bengal-on-15-february-1978","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/mir-fakir-mohd-vs-state-of-west-bengal-on-15-february-1978","title":{"rendered":"Mir Fakir Mohd vs State Of West Bengal on 15 February, 1978"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"docsource_main\">Supreme Court of India<\/div>\n<div class=\"doc_title\">Mir Fakir Mohd vs State Of West Bengal on 15 February, 1978<\/div>\n<div class=\"doc_citations\">Equivalent citations: 1978 AIR 1072, \t\t  1978 SCR  (3)\t  9<\/div>\n<div class=\"doc_author\">Author: R S Sarkaria<\/div>\n<div class=\"doc_bench\">Bench: Sarkaria, Ranjit Singh<\/div>\n<pre>           PETITIONER:\nMIR FAKIR MOHD.\n\n\tVs.\n\nRESPONDENT:\nSTATE OF WEST BENGAL\n\nDATE OF JUDGMENT15\/02\/1978\n\nBENCH:\nSARKARIA, RANJIT SINGH\nBENCH:\nSARKARIA, RANJIT SINGH\nKAILASAM, P.S.\n\nCITATION:\n 1978 AIR 1072\t\t  1978 SCR  (3)\t  9\n 1978 SCC  (2)\t36\n\n\nACT:\nWest Bengal Estate Acquisition Act, 1954 s. 6 (1)(f)--Bamboo\ngarden or banana plantation whether an 'Orchard' within\t the\nmeaning of s. 6(1)(f) of the Act entitling an  intermediary,\nto retain the land as such.\n\n\n\nHEADNOTE:\nThe  petitioner's claim, by virtue of the, provisions of  s.\n6(1)(f) of the West Bengal Estate Acquisition Act, 1954, for\nhis  entitlement, as an intermediary, to retain the land  in\nwhich  he  has raised in addition to mango  and\t Jack  fruit\ntrees, bamboo clumps and also banana-plants, was allowed  by\nthe Courts below but rejected by the Calcutta High Court  in\nappeal\tby  the State of West Bengal.  The High\t Court\theld\nthat  though cultivated bamboo garden would fall within\t the\ndefinition of 'Agricultural land' in s. 2(b) of the Act,  it\ncannot in any view be called an 'Orchard' within the purview\nof  s.\t6(t)(f) of the Act.  It further held that  a  banana\nplantation is not an 'Orchard' because banana plants are not\nfruit-trees.\nDismissing the special leave petition the Court,\nHELD  :\t 1. In view of clause (p) of Section 2 of  the\tWest\nBengal\tEstate Acquisition Act, 1954 read with s. 14K(e)  of\nthe   West  Bengal  Land  Reforms  Act,\t the  existence\t  of\ncultivated fruit trees on a compact area, is central to\t the\nconnotation  of\t 'Orchard'.  A tree is\t\"a  perennial  plant\nhaving\ta  self-supporting woody main stem or  trunk  (which\nusually\t develops  wood branches at some distance  from\t the\nground), and growing to a considerable height.\" [10.H, 11 A-\nB]\n(2)  A\tplant to come within the connotation of 'tree'\tmust\nhave  two  essential  characteristics  :  (a)  It  must\t  be\nperennial  and not seasonal; and (b) Its main stem  must  be\n\"woody\"\t and not herbacious or pulpy.  A banana plant  lacks\nboth  these characteristics.  It is not a  perennial  plant,\nbut  is more in the nature of seasonal crop lasting for\t one\nor  one and a quarter years.  Once the :plant yields  fruit,\nit  becomes  useless and does not yield any  further  fruit.\nFurther,   its\t stem  is  not\t\"woody\"\t but   \"fleshy\"\t  or\n'herbacious\".  A banana plant, therefore, cannot be regarded\nas a fruit-tree and a banana plantation is not an  'Orchard'\nwithin the contemplation of s. 6(1)(f) of the Act. [11\tB-C,\nE]\n\n\n\nJUDGMENT:\n<\/pre>\n<p>CIVIL  APPELLATE  JURISDICTION\t:  Special  Leave   Petition<br \/>\n(Civil) No. 2107 of 1977.\n<\/p>\n<p>(From  the Judgment and Decree dt. 21-7-76 of  the  Calcutta<br \/>\nHigh  &#8216;Court  in Appeal from Appellate Decree  No.  1658  of<br \/>\n1965).\n<\/p>\n<p>Purshottam Chatterjee &amp; Rathin Das for the Petitioner.<br \/>\nS. C. Majumdar &amp; G. S. Chatterjee for the Respondent.<br \/>\nThe order of the Court was delivered by<br \/>\nSARKARIA,  J.  The principal question that has\tbeen  mooted<br \/>\nbefore us in this petition for special leave to appeal under<br \/>\nArticle\t 136  of  the  Constitution,  against  an  appellate<br \/>\njudgment  dated\t 21st  July,  1976  of\tthe  High  Court  at<br \/>\nCalcutta,  is, whether a bamboo garden or banana  plantation<br \/>\nis  an &#8216;Orchard&#8217; within the meaning of Section 6(1) (f),  of<br \/>\nthe  West Bengal Estate Acquisition Act,  1954\t(hereinafter<br \/>\nreferred to<br \/>\n2-211 SCI\/78<br \/>\n<span class=\"hidden_text\">10<\/span><br \/>\nas  the Act).  