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PETITIONER: MURLIDHAR DAYANDEO KESEKAR

       Vs.

RESPONDENT: VISHWANATH PANDU BARDE & ANR.

DATE OF JUDGMENT22/02/1995

BENCH: RAMASWAMY, K. BENCH: RAMASWAMY, K. HANSARIA B.L. (J) HANSARIA B.L. (J)

CITATION:  1995 SCC  Supl.  (2) 549 JT 1995 (3)   563  1995 SCALE  (2)672

ACT:

HEADNOTE:

JUDGMENT: ORDER 1.   Admittedly,  the  land  bearing Survey  No.265  to  the extent  of II acres 4 gunthas in Sangamner  Badurk  Village, Ahmednagar  District which belonged to the State  Government was  allotted to first respondent, a tribal, in June,  1960. The appellant had entered into an agreement with the tribal- allottee  on June 27, 1968 initially to purchase 5 acres  of lands and later for the entire extent and sought  permission for  alienation from the Collector.  Both the Collector  and the  Commissioner had refused to grant him  the  permission. The  appellant  approached the High Court by way of  a  writ petition.   The  High  Court  rejected  the  writ   petition summarily.  Thus this appeal by special leave. 2.   Shri Ganpule, learned senior counsel for the appellant, contended  that  the  first respondent being  a  tribal  was unable  to cultivate the lands and so lawfully entered  into the agreement to sell the lands for valuable  consideration, subject  to permission of the Collector.  The District  Col- lector was in error in refusing permission for alienation as the  Bombay Revenue Code gives such a power.  The  appellant was  inducted  into possession of the land pursuant  to  the agreement  and he remained in possession and is entitled  to retain the same under s. 5 3 -A of the Transfer of  Property Act.   The  authorities  were  not  justified  in   refusing permission  for alienation, The appellant had  improved  the lands  and, therefore, is entitled to compensation  for  the improvements he had effected. 3.   The   question  involved  bears  wider   constitutional dimensions  Mahatma Gandhiji, the Father of the  Nation,  in his ’Socialism of My Conception’, at page 82-83 stated that:               "Every  human being has a right to  live  and,               therefore,  to  find the wherewithal  to  feed               himself  and, where necessary, to  clothe  and               house  himself In a well ordered  society  the

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             securing of one’s livelihood should be, and is               found to be, the easiest thing hi the world. ,               the  test of orderliness in a country  is  not               the  number of millionaires it owns,  but  the               absence     of    starvation     among     its               masses."....."Working  for  economic  equality               means abolishing the eternal conflict  between               capital  and labour.  It means  the  levelling               down  of  the  few  rich  in  whose  hands  is               concentrated  the bulk of the nation’s  wealth               on  the one hand, and the levelling up of  the               semi-starved,  naked millions on the  other  A               violent  and bloody revolution is a  certainty               one  day, unless there is a voluntary  abdica-               tion of riches and the power that riches  give               and sharing them for the common good."               Rabindranath  Tagore poetically portrayed  the               plight of a poor farmer thus:               "Bowed  by the weight of centuries  he  leans,               Upon  his  hoe and gazes on  the  ground,  The               emptiness of ages on his face, And on his back               the burden of the world."               4.    As  quoted  by B.K. Roy in  his  "Socio-               Political Views of Vivekananda", at 52,  Swami               Vivekananda, speaking on social and  spiritual               justice, has said               "I do not believe in a God who cannot give  me               bread here, giving me eternal bliss in heaven.               Pooh;  India is to be raised, die poor are  to               be  fed,  education is to be spread,  and  the               evil of priestcraft is to be removed ...  more               bread, more opportunity for every body               566               It  is well to remember what  Vivekanand  said               about poor:               "Feel,  my children, feel, feet for the  poor,               the  ignorant, the downtrodden, feel till  the               heart stops, the brain reals and you think you               will go mad.........               5.    The  lament of a Scheduled Caste  parent               is  pithily brought home to his son  of  their               plight thus :-               "Hush,  my  child;  don’t  cry,  my  treasure,               Weeping  is in vain, For the enemy will  never               Understand  your pain. For the ocean  has  its               limits  Prisons have their walls  around,  But               our suffering and torment Have no limit and no               bound." 6.   Pope   Pious   has,  therefore,  said   that   property arrangements ought to be "an clement of the social order,  a necessary  presupposition for men’s initiatives, a  stimulus to  work  for  the securing of both  the  temporal  and  the transcendent  ends  of life, for  securing,  therefore,  the dignity  and  liberty of man".  The right to property  is  a basic civil right which has long been recognised. 7.   The  India  National Congress declared in 1931  in  its resolution  that  "in order to end the exploitation  of  the masses, political freedom must include real economic freedom of  the  starving  millions’ and that  the  Organisation  of economic  life must conform to the principles  of  justice". The  founding father of the Constitution,  therefore,  while making  the Constitution on behalf of the  people,  declared through  "We the people of India" in the Preamble, which  is part  of  the  Constitution,  to  secure  to  every  citizen justice, social, economic and political, equality of  status

