SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INDIA IN COUNCIL Vs. SRIMATI FAHAMIDUNNISSA BEGUM AND ANOTHER AND; SHAMACHURN GANGOOLI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) TWO questions arise in this case. They were stated in the reference to the Full Bench by the Divisional Bench of the High Court in the following terms: 1st. Whether the provisions of Act IX. of 1847 are applicable to land reformed on the site of a permanently settled estate, the revenue of which estate has been paid without abatement since the permanent settlement?

(2.) ND . Whether, if these provisions are not so applicable, a Civil Court should, in the exercise of its discretion, make a decree declaring that the proceedings of the revenue authorities in respect of such land are ultra vires? 2. In their Lordships' opinion the second question which arises should be stated somewhat differently, viz., Whether if these provisions are not so applicable, a Civil Court has jurisdiction to review the decision of the Board of Revenue, and to declare that the proceedings of the revenue authorities in assessing such land were ultra vires?

(3.) BOTH the questions involved in this case, depend upon the construction to be put upon the Act of 1847. The 1st section of that Act enacts "that such parts of the Regulations of the Bengal Code as establish tribunals, and prescribe rules of procedure for investigations regarding liability to assessment of lands gained from the sea, or from rivers by alluvion or dereliction, or regarding the right of the Government to the ownership thereof, shall, from the date of the passing of this Act, cease to have effect within the provinces of Bengal, Behar, and Orissa, and that all such investigations pending before the Collectors and Deputy Collectors in the said provinces at the said date shall be forthwith discontinued; and that no measures shall hereafter be taken for the assessment of such lands, or for the assertion of the right of the Government to the ownership thereof, except under the provisions of this Act."