( 1 ) ON a reference made by two of us, sitting in a Division Bench, the following question has come up for the opinion of this Bench :"whether the State Government is entitled to furnish information to the Board of Revenue to act suo motu under Section 42 of M. P. Ceiling on Agricultural Holdings Act, 1960 though the State had not appealed against the impugned order and whether the Board was competent to exercise power suo motu on application filed by the State Government furnishing relevant information for exercise of that power?"

( 2 ) IT may be appropriate to state briefly the facts giving rise to this reference. An order was passed on 31-12-1975 by the Commissioner, Gwalior Division, acting as the "competent Authority" under the Madhya Pradesh Ceiling on Agricultural Holdings Act, 1960, for short, the 'act'. The order was passed under Section 11 (6) of the Act holding that the "holder" (land-holder) had no surplus land as could attract the provisions of Section 12 for those lands to vest in the State in accordance with the provisions thereof. It was found by him that the "family" held 345. 64 acres of land of which 113. 87 acres were in possession of occupancy t