KUSHESWAR PRASAD SINGH Vs. STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The present appeal is filed by the appellant against the judgment and order passed by the Division Bench of the High Court of Patna on August 13, 1989 by which it dismissed the Letters Patent Appeal No. 1177 of 1998 and confirmed the order passed by a Single Judge on September 24, 1998 in Civil Writ Jurisdiction Case No. 3008 of 1998.

(2.) Brief facts of the case leading to the present appeal are that a return was filed by the landholder under the Bihar Land Reforms (Fixation of Ceiling Area and Acquisition of Surplus Land) Act, 1961 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Act'). It was alleged that the landholder possessed excess land. A draft statement under Section 10 was issued by the Collector under the Act. The landholder objected to the proceedings and asserted that he did not possess land in excess of ceiling area. An enquiry was made and verification reports were submitted by the Circle Officers (Anchal Adhikaris). The Deputy Collector, Land Reforms, (DCLR) Samastipur, vide his order dated January 07, 1976 upheld the objection of the landholder and recorded a finding that the landholder did not possess surplus land and the proceedings were required to be dropped. The case was accordingly disposed of. No appeal was filed against the said decision and it had become final. No 'final statement', as required under Section 11 of the Act, however, was issued or published by the authority. The Act was amended in April, 1981 (Bihar Act 55 of 1982) and after Section 32, Sections 32A and 32B came to be inserted. Whereas Section 32A provided for abatement of appeal, revision, review and reference, Section 32B permitted initiation of fresh proceedings in certain cases. In the present case, as already noted earlier, no final statement under Section 11 was issued. It appears that one Hridya Narayan Yadav, Secretary, Kisan Sabha Darbhanga-cum-Member, Darbhanga District Committee, Bhartiya Communist Party (Marxist), Darbhanga moved an application in the Court of Additional Collector, Land Ceiling, Darbhanga along with an affidavit alleging therein that the landholder had more lands than prescribed under the Ceiling Act, but correct facts were not disclosed when the return was filed under the Act by the landholder in 1973-74. Fresh proceedings were, therefore, initiated in the year 1993 in Land Ceiling Case No. 65 of 1992-93 and statement of landholder was recorded. The Additional Collector, after considering the objection of the landholder and referring to details furnished by Circle Officers held that the landholder possessed 96.40 acres of land. He was entitled to only one unit. Thus, he could retain only 25 acres of Category III land and the remaining land of 71.40 acres was required to be declared surplus. An order was passed to that effect. A direction was also given to take appropriate steps for issuance of final statement under Section 11 of the Act.

(3.) The appellant preferred an appeal against the said order before the Collector under Section 30 of the Act. It was, inter alia, contended that the order dated January 7, 1976 declaring that the landholder did not possess excess land, had not been challenged and attained finality. The notification and final statement which was required to be issued under Section 11 of the Act had not been issued by the authorities. Non-issuance of final statement cannot adversely affect the landholder. It was also submitted that the Ceiling Case was of 1973-1974. It was over in 1976 and it cannot now be reopened. It was also urged that Section 32B came to be inserted only in 1981, but before that final order was passed in 1976. No fresh proceedings thus could be initiated under the Amendment Act of 1982. It was, therefore, submitted that the order passed by the District Collector was liable to be set aside.