BAL GOPAL DAS Vs. MOHAN SINGH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The question referred for the opinion of the Full Bench is " Is the Tribunal constituted under the Displaced Persons (Debts Adjustment) Act, 1951 (Act No. LXX of 1951) a Court subordinate to the High Court within the meaning of Section 115 Civil Procedure Code? Does a revision under Section 115 Civil Procedure Code lie against an order passed by such a tribunal?"

(2.) I have had the benefit of reading the judgments proposed to be delivered by my brothers S. D. Khare and G. C. Mathur, JJ., but I regret I am unable to agree with them. This question came up before me in an earlier case of Sunder Das v. Lach-man Das, AIR 1957 All 352. Having heard learned counsel on the present occasion and having given very careful consideration to the views expressed by my brothers in their proposed judgments, I still End no reason to change the view thai was taken by me earlier in the case cited above.

(3.) In the course of arguments before us. it appears to have been assumed that, whenever a judicial function is being exercised by any person, that person can only be described as, and must belong to, one of the two classes, a Court or a per-sona designata. I do not consider that these are the only two classes by which such authorities must necessarily be covered. The word 'tribunal' has been used in the Displaced Persons (Debts Adjustment) Act, 1951 (hereinafter referred to as the Act), with which I am concerned, and has also been used in other statutes and. I do not see why every tribunal must necessarily be covered by either the word 'Court' or the word 'persona designata'. The Constitution itself, in Article 227, mentions Courts and tribunals and thus seems to distinguish between a Court and a tribunal without specifically envisaging that every tribunal must necessarily be a persona designata. In my opinion, therefore, it is not at all necessary in this case to go into the question whether a tribunal under the Act is a persona designata or not. The question that is to be seen is whether it is a Court within the meaning of Section 115 Civil Procedure Code.