In Brief
The Supreme Court upheld that agricultural land cannot be bequeathed to a non-agriculturist in violation of the Bombay Tenancy and Agricultural Lands Act, 1948. The Court held that the terms 'assignment' and 'transfer' in Sections 43 and 63 of the Act include testamentary disposition (bequest by will). Although succession law normally treats wills differently from inter vivos transfers, protective land legislation must be construed liberally to prevent circumvention of statutory restrictions. A tenant cannot achieve through testamentary disposition what is prohibited during lifetime. The legislative scheme aims to preserve agricultural land for actual tillers and disadvantaged groups, a purpose that would be defeated if non-agriculturists could acquire such land by inheritance.
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