JUDGMENT :

Amreshwar Pratap Sahi, J.

1. I have gone through the erudite and fully explained judgments of my brother Justice Chakradhari Sharan Singh, Justice Ashuthosh Kumar, Justice Sanjay Priya and Justice Rajeev Ranjan Prasad.

2. I fully agree and endorsed the views expressed by my learned brothers, the ratio of the judgment may be culled out as under:

(1) Section 4 (C) of the Consolidation Act 1956 (hereinafter referred to as the ‘Act of 1956’) is intra-vires and the same has been upheld by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in the case of Satyanarayan Prasad Sah Vs. State of Bihar (AIR 1980 SC 2051) hence, this issue is not longer a res-integra.

(2) Sections 15 and 16 of the Act of 1956 have no conflict with each other. Both are operating in mutually exclusive fields and they are supplementing each other.

(3) Regarding the bar of jurisdiction of the Civil Court, it has been the consistent views that the Consolidation Authorities have got status of ‘Deem Courts’ and they have powers akin to the Civil Courts to summon witnesses, taking of evidence etc. In this regard my learned brothers have agreed with the minority views of Hon’ble Mr. Justice Nagendra Rai (as his lordship then was) in the ca