Wanchoo, C. J.— This is an application under Art. 226 of the Constitution by Nand Kishore for a writ, direction or order against the Board of Revenue, Rajasthan. One Chhagan Lal has also been made a party. No one has, however, appeared on behalf of the opposite parties to oppose the application.

2. The facts, which have led to this application, are these. The applicant is a resident of village Shyampura. His father Ramchandra was a Patel or Lumberdar of the village, which lies now in the District of Kotah. Ram Chandra was removed from Patelship, and Anandilal, father of Chhagan Lal, opposite party, was appointed in his place some years ago. When Anandilal died, the question of appointing a Patel in his place arose, and there were two claimants, namely, Chhagan Lal opposite party and Nand Kishore applicant. The matter was eventually decided by the Revenue Commissioner, Kotah, on the 22nd of June, 1949, and he appointed both, the applicant and the opposite party, as Patels of the village, one-fourth of the village being under the Patelship of Nand Kishore and three-fourths under the Patelship of Chhagan Lal. Thereafter there was an appeal to the Board of Revenue of former Rajasthan on the 9th of August, 1949, by Chhagan Lal. This appeal came to the Board of Revenue of the present State of Rajasthan when it was formed on the 1st of November, 1949. The appeal was once decided by the Board, but there was a writ application to this Court, and the decision of the Board was set aside, and the case sent back for fresh decision. Eventually the Board of Revenue decided the appeal on the 12th of February, 1954, and set aside that part of the order of the Revenue Commissioner by which the applicant was appointed Patel of one-fourh of the village, and directed that Chhaganlal, opposite party, be the sole Patel for the whole village. The present application is against this order of the Board, and the main contention of the applicant is that the Board had no jurisdiction to interfere with the order of the Revenue Commissioner of Kotah, dated 22nd June, 1949. The point was raised before the Board also, but was overruled by it.

3. In order to decide the question of jurisdiction of the Board, we have to look to the state of the law as it was on the 22nd of June, 1949, when the order of the Revenue Commissioner was passed. The present State of Rajasthan had been formed by then, but rest of the laws, which were in force in the former State of Rajasthan, were still continuing by vitrtue of Ordinance No. I of 1949. The former Rajasthan State had promulgated Ordinance No. XX of 1949, for purposes of Revenue Administration, and sec. 4 of that Ordinance gave power to the Government, by orders or rulers published in the official gazette, to provide, for the purpose of the revenue administration, for creation or appointment of officers and authorities, and conferment of powers and imposition of duties on them ; for laying down the procedure of revenue officers and authorities ; for making provisions for collection and assessment of land revenue and matters connected therewith ; and for making such provisions as the Government thought fit so long as they were connected with land revenue. Sec. 5 of the Ordinance also provided that orders, rules and other provisions made by the Government under sec. 4 would have effect as if enacted in the Ordinance. In pursuance of the powers conferred by sec 4 of the Ordinance, the Government of former Rajasthan issued a notification No. 6952 on the 17th of August, 1948. Item 76 of this notification provides for the appointment of Patels or Lumberdars. We are concerned in this case with the District of Kotah, and in the "remarks" column it is provided that in the District of Kotah the Commissioner would have full powers in this matter. It may be mentioned that before the creation of the State of former Rajasthan this village was in the former Kotah State, and under Circular No. 11, dated 1st of December, 1922, of the former

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