The Revenue Officer does not have the jurisdiction to decide the question of title to land.

In this Rule, the initiation of a proceeding under S. 14T(3A) of the West Bengal Land Reforms Act in Case No. 356/Sadar/MKD/76 and the adjudication made therein are under challenge.

2. The petitioner's case is that the petitioner's father Late Chand Md. Sarkar was the owner in possession of agricultural lands of different categories and before the vesting of his estate under the West Bengal Estates Acquisition Act, the said Chand Md. had died leaving behind him the petitioner his brother Amiruddin Ahmed and sisters namely Anuara Khatun and Meher Afjan and the mother Rahima Khatun as his heirs and legal representatives and the said persons inherited the properties left by the said Chand Md, Under the West Bengal Estates Acquisition Act, the petitioner, and the said other heirs were Raiyats under the Act and they were entitled to retain the said lands independently and, as a matter of fact, each of them had retained lands upto 25 acres, namely, up to the prescribed ceiling under S. 6(1) of the said Act by filing returns in Form 'B'. In the record of fights finally published under the said Act, the names of the petitioner and the said persons were also recorded. Subsequently, the mother of the petitioner Rahima Khatun died on 16th September, 1969 and the petitioner and his brothers and sisters inherited the said properties. The legal heirs of the said Chand Md. had also partitioned the properties amongst them selves by a registered deed of partition in the year 1959 and in respect of the distinct portion allotted to the heirs, each of the said heirs became owners to the extent of 16 annas. The petitioner's further case is that the said Chand Md. was the second husband of the said Rahima Khatun and the said Rahima Khatun had a daughter named Rahatunnesha by her first husband namely Asiruddin Sarkar. The petitioner contends that the said Rahima Khatun was in need of money and intended to transfer her property and Tamijuddin Ahmed, Abdus Sattar and Md. Anesh Ali purchased the said property and paid the consideration money to the said Rahima Khatun but unfortunately before the deeds were registered the said Rahima Khatun had died and the said deeds were thereafter registered on 16th October, 1969. The aforesaid purchasers of the interest of the said Rahima Khatun were in no way related to the said Rahima Khatun and/or the petitioner. The petitioner contends that the West Bengal Land Reforms Act was amended and Chapter IIB consisting of the provisions of Ss. 14J to 14Y was inserted with retrospective effect from February 15, 1971. It is provided under the provisions of S. 14L of the said amended West Bengal Land Reforms Act, that "on and from the commencement of the provisions of this Chapter, no raiyat shall be entitled to own, in the aggregate, any land in excess of the ceiling area applicable to him under S. 14M". The petitioner contends that in view of the death of the said Rahima Khatun before the enforcement of the said amending Act with effect from 5th February, 1971, her heirs and legal representatives namely the petitioner, his brothers and sisters became independent raiyats and were entitled to separate ceiling under the provisions of the Land Reforms Act.

3. The petitioner as a matter of fact, had submitted a return under Form 7A under the Land Reforms Rules in respect of his agricultural lands and in a proceeding initiated under the said Act, the said Return was accepted by the concerned authorities. The said proceeding under S. 14T was numbered as Case No. 356/Sadar/MKD/76. The order-sheet of the said proceeding has been annexed to the writ petition being Annexure 'A'. After the disposal of the said proceeding under S. 14T, the petitioner received a Notice dated 6th March, 1978 under S. 57 read with S. 14T(3A). It was stated in the said Notice that on further scrutiny of the Return submitted by the petitioner in Form 7A, it was found that the petitioner had some more lands in several khatians and as such there should b