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and  of opportunity with stated liberties to  promote  among them  fraternity and dignity of the individual in  a  united and  integrated Bharat.  Chapter III of  Fundamental  Rights and Chapter IV of the Directive Principles have been evolved to  accord socio-economic justice while  securing  political justice and laid the foundation in these Chapters to achieve egalitarian  social order in Sovereign  Democratic  Republic which later was amended by Constitution 42nd (Amendment) Act as Sovereign Socialist Secular Democratic Republic. 8.   Robson in his ’Welfare State and Welfare     Society’ has stated at p. 11:               "The  ideas underlying the welfare  state  are               derived from many different sources.  From the               French  Revolution  came notions  of  liberty,               equality and fraternity.  From the utilitarian               philosophy  of Bentham and his disciples  came               the   idea  of  the  greatest  number.    From               Bismarck  and Beveridge came the  concepts  of               social  insurance and social  security.   From               the  Fabian Socialists came the principles  of               the  public ownership of basic industries  and               essential   services.   From  Tawney  came   a               renewed emphasis on equality and rejection  of               avarice as the mainspring of social  activity.               From  the Webbs came proposals for  abolishing               the causes of poverty and cleaning up the base               of society."               Robson stated at p. 192               "The  basic aims of the welfare state are  the               attainment of a substantial degree of  social,               economic  and  political  equalities  and   to                             achieve  self-expression  in  his  work  as a               citizen, leisure and social justice". According to George Watson, quoted by Robson, welfare  state implies a redistribu- 567 tion  of  incomes for the achievement of basic  standard  of living  for  all.  M.P. Hall in his The Social  Services  of Modern England’, has stated at p.303 of 1952 Edn. that  "The distinguishing  characteristic of the welfare state is  that the  assumption by the community, acting through the  State, of  the responsibility for providing the means  whereby  all its  members can reach minimum standard of health,  economic security  and  civilised living and can share  according  to their  capacity in its social and cultural heritage".   S.G. Sturmey  in his ’Income and Economic Welfare’ has stated  at p.  142  that  "The  welfare  State.  should  take  positive measures  to  assist the community at large to  alive  to  a collective  responsibility  towards its weaker  members  and should take positive measures to assist them. 9.   In  Encyclopedia  Britannica,  Vol.23,  p.389,   social welfare has been defined as "System of laws and institutions through  which a government attempts to protect and  promote the economic and social welfare of its citizens are  usually based   on  various  forms  of  social   insurance   against unemployment, accident, illness and old age.  " The  welfare state   is  not  alien  to  Indian  soil.   In   Kautilya’s, Arthashastra,  it  was specifically provided  that  "In  the happiness  of  the people lies the happiness  of  the  king. What is good to the people is good (for the king).  What  is pleasant to the king is not good for him.  What is good  for the  people alone is good for him." In Vedas and Epics,  the duties  of the king have diversely been mentioned  that  the king acts more than paternal and paternalistic in  attitude.

