1. This miscellaneous appeal under Sec.299 of the Indian Succession Act arises out of a proceeding at the instance of the appellants for revocation of a will. The relevant facts are these:

2. One Sukhdeo Mahto executed a will on 15-9-1964 (Exhibit D) in favour of respondents 1 and 2, his agnates he himself having no issue. On the death of the said testator on 15-1-1965, an application for grant of letters of administration was filed in the Court of the District Judge of Patna on 2-2-1965 by the aforesaid beneficiaries. Appellant No. 1, who happens to be a sister of the testator, was one of the persons mentioned in the application for grant of the letters of administration, and according to her case, on the death of Sukhdeo Mahto, she being his only heir, inherited the property and came in possession of the same. The other two appellants are the vendees of appellant No. 1, to whom she transferred the entire property by a registered deed of sale dated 9-6-1968. The application for grant of letters of administration was allowed ex parte on 6-11-1965. The appellants thereupon filed an application for revocation of the grant of the letters of administration under Sec.263 of the Indian Succession Act, inter alia, on the grounds that the grant was obtained fraudulently without serving a valid notice on appellant No. 1 and the same could not be made in law as the will in question being unregistered, was inoperative and hit by the provisions of Sec.16 (2) (iii) of the Bihar Land Reforms (Fixation of Ceiling Area and Acquisition of Surplus Land) Act, 1961 (Bihar Act 12 of 1962) (hereinafter referred to as the "Ceiling Act").

3. The learned Additional District Judge dismissed the application on recording a finding on both the questions against the appellants. He held that the notice of the probate proceeding was duly served upon the opposite parties and the provisions of the Ceiling Act were no bar to the grant of the letters of administration in view of the provisions of the Indian Registration Act which made the registration of a will optional.

4. In this Court Mr. Lakshman Sharan Sinha, appearing for the appellants, has seriously contended that in view of the clear provisions contained in the Ceiling Act, no letters of administration could be granted by the Court below of the will in question which was an unregistered document and related to agricultural lands.

5. In order to appreciate the contention, it is necessary to examine the scheme and the relevant provisions of the Ceiling Act. This Act received the assent of the President of India on the 19th of April, 1962, and one of the objects of the Act is to make provision for a fixation of a ceiling on the extent of agricultural lands. In other words, limiting the area of land to be held lawfully by any person and to acquire the surplus land by the State of Bihar and its disposal according to the different provisions of the Ceiling Act in the larger interest of the community. Chapter V of the Ceiling Act contains provisions for restriction on future acquisition of any land by transfer, etc. after the commencement of the Act and Sec.16 (1) provides:

"No person shall, after the commencement of this Act, either by himself or through any other person, acquire or possess by transfer, exchange, lease, mortgage, agreement or settlement any land which together with the land, if any, already held by him exceeds in the aggregate the ceiling area.

Explanation - For the purposes of this section `transfer does not include inheritance, bequest or gift."

Acquisition of any land by transfer, etc. by any person in excess of the land already held by him according to the ceiling area provided in the Ceiling Act has been restricted. Exception to acquire any further land is made only in three circumstances, namely, (i) inheritance, (ii) bequest, or (iii) gift. Clauses (i) and (ii) of sub-section (2) of Sec.16 also prohibits registration of any document incorporating any transaction for acquisition