Judgment

AYYANGAR, J. : The State of Biha is the appellant in this appeal which comes before us on a certificate granted by the High Court of Patna under Art. 133(1) (c) of the Constitution.

2. The principle point of law raised for decision in the appeal is whether a State is liable to be proceeded against under O. 39, R. 2(3) of the Code of Civil Procedure, when it wilfully disobeys an order of temporary injunction passes economic against it.

3. There is little controversy regarding the facts, but they have to be set out to appreciate some of the matters debated before us.

4. The Bihar Land Reforms Act, 1950 (which we shall refer to, as the Act) which provided for the transference to the State of the interest of proprietors and tenure-holders in estates within the State, received the assent of the President on September 11, 1950 and was published in the Bihar Gazettee on September 25, 1950. Thereupon Rani Sonabati Kumari the respondent, who was the proprietres of the Ghatwali Estate of Handwa situated within the State instituted against the State of Bihar, in the Court of the Subordinate Judge. Dumka on the 20th November 1950, Title Suit 40 of 1950, inter alia a declaration that the A