Any State Enactment Related To Agricultural Land Tenures Is Special Law : Supreme Court Upholds Section 50(a) Delhi Land Reforms Act, 1954

Section 50 of Delhi Land Reforms 

Section 50 provides that when a Bhumidhar or Asami being a male dies, his interest in his holding shall devolve in accordance with the order of the succession given below

• Male lineal descendants in the male line of the descent: Provided that no member of this class shall inherit if any male descendant between him and the deceased is alive: Provided further that the son or sons of a predeceased on how low so ever shall inherit the share which would have devolved upon the deceased if he had been then alive: 
•  Widow
•  Father 
• Mother, being a widow; 
•  Step mother, being a widow;
• Father's father 
• Father's mother, being a widow; 
•  Widow of a male lineal descendant in the male line of descent;
•  Brother, being the son of same father as the deceased; 
•  Unmarried sister; 
•  Brother's son, the brother having been a son of the same father as the deceased; 
•  Father's father's son; 
• Brother's son's son; 
•  Father's father's son's son;
•  Daughter's son. This rule is further subject to the provisions of Section 48 and 52.

Har Naraini Devi vs Union of India 

Issues raised 

The following arguments were made before the Delhi High Court: I a violation of Article 14; (ii) the discrimination of women in spite of the fact that women's rights were being strengthened globally; and (iii) the Hindu Succession Act, 1956, would supersede the Hindu Succession Act, 1954. The High Court dismissed the writ suit, noting that the Act had been included to the Constitution's Ninth Schedule before the Kesavananda Bharati v. State of Kerala ruling and that Article 31(B) of the Indian Constitution grants immunity to such legislation.

Judgement 

The Delhi Land Reforms Act of 1954's Section 50(a) has been upheld by the Supreme Court as constitutionally valid. 

Any State law dealing to agricultural land tenures, according to the bench made up of Justices Hemant Gupta and Vikram Nath, is a special law. The 1954 Act exclusively addresses the division, capping, and devolution of tenancy rights over agricultural estates, the court noted.