The material portion of Section 6 of the\t Act<br \/>\nreads as under :\n<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\t      &#8220;6(1)  Notwithstanding anything  contained  in<br \/>\n\t      Section 4 and 5, an intermediary shall  except<br \/>\n\t      in the cases mentioned in the proviso to\tsub-<br \/>\n\t      section (2) but subject to other provisions of<br \/>\n\t      that  sub-section, be entitled to retain\twith<br \/>\n\t      effect from the date of vesting-\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote><p>\t      (f)   subject to the provisions of  subsection<br \/>\n\t      (3) Land comprised.in tea garden or orchard or<br \/>\n\t      land  used  for  the  purpose  of\t live  stock<br \/>\n\t      breeding, poultry farming or dairy.&#8221;<br \/>\n\t      The   petitioner\tclaims\thimself\t to  be\t  an<br \/>\n\t      intermediary.    The  High  Court\t  has\theld<br \/>\n\t      (reversing the judgments of the courts  below)<br \/>\n\t      that  a  cultivated bamboo garden\t would\tfall<br \/>\n\t      within  the definition of &#8216;Agricultural  land&#8217;<br \/>\n\t      in  Section 2(b) of the Act and cannot in\t any<br \/>\n\t      view be called an &#8216;orchard&#8217; within the purview<br \/>\n\t      of  Section 6(1) (f) of the Act.\t It  further<br \/>\n\t      held  that  a  banana  plantation\t is  not  an<br \/>\n\t      &#8216;orchard&#8217; because banana plants are not fruit-<br \/>\n\t      trees.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote><p>\t      Mr.  Purshotham Chatterjee, appearing for\t the<br \/>\n\t      petitioner  contends  that &#8216;orchard&#8217;  has\t not<br \/>\n\t      been   defined  in  the  Act,  and  we   must,<br \/>\n\t      therefore, interpret the expression  &#8216;orchard,<br \/>\n\t      in  its  popular sense and not in\t the  strict<br \/>\n\t      botanical\t sense, as the High Court has  done.<br \/>\n\t      An  &#8216;orchard&#8217;,  it  is argued;  in  the  broad<br \/>\n\t      Dictionary  sense,  means a  garden  of  fruit<br \/>\n\t      plants,  or fruit trees, and a  banana  plant,<br \/>\n\t      according to the Concise Oxford Dictionary, is<br \/>\n\t      a &#8220;fruit-tree.&#8221;\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote><p>\t      As  against this, Mr. Majumdar, appearing\t for<br \/>\n\t      the  Respondent State, submits that  a  banana<br \/>\n\t      plant is not a &#8216;tree&#8217; but a herbacious plant.<br \/>\n\t      We   are\tunable\tto  accept  the\t  contention<br \/>\n\t      canvassed\t  on  behalf  of   the\t petitioner.<br \/>\n\t      Section 2(p) of the Act provides :<br \/>\n\t      &#8221;\t (p)  Expressions used in this Act  and\t not<br \/>\n\t      otherwise\t defined  have in  relation  to\t the<br \/>\n\t      areas  to which the Bengal Tenancy Act,  1885,<br \/>\n\t      applies,\tthe same meaning as in that Act\t and<br \/>\n\t      in relation to other areas meaning as  similar<br \/>\n\t      thereto  as the existing law relating to\tland<br \/>\n\t      tenures applying&#8217; to such areas, permits.&#8221;<br \/>\n\t      Now,  Section 14K(e) of the West\tBengal\tLand<br \/>\n\t      Reforms Act (as amended) defines an  &#8216;Orchard&#8217;<br \/>\n\t      to mean :\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote><p>\t      &#8220;A  compact area of land having fruit  bearing<br \/>\n\t      trees  grown thereon in such number that\tthey<br \/>\n\t      preclude; or when fully grown would  preclude,<br \/>\n\t      a\t substantial  part of such land\t from  being<br \/>\n\t      used for any agricultural purpose.&#8221;\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>In  view of clause (p) of Section 2 of the Act, it will\t not<br \/>\nbe wrong to look to this definition in the Land Reforms Act,<br \/>\nfor   guidance.