S.S.SANDHAWALIA, J.

1. Issues of some significance which finally emerge for adjudication in this reference to the Full Bench may well be precisely formulated in the terms following :

i) Whether a composite settlement of a public ferry declared under S.6, Bengal Ferries Act, 1885 , and a ferry vested in the State under S.4, Bihar Land Reforms Act, is permissible in law ?

ii) If so, whether such a composite settlement is to be governed by the provisions of the Bengal Ferries Act or by the purely administrative instructions for the settlement of sairats ?

iii) Whether the Division Bench judgement in Ganesh Prasad V/s. State of Bihar, Civil Writ Jurisdiction Case No. 277 of 1967 - decided on 18-8-1967 lays down the law correctly ?

2. The facts giving rise to the questions aforesaid may be noticed with the relative brevity. On 25-1-1985, public notice was issued under the authority of the District Magistrate of Bhojpur for a composite settlement of a group of ferry ghats including Telpa-Ekauna, Gangi Keshopur, Alekhitola and Sinha Bora Ghat, to be held by open public auction on 4-2-1985, for a term of three years from 1985-86 to 1987-88. The firm stand of the petitioner is that