KARAN SINGHA SARKAR Vs. STATE OF WEST BENGAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS is an application against the judgment and order dated March 16, 2006 passed by the learned West Bengal Land Reforms and Tenancy Tribunal in O. A. No. 4016 of 2001 whereby the learned tribunal dismissed the said application.

(2.) THE predecessor-in-interest of the applicants possessed huge quantum of lands of different descriptions and in between 05. 05. 1953 and 15. 04. 1955 he sold agricultural and non-agricultural lands to different persons by different deeds of conveyance in the District of Cooch Behar which was governed by the Cooch Behar Tenancy Act, 1910. The West bengal Estates Acquisition Act, 1953 (henceforth shall be called as the said Act) came into force on 12. 02. 1954 but this Act did not repeal the said Cooch Behar Tenancy Act, 1910 and as such the Act of 1910 governed the District of Cooch Behar in the matter of lands till 01. 11. 1965 when the section 59 (6) of the West Bengal Land Reforms Act, 1955 came into force. The Cooch Behar Tenancy Act, 1910 was expressly repealed by that section. The Settlement Officer, Cooch Behar started two proceedings under Section 5a of the said Act with regard to the transfers made by the predecessor-in-interest of the applicants and passed orders holding that the said transfers were not bona fide and then passed the order of vesting. Two writ applications were moved challenging the said order of vesting and the Hon'ble Division Bench by a common judgment dated 23. 04. 1974 quashed the orders and directed the Revenue Authorities to start fresh proceedings in terms of Section 5a (3) (ii) read with Section 6 (1) of the said Act after giving opportunities of hearing to the petitioners. Then in 1983, the Revenue Authorities started Big-Raiyat proceedings bearing no. 499 of 1983 under Section 6 read with Section 47 of the said Act in utter violation of the solemn order of the Hon'ble High Court, Calcutta and passed an identical order of vesting. The said order of vesting was challenged by another writ application bearing C. O. No. 1097 (W) of 1986 and the Hon'ble Justice Paritosh Kumar Mukherjee (as His Lordship then was) directed the authorities to consider the return to be filed by the applicants in terms of Section 6 (6) of the said Act. The Hon'ble Court also directed that the parties should maintain status quo in respect of the lands mentioned therein. The applicants submitted B-Form but the said B-Form was not considered by the Revenue Authorities. So another application bearing W. P. No. 25970 (W) of 1997 was moved before the Hon'ble Justice g. R. Bhattacharjee (as His Lordship then was) and by an order dated 07. 01. 1998 the learned Single Judge directed the D. L. and L. R. O. , Cooch behar to consider the B-Form of the applicants by passing a speaking order after giving an opportunity of hearing to the applicants and such other person or persons as may be considered necessary by him within a specified period along with a direction to maintain status quo in respect of the possession of the concerned lands till the disposal of the case. Thereafter, the D. L. and L. R. O. , Cooch Behar initiated a proceeding but none of the transferees was served with any notice of the said proceedings, though it was mandatory to issue notice upon the transferees. The said d. L. and L. R. O. , Cooch Behar passed an order holding that the transfers made by the predecessor-in-interest of the applicants were on total lands measuring 179. 79 acres including 8 acres of non-agricultural lands under mouja Deochari and Balaghat District-Cooch Behar in between 05. 05. 1953 and 15. 04. 1955. Those lands were dealt with as retained lands of the applicants under Section 5a of the said Act. The applicants were allowed to retain 1/3rd of the total. 70 acres of land each as homestead. The net result was that the applicants were not allowed to retain any agricultural and non-agricultural land. The applicants challenged the said order of vesting in the O. A. No. 4016 of 2001 and then the learned Tribunal dismissed the said application exparte. Being aggrieved by that order of dismissal the applicants filed an application under Article 226 of the constitution of India and the Hon'ble Division Bench remanded the matter to the learned Tribunal by the order dated 02. 04. 2003. Thereafter, the learned Tribunal passed the impugned judgment and order dated March 16, 2006 dismissing the O. A. No. 4016 of 2001. Being aggrieved by the said judgment and order, this application was preferred by the applicants.

(3.) THE facts as narrated above by the applicants are rather admitted. Now the questions of law are involved in this application. Mr. Banerjee, learned Advocate for the applicants, contends that the learned Tribunal exceeded its limit in deciding the case in view of the order of remand passed by the Hon'ble Division Bench. The learned Tribunal was obliged to determine the matters within its limits as per directions of the Hon'ble division Bench and it was expected that the learned Tribunal would not exceed its jurisdiction. He also contends that the learned Tribunal committed wrong in deciding whether the West Bengal Estates Acquisition act, 1953 was extended or applied in the District of Cooch Behar before 1965 when the Cooch Behar Tenancy Act, 1910 was repealed. After remand the learned Tribunal was under an obligation to decide whether an enquiry under Section 5a of the said Act in respect of certain transfers made in the aforesaid period from 05. 05. 1953 to 15. 04. 1955 could be held when the Act of 1910 was in operation in the District of Cooch Behar and to see if such transfers would come within the mischief period as laid down in section 5a of the said Act; because the said Act came into force in the district of Cooch Behar only on 01. 11. 1965 and the Cooch Behar Tenancy act, 1910 was very much in force at that time of transfers.