JUDGMENT :

M.Y. EQBAL, J.

Leave granted.

2. These appeals by special leave are directed against the common judgment and order dated 20.3.2009, passed by the Division Bench of High Court of Calcutta in W.P.L.R.T. Nos. 728 of 2002, 429 of 2002 and 430 of 2002, whereby the High Court dismissed the aforementioned Writ Applications holding that the question as to whether Chapter IIB of the West Bengal Land Reforms Act would be applicable qua the appellants in view of the fact that they belonged to a place which was in erstwhile State of Bihar and by virtue of the State Reorganisation Act, their lands were included in the State of West Bengal was decided against the appellants relying on the judgment in case of Ganga Dhar Singh & Ors. vs. State of West Bengal and Ors., 1997 (II) CHN 140.

3. The facts giving rise to the present appeals are that the appellants, presently residents of Dalkola, sub-divisional town in the District of North Dinajpur, West Bengal, had certain ancestral lands in the said town. On 30.3.1956, the West Bengal Land Reforms Act, 1955 came into force and the lands of the appellants were transferred from State of Bihar to State of West Bengal by virtue of the enactment