MAHENDRA SINGH Vs. COMMISSIONER OF CHOTA NAGPUR DIVISION

JUDGEMENT

(1.) In this case the petitioners have applied for a writ in the nature of certiorari to quash the order of the Additional Deputy Commissioner of Singh bhum, dated 28-2-1952 in Kolhan Title suit, No. 11 of 1951, and also the order of the Commissioner of Chota Nagpur Division, dated 29-2-1956, affirming the same in Kolhan Title Appeal No. 53 of 1952.

(2.) It appears that in March, 1951, opposite parties Nos. 3 to 6 filed a Kolhan Title suit against the petitioners in the court of the Additional Deputy Commissioner of Singhbhum, praying for a declaration of the plaintiffs title to the suit land and for recovery of khas possession by eviction of the defendants. The suit was tried by the Additional Deputy Commissioner of Singhbhum under Wilkinson's Rules and a decree was granted to the opposite parties Nos. 3 to 6 on 28-2-1952. The petitioners preferred an appeal to the Commissioner of Chota Nagpur Division, but the appeal was dismissed and the order of the Additional Deputy Commissioner in the Kolhan Title suit was affirmed. The contention of the petitioners is that the Civil Procedure applies to the area and the suit ought to have been tried not under the Wilkinson's Rules but under the provisions of the Civil Procedure Code. It is, therefore, contended that the Additional Deputy Commissioner of Singhbhum had no jurisdiction to grant a decree in the Kolhan Title suit and the Commissioner of Chota Nagpur Division had no jurisdiction to hear the appeal from that decree.

(3.) The first ground taken by learned Counsel on behalf of the petitioners is that the Additional Deputy Commissioner of Singhbhum adopted a procedure prescribed by Wilkinson's Rules which are no longer in force. In support of this argument reference was made to a judgment of this court in K.K. Sinha v. Basudeo Harjiwan, Misc. Judl. case No. 392 of 1952, D/-22-12-1952 (A) in which it was held that Act II of 1951 amended the Civil Procedure Code so as to extend its operation to the whole of India, including the so-called scheduled districts, with the exception of certain Tribal Areas in the State of, Assam, in the State of Madras and in the State of Jammu and Kashmir and the State of Manipur, Act II of 1951 received the assent of the President on 17-2-1951, and came into effect from that date, and so it was held by the High Court in that case that the Civil Procedure Code applied to the entire district of Singhbhum, including the scheduled area of Kolhan. But on behalf of the State of Bihar it was pointed out by learned Counsel that the effect of this judgment was superseded by the issue of a notification by the State Government, dated the 26th August, 1953, issued in exercise of the authority conferred on the State Government by sub-paragraph (1) of paragraph 5 of the Fifth Schedule to the Constitution of India. The notification of the State Government is in the following terms :-