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King Ashoka, Maurya, Akbar Srikrishna Devaraya and Kakatiyas etc. worked for the welfare of the people.  Robert McNamara, President  of the World Bank, quoted by Peter Singer in  his "Practical  Ethics,  1979, said that society has  the  moral obligation  to raise above the absolute poverty level  those who are in absolute poverty." 10.  Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948, assures in Article 1 that "All human beings arc born free and equal  in dignity  and rights." Article 3 assures that  "Everyone  has the right to life, liberty and security of person".  Article 17  declares  that "Everyone has the right to  own  property alone  as  well as in association with others."  Article  22 envisages  that "Everyone, as a member of society,  has  the right  to  social security and is entitled  to  realization, through   national  effort......  and  resources   of   each State.....  of  the  economic, social  and  cultural  rights indispensable  for his dignity and the free  development  of his personality." Article 25 assures that "Everyone has  the right  to a standard of living adequate for the  health  and wellbeing  of  himself  and of his  family  including  food, clothing,  housing  and medical care  and  necessary  social services,  and  the  right  to  security  in  the  event  of unemployment,  sickness, disability, widowhood, old  age  or other  lack  of  livelihood  in  circumstances  beyond   his control."  Similarly  are the social,  civil,  economic  and cultural rights given in European Convention. 11.  The  Declaration on the Right to Development  to  which India is a signatory recognising that development is a  com- prehensive economic, social, cultural and political process, which aims at the constant improvement of the well-being  of the entire population and of all individuals on the basis of their   active,   free  and  meaningful   participation   in development  and  in  the  fair  distribution  of   benefits resulting 568 therefrom.  Article 1 assures that "The right to development is an inalienable human right by virtue of which every human person  and  all  peoples are entitled  to  participate  in, contribute  to,  and  enjoy economic,  social  cultural  and political  development, in which all human rights  and  fun- damental freedoms can be fully realized." Article 2  assures right  to active participation and benefit-of his  right  to development.   Article  3 enjoins the state as its  duty  to formulate  proper national development policies that aim  at the  constant  improvement of the well-being of  the  entire population  and  of all individuals, on the basis  of  their active, free and meaningful participation in development and in  the fair distribution of the benefits  resulting  there- from.    Article   3(1)  states  that  it   is   a   primary responsibility of the State to create conditions  favourable to  the  realisation  of  the  right  to  development.    In particular,  Article 4(1) directs the State as its  duty  to take  steps  individually  and  collectively  for  providing facilities  for  full realisation of right  to  development. Article  8(1) enjoins that the State should  undertake  nec- essary  measures  for  the  realisation  of  the  right   to development.  Article 10 says that steps should be taken  to ensure the full exercise and progressive enhancement of  the night  to development, including the  formulation,  adoption and implementation of policy, legislative and other measures for legislative and executive measures." 12.  Article 38 of the Constitution of India  provides  that "The State shall strive to promote the welfare of the people by securing and protecting as effectively as it may a social order  in  which justice, social,  economic  and  political,

