BASUDEB MISRA Vs. COLLECTOR AND ORS.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS is an appeal under Section 13 -G(3) of the Orissa Estates Abolition Act, 1951 (Act I of 1952) as amended by Orissa Act V of 1963, at the instance of an ex -intermediary. 'Intermediary interest', as defined under Section 2(hh) of the Act, came to vest in the State of Orissa under Section 3 -A of the Act by a notification dated 13 -4 -1961, though in the petition before the Tribunal the date of vesting was stated to be 27 -4 -1963, the learned Tribunal has now found that the vesting was actually on 13 -4 -1961 and that fact is not disputed in the appeal.

(2.) ON 27 -7 -1963, an application was made purporting to be under Section 13 -D(1) of the Act for a declaration that the estate in question was a "trust estate" and was, therefore, to be excluded from vesting in terms of the notification under Section 3 -A of the Act. As the records show, the proceeding went ex parte. The learned Tribunal, on the solitary evidence of a witness examined on behalf of the claimant, came to hold that the estate in question was a trust estate as defined under the Act. Thereafter he proceeded to examine as to whether he had jurisdiction to make the declaration in respect of the estate in dispute. He came to find that the estate having vested with effect from 13 -4 -1961 and Chapter II -A of the Act having been introduced in the Statute under Orissa Act V of 1963, which came into force with effect from 11 -4 -1963, he had no jurisdiction to make the declaration asked for as the Amending Act was not retrospective in character. On such a finding he held that the application before him was not maintainable.

(3.) MR . M.S. Mohanty for the Appellant approached the matter during argument from various aspects to indicate that retrospectivity, though not expressed in the language of the Amending Act, must be spelt out from the circumstances. The provision in question was incorporated into the parent Act by Orissa Act V of 1963. According to him, to come to a right conclusion as to whether the Amending Act has retrospective operation the following should be looked into: