S.S.SANDHAWALIA, J.

1. The meaningful and somewhat intricate questions, which emerge for adjudication in this reference to the Full Bench, merit formulation in the terms following :

(1) Where there is a direct conflict betwixt two decisions of the Supreme Court, rendered by co-equal Benches, which of them should be followed by the High Court and the Court below ?

(2) Whether a person, who was not before the Land Acquisition Officer, can maintain an application for being impleaded as a party under O.1, R.10 of the Civil P.C., in the reference proceedings before the District Judge, under S.18 of the Land Acquisition Act ?

2. The long and chequered history of the litigation, giving rise to the question aforesaid, need not be recounted in meticulous detail. It suffices to mention that this arises from the land acquisition proceedings for the construction of a fire brigade station in Patna City itself, commenced sometime in the late nineteen-sixties. Shanti Devi, Opposite Party No. 1, who is the awardee in the case, purchased the land from Anand Ballabh Prasad Yadav by a registered sale deed executed way back on the 27th of June, 1964. In the somewhat protracted and long drawn o