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shall inform all the institutions of the national life.   In particular,  strive to minimise the inequalities in  income, and   endeavour   to  eliminate  inequalities   in   status, facilities  and opportunities, not only amongst  individuals but amongst groups of people residing in different areas  or engaged  in different vocations." Article 39(b) directs  the State  "that  the  ownership and  control  of  the  material resources  of  the community are so distributed as  best  to subserve  the  common good".  All human rights  derive  from dignity  and worth in man.  Democracy blossoms the  person’s full  freedom  to  achieve  excellence.   The  socioeconomic content in directive principles is all pervasive to make the right to life meaningful to all Indian citizens. 13.  Granville Austin in his "The Indian     Constitution’s Seamless Web", Lecture   in   Rajiv  Gandhi  Institute   for Contemporary  Studies, stated that the founding  fathers  of the  Constitution raised three grand goals for India in  the Constitution  :  (i)  Achieving  a  more  equitable  society through  a transformation they called a  social  revolution; (ii) Preserving and enhancing national unity and  integrity; and   (iii)   Establishing  the  spirit  as  well   as   the institutions  of  democracy.   India  could  not  be   truly democratic unless the social revolution has established  the just society.  Without national unity, little progress could be  made  towards  as  a  social  and  economic  reform   or democracy.  Equally, without democracy and reform, India was unlikely either to preserve or to enhance its unity.   Judi- cial  system  has particular important role to play.   In  a welfare  state,  liberty,  equality and  fraternity  as  the trinity  and social welfare are close companions.  They  are complimentary  and  supplementary  means to  each  other  to create conditions for self expression and balanced growth so that every citizen becomes responsible and re- 569 sponsive for successful working of democracy. 14.Illiot Dodds in his "Liberty and Welfare", 1957 Ed. at p. 17 stated that "welfare is actually a form of liberty in  as much as it liberates men from social conditions which narrow their choices and brighten their self development.   Article 46  of the Constitution mandates the State "to promote  with special  care the educational and economic interests of  the weaker  sections of the people, and, in particular,  of  the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes, and shall protect them  from social injustice and all forms of  exploitation." Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, while winding up the debates on the Draft Constitution,  stated  on  the  floor  of  the   Constituent Assembly   that  the  real  reason  and  Justification   for inclusion of the Directive Principles in the Constitution is that  the party in power disregard of its political  ideolo- gies,  will not sway away by its ideological  influence  but "should  have due regard to the ideal of economic  democracy which   is  the  foundation  and  the  aspiration   of   the Constitution."  "Whoever may capture the governmental  power will  not be free to do what he likes to do in the  exercise of  the power.  He cannot ignore them.  He may not  have  to answer  for  the  breach  in a court of  law,  but  he  will certainly have to answer for them before the electorate when the next election comes." Dr. Ambedkar further stated that:               "We must make our political democracy a social               democracy  as  well.   Political   democracy,,               cannot  last unless there lies at the base  of               it   social  democracy.   What   does   social               democracy mean?  It means a way of life  which               recognises liberty, equality and fraternity as               the  principles of life.  These principles  of

