YADUNANDAN PRASAD Vs. SHRIMATI SAUDAMINI SINHA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) In this application under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution of India, the petitioner has obtained a rule from this Court as to why the order dated the 8th of March 1973 (Annexure 1) passed by the Chairman of the Giridih Municipality (respondent No. 3) in regard to the mutation of the names of the owners with respect to a Municipal holding situated within the Giridih Municipality be not quashed and cancelled on the ground that he was not a competent authority to deal with the matter in view of the amendments made by Bihar Act 20 of 1965 to the provisions of the Bihar and Orissa Municipal Act (briefly 'the Act'). The relevant facts are these:

(2.) Holding No. 461, in Ward No. 2, of the Giridih Municipality, originally belonged to one Sharbanand Lal. On his death, the same was recorded in the names of his three sons, namely Girija Shankar Pd., Yadunandan Prasad (the petitioner) and Gopi Krishna Prasad, in the year 1950. The aforesaid holding was given in usufructuary mortgage by the aforesaid three brothers to the Hazari-bagh Mica Mining Company. By a sale deed dated the 8th of July 1970, only Girija Shankar and Gopi Krishna Prasad, the two brothers of the petitioner, sold the entire holding in favour of respondents Nos. 1 and 2, who applied for mutation of their names in the Giridih Municipality under the provision of Section 108 of the Act which requires a notice to be given to the Chairman regarding transfer of title to any holding within the prescribed period, and on the said application, the names of respondents Nos. 1 and 2 were ordered to be mutated by the Chairman by the impugned order dated the 8th of March, 1973, which is under challenge as already said above. The attack by the petitioner on the impugned order is made in view of the amendments made by Bihar Act 20 of 1965 to the Act (hereinafter referred to as 'the Amending Act').

(3.) In order to appreciate the point raised, it is necessary to refer to some of the provisions of the Act. Section 107 (1) of the Act provides for amendment and alteration of the assessment list from time to time by the Commissioner, inter alia,