\t   This\t definition,  it   will\t  be   seen,<br \/>\nsubstantially conforms to the dictionary meaning of the term<br \/>\n&#8216;orchard&#8217;.  According to the Oxford Dictionary,<br \/>\n<span class=\"hidden_text\">11<\/span><br \/>\nthe  modern connotation of &#8216;orchard&#8217; is &#8220;an  enclosure\twith<br \/>\nfruit trees&#8221;, or &#8220;an enclosure for the cultivation of  fruit<br \/>\ntrees&#8221;.\t  Webster&#8217;s  New World Dictionary, also,  gives\t its<br \/>\nmeaning as &#8220;an area of land, generally enclosed, devoted  to<br \/>\nthe  cultivation  of fruit trees, nut  trees,&#8221;.\t  Thus,\t the<br \/>\nexistence  of cultivated fruit trees on a compact  area,  is<br \/>\ncentral\t to  the  connotation of  &#8216;orchard&#8217;.   The  question<br \/>\nbefore\tus,  therefore, resolves into the issue,  whether  a<br \/>\nbanana\tplant  is  a &#8216;tree&#8217; ? A\t &#8216;tree&#8217;,  according  to\t the<br \/>\nShorter\t Oxford Dictionary, is &#8220;a perennial plant  having  a<br \/>\nself-supporting\t woody\tmain stem or  trunk  (which  usually<br \/>\ndevelops  wood branches at some distance from  the  ground),<br \/>\nand growing to a considerable height.\n<\/p>\n<p>Thus, for a plant to come within the connotation of  &#8216;tree&#8217;,<br \/>\nit must have two essential characteristics : (a) It must  be<br \/>\n&#8216;perennial  and not seasonal; and (b) Its main stem must  be<br \/>\n&#8216;woody&#8217; and not herbacious or pulpy.\n<\/p>\n<p>A banana plant lacks  both these characteristics.  It is not<br \/>\na  perennial plant, but is more in the nature of a  seasonal<br \/>\ncrop  lasting for one or one and a quarter years.  Once\t the<br \/>\nplant  yields fruit, it becomes useless and does  not  yield<br \/>\nany  further  fruit.  Further, its stem is not\t&#8216;woody&#8217;\t but<br \/>\n&#8216;fleshy&#8217; or &#8216;herbacious&#8217;.\n<\/p>\n<p>Banana plant, according to Webster&#8217;s Dictionary, is &#8220;a tree-<br \/>\nlike  perennial\t herb  of the genus  Musa  plant  with\tsoft<br \/>\nherbacious  stalk&#8221;.   Oxford Dictionary, no  doubt,  loosely<br \/>\ndescribes  it as a &#8216;fruit-tree&#8217; belonging to the genus\tMusa<br \/>\nsapientum, but it also concedes that it has no &#8216;woody&#8217;\tstem<br \/>\nor  trunk but only a soft herbacious stalk.   The  Webster&#8217;s<br \/>\nDictionary appears to be more correct when it uses the\tword<br \/>\n&#8216;tree-like&#8217; for a banana plant.\n<\/p>\n<p>Thus  considered,  a banana plant cannot be  regarded  as  a<br \/>\nfruit  tree.   Therefore,  a banana  plantation\t is  not  an<br \/>\n&#8216;orchard&#8217;  within the contemplation of Section 6(1)  (f)  of<br \/>\nthe Act.\n<\/p>\n<p>We are, therefore, of opinion that the High Court was  right<br \/>\nin deciding that point against the petitioner.\tThere is  no<br \/>\nground\tto interfere with its decision.\t The petition  fails<br \/>\nand is dismissed.\n<\/p>\n<p>S.R.\n<\/p>\n<p>Petition dismissed&#8217;<br \/>\n<span class=\"hidden_text\">12<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Supreme Court of India Mir Fakir Mohd vs State Of West Bengal on 15 February, 1978 Equivalent citations: 1978 AIR 1072, 1978 SCR (3) 9 Author: R S Sarkaria Bench: Sarkaria, Ranjit Singh PETITIONER: MIR FAKIR MOHD. Vs. RESPONDENT: STATE OF WEST BENGAL DATE OF JUDGMENT15\/02\/1978 BENCH: SARKARIA, RANJIT SINGH BENCH: SARKARIA, RANJIT SINGH KAILASAM, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-114415","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-supreme-court-of-india"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Mir Fakir Mohd vs State Of West Bengal on 15 February, 1978 - Free Judgements of Supreme Court &amp; High Court | Legal India<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/mir-fakir-mohd-vs-state-of-west-bengal-on-15-february-1978\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mir Fakir Mohd vs State Of West Bengal on 15 February, 1978 - Free Judgements of Supreme Court &amp; 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