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             liberty, equality and fraternity are not to be               treated as separate items in a trinity.   They               form  a union of trinity in the sense that  to               divorce  one from the other is to  defeat  the               very   purpose  of   democracy...........   In               politics we will be recognising the principles               of  one man one vote and one vote  one  value.               In our social and economic life, we shall,  by               reason  of our social and economic  structure,               continue to deny the principle of one vote one               value.........  If we continue to deny it  for               long,  we  will  do so  only  by  putting  our               political democracy in peril.  We must  remove               this  contradiction at the  earliest  possible               moment   or   else  those  who   suffer   from               inequality  will  blow  up  the  structure  of               political democracy which this Assembly has so               laboriously built up". 15.  Article 21 of the Constitution assures right  to  life. To  make right to life meaningful and effective, this  Court put up expensive interpretation and brought within its ambit right  to education, health, speedy trial, equal  wages  for equal  work as fundamental rights.  Articles 14, 15  and  16 prohibit  discrimination and accord equality.  The  Preamble of  the Constitution as a socialist republic  visualises  to remove  economic inequalities and to provide facilities  and opportunities  for decent standard of living and to  protect the economic interest of the weaker segments of the society, in  particular,  Scheduled  Castes  i.  e.  Dalits  and  the Schedules ’Tribes i.e. Tribes and to protect them from  "all forms of exploiations".  Many a day have come and gone after January 26, 1950 but no leaf is turned in their lives of the poor and the gap between the rich and the poor is  gradually widening on the brink of being unbridgeable. 16. Robert L. Simon in his ’Troubled Waters : Global Justice and Ocean Re- 570 sources’  (1984)  has  stated that "in  a  world  of  vastly unequal  opportunities,  where some are born  into  relative affluence and others into a subsistence economy or worse, to view...  resources as the libertarian does as the  exclusive property of those who exploit them or otherwise legitimately acquire   them   perpetuates   or   extends   the    initial inequalities."  At page 198, he mentions that the  right  to life  to illustrate is of a positive right.  He states  that "right  to  life  is considered as a positive  right  if  it requires  not only that we refrain from killing  the  rights barely  but also that we provide him with basic  necessities where  he  is  unable  to do  so  himself’.   Dias,  in  his Jurisprudence, 5th Ed. at p.85 has stated that "Democracy is workable  as long as there is a substantial area  of  shared values and aspirations among the people and where they  have the maturity to rise above differences." 17.Providing  adequate  means  of  livelihood  for  all  the citizens  and distribution of the material resources of  the community  for common welfare, enable the poor,  the  Dalits and  tribes,  to fulfill the basic needs to  bring  about  a fundamental  change in the structure of the  Indian  society which   was  divided  by  erecting  impregnable   walls   of separation between the people on grounds of cast, sub-caste, creed,  religion, race, language and sex.  Equality  of  op- portunity and status thereby would become the bed-rocks  for social  integration.   Economic empowerment thereby  is  the foundation to make equality of status, dignity of person and equal  opportunity a truism.  The core of the commitment  of

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the  Constitution to the social revolution through  rule  of law  lies  in  effectuation of the  fundamental  rights  and directive  principles as supplementary and complimentary  to each other.  The Preamble, fundamental rights and  directive principles - the trinity arc the conscience of the Constitu- tion.  Political democracy has to be stable.  Socio-economic democracy must take strong roots and should become a way  of life.  The State, therefore, is enjoined to provide adequate means  of  livelihood to the poor, weaker  sections  of  the society  the  Dalits and tribes and to  distribute  material resources of the community to them for common welfare etc. 18.  Dr.  Justice Gajendra Gadkar, the former Chief  Justice of  this  Court  in  his  The  Constitution  of  India,  its philosophy and postulates’ stated at p. 18 of 1969 Edn. that "the ultimate object of Directive Principles is to  liberate the Indian masses in a positive sense to free them from  the passivity  endangered by centuries of coercion,  by  society and  by  nature  and  by  ignorance  and  from  the   abject conditions  that  had prevented them from  fulfilling  their best selves".  Therefore, civil, political, social, economic and  cultural  rights  are necessary to  the  individual  to protect  and  preserve human dignity,  social  and  economic rights are sine quo non concomitant to assimilate the  poor, the depressed and deprived i.e. the Dalits and Tribes in the national  main  stream for ultimate  equitable  society  and democratic  way  of life to create unity,  fraternity  among people in an integrated Bharat. 19.  Lest  Fundamental  Rights in Chapter III  would  remain teasing  illusions to the poor, disadvantaged  and  deprived sections   of   the  society,   the   disadvantaged   cannot effectively  exercise  their fundamental  rights.   Society, therefore,  must  help  them to enjoy  freedom  accorded  in Chapter III of on Fundamental Rights. 571 20.  Justice K.K. Mathew, a former Judge of this  Court,  in his  ’Democracy,  Equality and Freedom’ has stated  at  p.37 that  "Property is a legal institution the essence of  which is the creation and protection of certain private rights  in wealth of any kind.  The institution performs many different functions.   One  of  these functions is to  draw  a  circle around   the  activities  of  each  private  individual   or Organisation.   Within that circle, the owner has a  greater degree  of  freedom than without." At page 38,  the  learned Judge  stated that "In a society with a mixed  economy,  who can  be sure that freedom in relation to property might  not be  regarded  as an aspect of  individual  freedom?   People without  property  have a tendency to become  slaves.   They become  the  property  of others as they  have  no  property themselves.   They will come to say : "make us  slaves,  but feed  us".  Liberty, independence, selfrespect,  have  their roots in property.  To denigrate the institution of property is to shut one’s eyes to the stark reality evidenced by  the innate instinct and the steady object of pursuit of the vast majority  of  people.  Protection of property  interest  may quite  fairly  be  deemed in  appropriate  circumstances  an aspect  of  freedom."  At page 39, he  further  stated  that "There  is no surer way to give men the courage to  be  free than  to insure them a competence upon which they can  rely. This  is  why the Constitution-makers wanted that  the  own- ership of the material resources of the community should  be so  distributed as to subserve the common good.  People  be- come a society based upon relationship and status." At  page 56,  he  stated that "the economic rights provide  man  with freedom  from fear and freedom from want, and that they  are as important if not more, in the scale of values,"

