S.S.SANDHAWALIA, J.

1. Whether S.45-B of the Bihar Land Reforms (Fixation of Ceiling Area and Acquisition of Surplus Land) Act, 1961 mandates that the decision afresh of a proceeding disposed of by a Collector under the said Act must be done by the State Government or by the authorised Collector of the district alone - is the significant question necessitating this reference to the Full Bench. Primarily at issue is the correctness of the view in Kesara Devi V/s. State of Bihar, 1984 Pat LJR 209 : (AIR 1984 NOC (Pat) 289).

2. Mahanth Siyaram Das, Petitioner No. 1, is the Shebait of Bancholha Math at Bancholha, which is a public trust registered as such under the provision of the Bihar Hindu Religious Trust Act, 1951. The Math aforesaid owns lands and other agricultural properties for religious purposes. It is the case that during the absence of petitioner No. 1 on pilgrimage in the years 1973 to 1975 one Mahanth Manmohan Das used to look after the affairs of this Math and in the said period nearly 13 acres of the Math property were declared surplus in the ceiling proceedings held under the Bihar Land Reforms (Fixation of Ceiling Area and Acquisition of Surplus Land) Act, 196