ORDER :

M.M. Punchhi, CJI. - The appellant filed a declaration under the provisions of the Haryana Celling on Land Holdings Act, 1972 that he had no surplus area in his hands. The Collector had accepted his contention by his order dated 18.6.1982 and declared him to be a small landowner. That order was not challenged by the Government though it was represented before the Collector by an officer. Neither an appeal was filed nor a revision against the said order.

2. However, in 1989, an application was presented before the Financial Commissioner under Section 18(6) of the Act praying for invoking his suo motu powers to look into the legality of the orders after calling for the records of the Collector. The Financial Commissioner, after hearing both parties, passed an order on 17.2.1994 setting aside the order of the Collector on the basis that the same was vitiated by patent illegality. An objection was raised before the Financial Commissioner that he should not exercise the revisional power after a lapse of seven years from the date of the order of the Collector. He over-ruled that objection holding that when an order was vitiated by illegality, he could look into the same under Secti