AGRICULTURE AND IRRIGATION

TENANCY

Tenancy is a feature of land tenure system in many underdeveloped countries particularly in India where land tenures were comprised of various types of inams, cash grants, watans, non.rayatwari tenures, etc., cultivation of land by tenants being a predominant feature. Even after much legislative enactments and reforms, the class of tenants still exists but they are no more the tenants at will.

In the past the relations between landlords and tenants in Maharashtra were based on customs, usages and agreements between the two, the tenant having no legal protection. The increase in population and the resultant growing pressure on land compelled a large number of agriculturists to accept tillage of land from the landlords on any conditions they might choose. The migration of landlords to the neighbouring cities and towns due to unfavourable economic conditions in rural areas also, to a great extent, caused the lease of land to tenants. However, for want of legal protection and fixed tenure, the tenant cultivators did not have any stakes in the land they cultivated. During this period the landlord.tenant relationship was regulated by the provisions of the Bombay Land Revenue Code, 1879, the Mamlatdar's Court Act, 1906 and the Khoti Settlement Act, 1880 and other legislations applicable to local areas. However, these enactments neither stopped the exploitation of the tenants nor they gave him any equality of status with the landlord.

When the Congress Ministry assumed office in the State in 1937, it declared its policy of enacting legislation to transfer the ownership of land to the tillers of the soil. It was on this background that the Government of Bombay passed the Bombay Tenancy Act of 1939. The Act aimed at ameliorating the condition of tenants without injuring the legitimate interests of the landlords. The Act introduced the concept of "Protected Tenancy" according to which, the tenants who held lands continuously for a period of not less than six years immediately preceding 1st January 1938, were declared protected tenants. Such tenants got protection from eviction. The Act gave the tenant;: for the first time a fixity of tenure. In the initial stage the Act was applied to the districts of Thana, West Khandesh, Surat and Dharwar as an experimental measure. The Act was applied to the whole of the state in 1946. The Act fixed the rent at ¼ and ¹/₃ in the case of irrigated and non.irrigated crops, respectively. After independence, the problem of agricultural production assumed dimensional importance. Taking into account the rapid growth of population, necessity of economic, scientific and profitable agricultural production, and lastly the necessity of preserving the tenants interests by encouraging the peasant proprietorship the previous Act was amended and a new Act entitled, Bombay Tenancy and Agricultural Lands Act, 1948 was enacted.

The Bombay Tenancy and Agricultural Lands Act, 1948 was enforced in the district from 28th December 1948. The provisions of Section 135-B of the Bombay Land Revenue Code, on recording the rights of tenants in the record of rights, were made applicable to all tenures other than perpetual tenures. Under the Bombay Tenancy and Agricultural Lands Act, 1948, as it stood prior to August 1, 1956, there were two classes of tenants viz. protected and ordinary. The protected tenants had special rights and privileges such as right to purchase land from the landlord, to exchange the land held as tenant and to erect a farm house, etc. Up to the year 1951.52, the maximum rent, payable by a tenant was not to exceed ¼th of the crop in the case of irrigated land and ?rd of the crop of jirayat land. These limits were reduced to ¹/₆th for both the classes of lands from 1952.53. The maximum and the minimum rent payable by a tenant from August 1, 1956 was to be five times and two times, respectively, of the assessment of lands. Thus. the tenants enjoyed Fixity of tenure to a certain extent and fixity of rent also, live Act as amended in 1956 made a change in favour of the tenants by conferring on him the right to purchase the land from the landlords, with certain reservations in the cases of small land owners, disabled persons, minors etc. The work of conferring the occupancy rights on the tenants under sec. lion 32-G is in progress. The total number of applications received for conferring the right of ownership on tenants is as under—

The following table indicates the number of applications filed every year under the Tenancy Act, and other particulars thereof from 1948 to 1963: —

TABLE No. 39.

ADMINISTRATION OF THE TENANCY ACT DURING 1948—1963
IN SANGLI DISTRICT.

TABLE No. 40.

TABLE SHOWING THE TOTAL NO. OF TENANTS UNDER DIFFERENT CLASSES IN SANGLI DISTRICT.

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