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21. Professor Hocking has judiciously put : "To contemporary consciousness  it has become an axiom that there can  be  no freedom  without provision; for a large part of mankind  the main  task  of  freedom is at the economic  level.   But  it remains true that provision, work and leisure are not enough the  most abundant provision is not human freedom  unless  a man remains the unhampered director of his powers of thought and  action." Agricultural land is the foundation for  sense of  security and freedom from want and fear.   Assured  pos- session is a lasting root for prosperity, dignity of  person and  means  for  pursuit  of  excellence.   Justice  is   an attribute of human conduct and rule of law is  indispensable foundation to establish socio-economic justice.  Doctrine of political  economy  must include an  interpretation  of  the public  good which is based on justice that would guide  the people  when  questions of economic and  social  policy  are under consideration. 22.  Rawls in his "Theory of Justice" at p.259stated that :                "From  the  beginning I  have  stressed  that               justice  as  fairness  applies  to  the  basic               structure of society.  It is a conception  for               ranking social forms viewed as closed systems.               Some  decision  concerning  these   background               arrangements  is  fundamental  and  cannot  be               avoided.   In fact, the cumulative  effect  of               social and economic legislation is to  specify               the  basic  structure.  Moreover,  the  social               system  shapes the wants and aspirations  that               its  citizens come to have.  It determines  in               part  the sort of persons they want to  be  as               well as the sort of persons they arc.  Thus an               economic  system is not only an  institutional               device for satisfying existing wants mid needs               but a way of creating and fashioning wants  in               the future.  How men work               572               together now to satisfy their present  desires               affects  the desires they will have later  on,               the  kind  of  persons they  will  be.   These               matters arc, of course, perfectly obvious  and               have   always  been  recognised.   They   were               stressed   by  economists  as   different   as               Marshall    and    Marx.     Since    economic               arrangements  have these effects,  and  indeed               must  do so, the choice of these  institutions               involves  some view of human good and  of  the               design  of  institution to  realize  it.  This               choice  must, therefore, be made on moral  and               political as well as on economic grounds." 23.  In  Devati  Balasubrahmanyam  v.  District   Collector, Nellore,  1986  (2)  ALT 1, the Andhra  Pradesh  High  Court considering  the question whether constitutionality  of  the Government Order allotting 20% of the fair price shops in  a District to the Dalits and tribes, violates Articles 14  and 19(1)(g)   of  the  Constitution,  held  that  equality   of opportunity  is not simply a legal equality,  its  existence depends  not merely on the absence of possibilities  but  on the   presence   of   abilities.   Those   who   have   been disadvantaged  by the existing social conditions, should  be given  more benefits by altering the ways  of  distribution. The  distributive  justice  accomplishes  the   proportional equality.   The  proportional rewards to the groups  of  the people  would enable the groups of people to level up  their income and economic status in proportion to their membership in  the country’s population.  Economic empowerment  to  the

