[Dec 2007, Volume 4 Quarterly Issue] Pdf File size - The IIPM Think ...
[Dec 2007, Volume 4 Quarterly Issue] Pdf File size - The IIPM Think ...
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TENANCY REFORMS<br />
or indefinite cesses. By the Amendment<br />
Act of 1938, all kinds of illegal cesses as<br />
codified in the original Orissa Tenancy<br />
Act 1913, were deleted so as to make<br />
it more purposive. Further with respect<br />
to recovering from a landlord (by means<br />
of a legal suit), the amount exacted by<br />
the landlord in excess of the rent, the<br />
Amendment Act of 1938 empowered<br />
the Collector of the District or any<br />
Deputy Collector on his behalf to take<br />
action and impose on the landlord such<br />
penalty not exceeding Rs.500/- or simple<br />
imprisonment not exceeding six months.<br />
Thus the amended provision incorporated<br />
certain features for preventing collection<br />
of illegal cesses from tenants. But<br />
for all matters whatsoever, such as illegal<br />
exaction, collections of exorbitant rent, a<br />
ryot was required to move to court of law<br />
and the financial vulnerability and powerful<br />
influence of potential landowning<br />
class taken together could not allow a<br />
majority of poor tenants to realize the<br />
fruits of legislation.<br />
However as a result of the passing of<br />
various Tenancy Acts, i.e. of 1881, 1885,<br />
and in 1913, some well-to-do tenants<br />
could also acquire hereditary rights to<br />
occupancy ryots, and with their legally<br />
protected right, followed the path of their<br />
masters, and found it more profitable to<br />
rent out the land to the under-tenants<br />
and share-croppers who became more<br />
tenants-at-will. <strong>The</strong>y could be evicted<br />
on short notice and virtually enjoyed no<br />
security of tenure. Taking cognizance of<br />
this actuality, immediately after independence,<br />
various tenancy legislation<br />
and subsequent amendments to them<br />
were passed with a view to minimise<br />
the sufferings of the tenants. A brief account<br />
of these legal developments are<br />
given below:<br />
a. <strong>The</strong> Orissa Tenants’ Protection<br />
Act of 1948<br />
Under the Orissa Tenants Protection<br />
Table-3: Percentage Distribution Of Lessor And Lessee Households<br />
And Leased-in And leased-out Area By Size Class Of Land Ownership<br />
Holdings In Rural Orissa,1991-92<br />
Size Class Of<br />
Ownership<br />
Holdings(ha.)<br />
Percentage Of<br />
Total Lessor<br />
Households<br />
Percentage f<br />
Total Tenant<br />
Households<br />
Percentage f<br />
Total Leased-<br />
In Area<br />
Percentage of<br />
Total Leasedout<br />
Area<br />
Less than1.01 63.96 89.21 89.76 29.40<br />
1.01-2.00 25.96 6.42 5.61 51.18<br />
2.01-4.00 7.01 3.56 4.16 11.51<br />
4.01-10.00 2.38 0.81 0.47 3.53<br />
Above10.00 0.69 0.00 0.00 4.38<br />
All Sizes 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00<br />
Sources: N.S.S. Report 48 th Round (1991-92)<br />
Act, 1948, it was declared that notwithstanding<br />
anything contained in the<br />
law, contract or usage or any decree of<br />
any court, a person who was cultivating<br />
any land as a tenant on the first day<br />
of September, 1947, should continue<br />
to have the right to cultivate such land<br />
and no landlord was legally entitled<br />
For all matters whatsoever, such as illegal exaction, collections<br />
of exorbitant rent, a ryot was required to move to<br />
court of law and the financial vulnerability and powerful<br />
influence of potential landowning class could not allow a<br />
majority of poor tenants to realize the fruits of legislation<br />
to evict such tenant, O.T.P Act, 1948,<br />
Section 3 (1) (b).<br />
Further as per the Act, tenants enjoying<br />
occupancy rights were not bound<br />
to pay more than one third of the gross<br />
produce as rent to the superior ryot (c)<br />
tenants without security of tenure were<br />
not bound to pay more than two fifths<br />
of the gross produce as rent to the landowners.<br />
However this Act lost its real<br />
purpose of protecting tenants as it allows<br />
landowners (owning 33 acres of land) to<br />
evict his/her tenants from land holding.<br />
b. Orissa Tenants’ Relief Act, 1955<br />
This Act intends to confer security of<br />
tenure, resumption of land for personal<br />
cultivation and regulation of rent so<br />
as to bring relief to the oppressed and<br />
exploited tenants. <strong>The</strong> Act defined a<br />
tenant a person who under the system<br />
commonly known as Bhag, Sanjha, Kata<br />
or such similar terms under any other<br />
system, law, contract, custom, or usage<br />
cultivated the land of another person on<br />
payment of rent in cash or in kind or<br />
in both or on condition of delivering to<br />
THE INDIA ECONOMY REVIEW<br />
185