Transfers made prior to 22nd October, 1959, are not liable to annulment under S. 5(1)(iii) of the Bihar Land Reforms (Fixation of Ceiling Area and Acquisition of Surplus Land) Act, 1961.

K.B.N.SINGH, J.

1. In these 14 applications under Arts. 226 and 227 of the Constitution, common question of law and facts are involved and with the consent of the parties, they have been heard together and are being disposed of by one judgment.

2. The petitioners in these writ applications have prayed for quashing a notice dated the 20th March, 1974, issued under S. 5 (1) (iii) of the Bihar Land Reforms (Fixation of Ceiling Area and Acquisition of Surplus Land) Act, 1961, for cancelling the transfer of the lands in question, as also the order of the Additional Collector of Siwan, dated the 18th June, 1975, cancelling the transfers made by registered sale-deeds, by Messrs. Purtabpore Company Limited, petitioners in thirteen of these applications. Copies of the impunged notice and the order have been filed as Annexures 1 and 2 respectively in each of the writ applications.

3. The short facts necessary for the disposal of these writ applications need to be stated, Messrs Pratabpore Company Limited is a public limited company and owned a sugar mill. Besides the sugar mill it also owned agricultural lands in the District of Siwan which were used to be put in various use. The Petitioner, however, sold its sugar mill to another Joint Stock Company, Messrs Purtabpur Sugar Mills Limited, in October, 1972. The present management of the Purtabpore Company Limited (hereinafter referred to as the Company.), which took over in October, 1958, found the lands to be unyielding and scattered as well as uneconomical, and soon thereafter, the Company started negotiations with buyers for disposing of such lands. In pursuance of negotiations, the Company started selling the lands to different buyers within a year of its taking over of the management of the Company. In furtherance of the negotiations and sales. moneys were deposited with the Company by the intending purchasers, near about April,1959, and thereafter, stamps were purchased for execution of sale-deeds. Sale-deeds were executed, presented for registration and execution admitted before the Registrar on the 8th August 1959, 10th August, 1959, and the 6th October, 1959, in different cases. It is also the case of the petitioners that payments of balance of the consideration money were made by bank drafts and cheques, numbers of which were noted in the sale-deeds concerned by the Registrar. These sale deeds were copied out in Book I, maintained by the Registration Department (under S. 51 of the Registration Act) between the 1st of December, 1959, and the 9th of December, 1959, and, after the completion of the registration under S. 61, the documents were handed over to the vendees.

4. After their purchase, the purchasers came in possession of the lands as owners thereof. Some of them were in possession even from before as lessees from the Company. The purchasers were also mutated in the appropriate revenue records and paid rent to the State of Bihar.

5. After the enforcement of the Bihar Land Reforms (Fixation of Ceiling Area and Acquisition of Surplus Land) Act, 1961 (hereinafter referred to as the Act) as required by S. 6, the Company filed returns in respect of the lands possessed by it. But, surprisingly, in March, 1975, after the incorporation of sub-s. (1) (iii) of S. 5 in the Act by the Bihar Land Reforms (Fixation of Ceiling Area and Acquisition of Surplus Land) Amendment Act 1973 (Bihar Act 1 of 1973), the Petitioners got a notice to show cause as to why the aforesaid transfers, which were effected after the 22nd October, 1959, be not annulled and the transferred lands be not treated as the lands belonging to the Company for the purpose of fixation of the ceiling area under the Act. Notices for annulment were also issued to the purchasers, who are Respondent No. 3 in all the first thirteen applications and petitioner in Civil Writ Jurisdiction Case No. 1497 of 1975, Copies of these notices have been marked as Annexure 1 to each of the writ applications.

6. The petitioners Com