AIR 1988 SUPREME COURT 2239 ::1988 ALL. L. J. 1300 ::(1988) RevDec 363 ::1988 (4) SCC 274 ::(1988) 14 All LR 119 ::(1988) 3 SCJ 92 ::(1988) 3 JT 640 (SC) ::1988 3 JT 640

Supreme Court Of India

(From : 1986 All LJ 1248)

Hon'ble Judge(s): G. L. Oza, K. Jagannatha Shetty , JJ

Uttar Pradesh Bhoodan Yagna Act (10 of 1953) , S.14, S.15— (as it stood before 1975) Allotment of land - Words 'landless persons' - Do not cover persons who admittedly do not have land in village but are traders and have properties in cities. Interpretation of Statutes - Words - Rule of giving plain ordinary dictionary meaning has become obsolete. 1986 All LJ 1248, Reversed. Having regard to the scheme of Bhoodan Yagna which has to be looked into because of S.15, and the purpose of the movement of @page-SC2240 Bhoodan Yagna which was started by the late 'Acharya Vinoba Bhave and followed by Shri Jaya Prakash Narain, it could not be said that persons who admittedly have no land in the village in which the land to be allotted is situated would be covered by the expression "landless persons", in spite of the fact that they may be traders and paying income-tax and may have properties in the cities. It is now well settled that in order to interpret a law one must understand the background and the purpose for which the law was enacted. The Bhoodan Yagna movement used generally a term 'Bhoomihin Kisan' and it is this term which gained momentum and virtually was understood to mean those agricultural labourers whose main source of livelihood is agriculture but who have no lands of their own or who have no lands (agricultur....