(1.) This appeal under Clause 10 of the Letters Patent must succeed on the twin ground that under Section 32 of the Bihar Land Reforms (Fixation of Ceiling Area and Acquisition of Surplus Land) Act the Board of Revenue is the final court of fact and its findings on issues of fact are not to be lightly disturbed in the writ jurisdiction.
(2.) The facts herein yet again evidence the protracted trace of litigations within our country. The lis arises from a sale deed dated the 7th November, 1985, executed by the vendor Trijugi Narain Seth, in favour of the appellant Jagarnath Sah. However, the sale-deed could not be presented before the regis tering authority within time and there ensued a long litigation for compulsory registration, culminating in the registration of the document on the 24th June, 1969, and other formalities being completed even later on the 1st August, 1969.
(3.) The pre-emptor, Rameshwar Lal, then filed an application for preemption giving rise to the present proceedings. In the court of the first instance, the Deputy Collector, Land Reforms, apart from the evidence adduced on the record, made local inspection and, after hearing the parties at length, recorded an eloborate judgment dated the 3rd November, 1971 rejecting the claim for preemption. An appeal was carried to the Additional Collector, who allowed the same and remanded the case back to the Deputy Collector, Land Reforms, for reconsideration of the entire issue afresh. In compliance with that order, the proceedings were again hotly contensted, and, inter alia, the vendee took the firm stand that the disputed area lay within the boundaries of the Improvement Trust and was not agricultural in nature, and, therefore, beyond the scope of Section 16(3) of the Bihar Land Reforms (Fixation of Ceiling Area and Acquisition of Surplus Land Act (hereinafter referred to as the Act). It was equally the firm stand that the disputed land did not belong to an agriculturist, and, in fact, belonged to a trader and businessman, and, there was a business house built there upon and even the purchase was for a business purpose, namely that of setting up an atta chakki.