JUDGMENT :

Soumen Sen, J.

1. What appears to be an otherwise simple proposition of law has been made to look complex and difficult.

2. The proposition of law that we are required to decide in this petition is whether West Bengal Land Reforms Tribunal constituted under Section 4 of the West Bengal Land Reforms and Tenancy Tribunal Act 1997 (in short ‘Act of 1997’) has the jurisdiction to extend time beyond the period of 30 days from an order passed by the Collector under Section 6 of the West Bengal Thika Tenancy (Acquisition and Regulation) Act, 2001 (in short ‘Act of 2001’). At the first blush the argument advanced by the writ petitioner appeared to be attractive since the tribunal is a creature of statute not a court and hence the provision of Limitation Act ordinarily would not apply to a tribunal unless such power is specifically conferred by the statute creating such tribunal.

3. The dispute relates to premises No. 20 Ganesh Chandra Avenue Kolkata-700013 (hereinafter referred to as the ‘subject property’). The respondent no.17 since deceased being the predecessor of the writ petitioner and the then owner of the subject property filed Thika Tenancy case no.3-D of 1962 for eviction of Thika Tenant Oriental Accessories Private Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as ‘Oriental’) under the Calcutta Thika Tenancy Act, 1949. In the said proceeding on 20th December, 1963 a final order of ejectment was passed by the appropriate authority. In a proceeding initiated for fixation of the amount of compensation being Misc. Case no. 64 of 2006, the learned Thika Controller passed an order on 2nd May, 2007 holding that the respondent no.17 was entitled to recover possession in terms of the final order dated 20th December, 1963.

4. The petitioner purchased the subject property on 18th May, 2007 from the respondent no.17. On 17th April, 2008 the respondent nos.1 to 11 filed O.A. No.1211 of 2008 purporting to challenge the said order dated 2nd May, 2007 passed in Misc. Case no.64 of 2006. The said appeal was filed before the WBLRTT after the lapse of 318 days. The respondent nos.1 and 2 filed an application being M.A no.340 of 2008 praying for condonation of delay in filing O.A. no.1211 of 2008 assailing the order dated 2nd May, 2007 passed by the Controller in the Thika Tenancy Misc. Case no.64 of 2006. There was a delay of about 318 days. The Learned Tribunal being satisfied with the explanation offered for the delay allowed the application on 21st December, 2012. During the pendency of the original application before the WBLRTT a writ petition was filed by the present writ petitioner being WPLRT no.55 of 2013 before a Division Bench assailing the jurisdiction of the Tribunal to condone the delay. A co-ordinate bench presided over by Justice Girish Chandra Gupta who later on became the Chief Justice of the High Court at Calcutta disposed of the appeal on March, 8, 2013 with the following observations:

“We have considered the rival submissions advanced by the learned advocates appearing before us. There can be no denial of the fact that a substantive right to prefer an appeal has been provided under section 12 of the West Bengal Thika Tenancy (Acquisition and Regulation) Act, 2001, and the period of limitation provided therein is thirty (30) days. We can also agree that the 1997 Act, was impliedly over-ridden by the legislature as regards the days within which the appeal has to be preferred. But the same cannot be said as regards the competence to condone the delay. The legislature was conscious of the fact that under the West Bengal Land Reforms and Tenancy Tribunal Act, 1997, the Tribunal has been given power to condone the delay. If the legislature intended to take away that power, specific provision in that regard would have been made. The legislature did not do any such thing. It is, therefore, not a case where the doctrine of merger can be applied. There can be a merger where there are two provisions governing one field. In that case it could be