JUDGMENT

GUPTA, J.:— This appeal by certificate under Article 133 (1) (a) of the Constitution granted by the Patna High Court arises out of a proceedings under Section 3 of the Kosi Area (Restoration of Lands to Raiyats) Act, 1951 (thereinafter referred to as the Act). By the order challenged in this appeal the High Court allowed a writ petition filed by the first respondent setting aside an appellate order under Section 16 and restoring the original order passed on an application under Section 3 of the Act. To appreciate the nature of the dispute between the parties, it would be more convenient to refer to the relevant provisions of the Act before we turn to the facts of the case.

2. The Act was passed, as its long title and preamble show to provide for

"the restoration to former raiyats of certain lands which were sold for arrears of rent or from which they were ejected for arrears of rent or which were treated as abandoned, between the 1 st day of January, 1939, and the 31st day of December,1950, in the absence of the raiyats due to floods in the Kosi River."

Section 3 of the Act is in these terms:"

Steps to be taken for restoration of land to raiyats.- If the holding of a raiyat or portion thereof was sold in execution of a decree for arrears of rent or if a raiyat was ejected from a holding or portion thereof in execution of decree passed under sub-section (2) of section 66 of the Bihar Tenancy Act, 1885, or if the holding of a raiyat or portion thereof was treated as abandoned under Section 87 of the said Act at any time between the 1st day of January, 1939, and the 31st day of December, 1950, and is in the possession of the landlord or any other person the Collector may, if he thinks fit, of his own motion or otherwise, take steps for the restoration 179 of such holding or portion thereof to the said raiyat."

"Collector" is defined in Section 2(a) as the Collector of a district or any other officer appointed by the State Government to discharge any of the functions of a Collector under this Act. Section 4 requires the Collector to give notice of the proceeding under Section 3 to the raiyat, the landlord, and all other persons interested, in the holding or portion there of forming the subject-matter of the proceeding so as to enable them to file their objections if any. Clauses (a) and (b) of Section 5(1) state the grounds on which objection may be raised to the restoration asked for. Section 5(1) (a) which is relevant for the present purpose reads as follows:

"5. Objection to the restoration of holding and manner of disposal:- (1) On the date fixed in the notice, the landlord or any other person may appear and object to the restoration of the holding or portion thereof on any one or more of the following grounds, namely:-

(a) that he has constructed any building or other structure of a permanent nature or planted any garden on the holding or any portion thereof before the date of the commencement of this Act and that such building, structure or garden is of such a value that the restoration of the land covered by such building, structure or garden will be unfair and"

Sec, 5(2) provides that if after inquiring into the objections the Collector finds that the building or structure constructed or the garden laid on the land of which restoration is sought is of such value that the restoration will be unfair, the Collector shall drop the proceedings entirely where the building, structure or garden covers the entire area in question, and where only a part of the land is so covered, only partly, in so far as they relate to the site of such building, structure or garden. Section 7 lays down the procedure to be followed by the Collector if the proceedings are not dropped entirely. The Collector is to determine the land liable to be restored to the raiyat and the amount payable by him for the restoration specifying the person to whom the amount is payable; the amount to be determined is the cost of improvement, if any effected on the