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Dalits  and  tribes  is one of the  principles  of  economic Justice  envisaged  under Article 46  of  the  Constitution. Equality of opportunity by providing 20% reservation in  the distribution of the fair price shops in the district to  the Dalits and tribes, was held to be valid and does not violate Articles 14 and 19 of the Constitution. 24.Economic  empowerment to the poor, Dalits and Tribes,  is an  integral  constitutional scheme  of  socio-economic  de- mocracy and a way of life of political democracy.   Economic empowerment  is, therefore, a basic human right and  a  fun- damental  right  as part of right to live, equality  and  of status and dignity to the poor, weaker sections, Dalits  and Tribes.   The  State  has evolved, by  its  legislative  and executive  action, the policy to allot lands to  the  Dalits and tribes and other weaker sections for their economic  em- powerment.   The  government evolved  two  pronged  economic policies  to  render  economic justice  to  the  poor.   The Planning Commission evolved policies like DRDL for  economic empowerment  of  the  weaker sections of  the  society;  the Dalits and tribes in particular.  There should be short term policy  for  immediate sustenance and long term  policy  for stable  and permanent economic empowerment.  All  the  State governments  also  evolved assignment of its  lands  or  the lands acquired under the ceiling laws to them.   Appropriate legislative  enactments  are  brought on  statute  books  to prevent alienation of the assigned lands or the property had under  the planned schemes, and imposed  prohibition  there- under   of   alienation,   declaring   any   conveyance   in contravention thereof as void or illegal and inoperative not to bind the State or the assignee.  In case the assignee was disqualified  or not available, on resumption of such  land, the authorities arc enjoined to resume the property and  as- sign  to heir or other eligible among the Dalits and  tribes or weaker sections in terms of the policy.  The  prohibition is  to  effectuate  the constitutional  policy  of  economic empowerment under Articles 14, 2 1, 38, 39 and 46 read  with the Preamble of the Constitution.  Even in respect of pri- 573 vate  sales  of  the lands  belonging  to  tribes,  statutes prohibit alienation without prior sanction of the  competent authority. 25.  It is seen that prior permission for alienation of  the land was a condition precedent.  Before permission is given, the competent authority is enjoined, by operation of Article 46  of the Constitution, to enquire whether such  alienation is void under law or violates provisions of the Constitution and whether permission could be legitimately given.  In that behalf,  the competent authority is enjoined to look to  the nature  of  the  property, subject-matter  of  the  proposed conveyance  and pre-existing rights flowing  thereunder  and whether such alienations or encumbrances violate  provisions of  the  Constitution or the law.  If the answer is  in  the positive,  then without any further enquiry  the  permission straightaway would be rejected.  Even in case the permission is granted, it would be decided on the anvil of the relevant provisions  of the Constitution and the law.  In this  case, the  authorities, though had not adverted to the  aspect  of the  matter, broadly refused permission on the  ground  that the  assigned  land  cannot  be  permitted  to  be  sold  or converted  to  non-agricultural use.   The  action  refusing permission,  therefore, is in consonance with the  Constitu- tional  scheme in Part IV of the Directive Principles.   The agreement is, therefore, void under s.23 of the Contract Act as  opposed  to public policy vide judgment in  DTC  v.  DTC Mazdoor  Congress,  1990 (suppl.) 1 SCR, 192, by one  of  us

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Ramaswamy,  J.  with  whom Sawant and  Ray,  JJ.  agreed  by separate  but  concurring judgment and  the  permission  was rightly refused to be given for alienation.  The  possession is  unlawful.  Section 53-A of Transfer of Property  Act  is not  attracted. The appellant’s possession continues  to  be unlawful  and he is not entitled to any improvement made  on the  lands.  The Collector is directed to resume  the  lands immediately and assign the same to the legal representatives of  first  respondent,  if found eligible or  to  any  other eligible tribal. 26.  Accordingly,  the  appeal  is  dismissed  but  in   the circumstances without costs. 575