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2001 Supreme(Cal) 627

High Court Of Calcutta
JYOTESH BANERJEE
GURU PRASAD DUTTA - Appellant
Versus
STATE OF WEST BENGAL - Respondent
S. A.  461  Of  1989
Decided On : 09/25/2001

Advocates Appeared:
AMAL KRISHNA SAHA

The Civil Court's jurisdiction is expressly barred under section 14x of the West Bengal Land Reforms Act to decide or deal with any question or determine any matter required to be decided or dealt with by the Revenue Officer under Chapter 2 (B) of the Act, and no orders passed or proceedings commenced under that Chapter shall be called in question in any Civil Court.

Headnote:

WEST BENGAL LAND REFORMS ACT - SECTION 14X - REVENUE OFFICER'S JURISDICTION - CIVIL COURT'S BARRED JURISDICTION - NO QUESTIONING OF VESTING ORDERS - EXCEPTIONS AND LIMITATIONS.

Fact of the Case:

Plaintiffs filed a suit alleging a benami deed of gift, challenging a vesting order under the West Bengal Land Reforms Act. The trial court held the vesting order was wrong and decreed the suit, finding a violation of natural justice due to lack of notice to the raiyat. The first appellate court reversed the trial court's decision, finding that notice was served and the plaintiffs were aware of the vesting order.

Finding of the Court:

The High Court upheld the first appellate court's decision, finding no proper reason to reverse it. It held that the Civil Court's jurisdiction was expressly barred under section 14x of the West Bengal Land Reforms Act, and there were no circumstances to suggest non-compliance with the Act or failure to act in conformity with fundamental principles of judicial procedure.

Issues: 1. Whether the first appellate court reversed the trial court's judgment without any proper reason? 2. Whether the Civil Court had jurisdiction to decide the dispute?

Ratio Decidendi: 1. The High Court found that the first appellate court's finding that notice was served on the raiyat and the plaintiffs were aware of the vesting order was based on evidence and not mere conjectures or surmises. 2. The High Court held that the Civil Court's jurisdiction was expressly barred under section 14x of the West Bengal Land Reforms Act, and there were no circumstances to suggest non-compliance with the Act or failure to act in conformity with fundamental principles of judicial procedure.

Final Decision: The High Court dismissed the appeal, finding no substantial question of law and no proper reason to reverse the first appellate court's decision.

J. BANERJEE, J.

( 1 ) THE present second appeal is directed against the judgment and decree, by which the learned first appellate Court allowed the appeal and set aside the judgment and decree passed by the trial Court and judgment was passed on 23. 12. 1988 by the Assistant District Judge, Addl. Court, Burdwan in T. A. 5/88.

( 2 ) IN a nutshel, the facts and circumstances leading to the present second appeal are as hereunder :-the plaintiffs/appellants brought a suit alleging, inter alia, that the suit property originally belonged to Raj Ballav Dutta. Raj Ballav Dutta had also big debottar estate and he had three sons, namely, Hari Prosad Dutta, Radhika Prosad Dutta and Bishnuprasad Dutta. At the time of death of Raj Ballav, Bishnuprasad, the father of the plaintiff was minor and the other two brothers Radhika Prasad and Hari Prasad used to look after the Debottar Estate. According to the allegation they committed various acts of mismanagement in respect of debottar estate and incurred a heavy loan by mortgaging debottar estate. In this background, Bishnuprasad with a view to protecting the secular property from the clutches of the creditors, executed a deed of gift in respect of the suit property and in this way created a benami in respect of such property in the name of his wife. But it is also alleged that donee never accepted the said gift nor did she ever possess the gifted land as a donee. In fact it is the allegation of the plaintiffs that the said deed of gift was never acted upon. On the other hand, one of the plaintiffs started a partition suit, in which wife of Bishnu Prasad, Kashiswari was a party and the same ended in a compromise decree each co-sharers getting separate allotment of their own share. It is further alleged that State of West Bengal started a proceeding under the provisions of the West Bengal Land Reforms Act against the apparent owner Kashiswari and treating all the properties including the suit properties to be of Kashiswari alone, allowed her to possess only 6. 18 acres of land considering her to be one unit and declared the excess land as vested to the State. On the basis of the said order, the local Tahasildar threatened the plaintiffs with dispossession. In that background,. the plaintiffs had to file the suit. Defendant, State of West Bengal contested the suit on a written statement contending, inter alia, that the present suit is barred under section 14x of West Bengal Land Reforms Act and denied the allegation that the deed of gift in favour of Kashiswari was mere a paper transaction and the same was never acted upon and that the said Kashiswari on the basis of the said deed only became a mere name lender. The learned Munsif in his judgment held that section 14x of the West Bengal Land Reforms Act created an expressed bar to the Civil Court to decide any dispute coming within Chapter II (B) of the West Bengal Land Reforms Act, which was to be decided by the R. O. But at the same time, he found that the Civil Court had the competence to examine the basis of acts upon which the authority assumed jurisdiction and found that the notice of section 14t was not served upon the raiyat Kashiswari and therefore, there was a violation of natural justice and thereafter he entered into the question and deciding that the order of vesting was wrong and decreed the suit. In appeal, the learned first appellate Court found that the plaintiff/respondents were well aware of the order of vesting and that in connection with the proceeding initiated by the R. O. , such Court found that Gour Prasad Dutta one of the respondents before him appeared and prayed for time to contest the case before such authority. In that background, he came to a clear finding that it could not be said that the respondents were not served with a notice of the proceeding under section 14t by the R. O. The learned appellate Court below also pointed out the apparent contradiction in the plaintiffs case by observing that the trial Court h






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