Judgment

ALAGIRISWAMI, J. :- Gobinda Prasad Pandit, the founder of Searsole Raj Estate died in the year 1861 leaving a will. After his death in a suit between his widow and certain other claimants regarding the title to the estate it was held that a charge had been created upon the entire estate for the maintenance and seva puja of the family deity and for the performance of certain specified charitable purposes. In 1928 the appellant, his brother and their father who succeeded to the estate executed an arpannamah in favour of the family deity reiterating the charge created by Govinda Prasad Pandit. On October 12, 1953, the appellant executed a document whereby a half share in a part of the estate was set apart exclusively for the purpose for which the charge had been created earlier, and the rest of the property was to be treated as absolutely free and absolved from the claims in respect of the religious and charitable purposes. The appellant appointed himself as the trustee. The West Bengal Estates Acquisition Act, 1953 came into force on 12-2-1954. Under that Act, the main provisions of which, insofar as they are relevant for the purposes of this appeal, we shall refer to later, the estate vested in the State on 14-4-1955. Subsequently the Act was amended by introducing Section 5-A therein with retrospective effect from 5-5-1953, the date prior to that on which the bill, which later became the West Bengal Estates Acquisition Act, was published in the Gazette. After an enquiry the Settlement Officer held that the document executed by the appellant on October 12, 1953, was not bona fide. The appeal against this decision to the Special Judge failed and so also a petition filed before the High Court under Article 227 of the Constitution. This appeal has been filed in pursuance of the special leave granted by this Court.

2. We shall not set forth the provision of the Act in brief:

Under Section 4(1) of the Act a notification may be issued by the State Government that all estates and the rights of every intermediary in each such estate shall vest in the State free from all incumbrances. Under Section 5 (1) upon the publication of such a notification the estates and the rights of intermediaries in the estates shall vest in the State from all incumbrances. It may be stated even at this stage that the appellant is an intermediary. Under Section 5-A the State Government may enquire into any case of transfer of any land by an intermediary made between the 5th day of May, 1953 and the date of vesting, if in its opinion there are prima facie reasons for believing that such transfer was not bona fide, and if after such an enquiry the State Government finds such transfer was not bona fide, it shall make an order to that effect and thereupon the transfer shall stand cancelled as from the date on which it was made or purported to have been made. Against an order issued by the State Government an appeal lies to a Special Judge. Sub-section (7) of this section lays down that a transfer shall be held to be not bona fide if it was made principally or partially with the object of increasing the amount of land which a person may retain, or principally or partially compensation payable. Transfer means a transfer by sale, mortgage, lease, exchange or gift.

3. Under Section 6 an intermediary is entitled to retain various categories of land, of which it is only necessary to refer to the category mentioned in Section 6 (1) (i) which reads:

"where the intermediary is a corporation or an institution established exclusively for a religious or a charitable purpose or both, or is a person holding under a trust or an endowment or other legal obligation exclusively for a purpose which is charitable or religious or both - land held in khas by such corporation or institution, or person, for such purpose including land held by any person, not being a tenant, by leave or licence of such corporation or institution or person.

4. Section 16 provides for the calculation