In this petition arising out of proceedings under the U. P. Imposition of Ceiling on Land Holdings Act (hereinafter referred to as the Act), the only question involved is whether the sale-deeds executed by the major sons of the tenure-holder after 24th January, 1971 were liable to be ignored and not taken into account in determining the ceiling area applicable to the tenure-holder.

The sale-deeds in question were executed by the two sons of the tenure-holder on May 12, 1971, September7, 1971 and March 8, 1972 transferring the entire land recorded in their names. It was claimed that the tenure-holder was entitled to 2 additional hectares of land on account of the fact that he had two major sons who did not hold any land on the appointed date, that is, 8th June, 1973. The Ceiling Authorities rejected the claim on the reasoning that the transfer of land made after 24th, January 1971 was liable to be ignored as it had not been established that the sale-deeds were executed in good faith and for adequate consideration.

Sub-section (6) of Section 5 of the Act provides:

"in determining the ceiling area applicable to a tenure-holder, any transfer of land made after the twenty-