Supreme Court of India
DOLHIN PADHARO DEVIversusINDRAJEET TIWARY & ANR
- Citation
- 2008 INSC 126
- Decided
- 31 January 2008
- Disposal
- Dismissed
- Bench
- ARIJIT PASAYAT
Holding
The suit is barred under Section 43 of the Act and the appeals are dismissed.
Summary
The appellant, a purchaser, challenged orders of the ceiling authorities under the Bihar Land Reforms (Fixation of Ceiling Area and Acquisition of Surplus Land) Act, 1961, first through writ petitions raising the jurisdiction of those authorities, which were dismissed by the High Court. He then filed a title suit seeking a declaration that the ceiling orders were without jurisdiction. The respondent argued that the suit was barred by Section 43 of the Act, which excludes civil courts from dealing with matters to be decided by the Board of Revenue, appellate authority, or Collector. The Supreme Court held that when the jurisdiction of the authority is already settled and the issue was previously decided in writ proceedings, the bar under Section 43 applies, rendering the suit inadmissible. Consequently, the appeals were dismissed. The Court reiterated that a statutory bar cannot operate where the civil court must decide a jurisdictional defect that would render the impugned order a nullity, but that was not the case here.
Issues considered
- Whether Section 43 of the Bihar Land Reforms (Fixation of Ceiling Area and Acquisition of Surplus Land) Act, 1961 bars a civil suit challenging the jurisdiction of ceiling authorities.
- Whether a civil court can entertain a suit that goes to the root of the matter and could declare the order a nullity despite the statutory exclusion.
Legislation cited
Subjects
jurisdictioncivil courtstatutory barland reformsceiling actSection 43title suitpre-emption
Judgment
~
[2008) 2 S.C.R. 241
DOLHIN PADHARO DEVI A
II.
INDRAJEET TIWARY & ANR.
(Civil Appeal Nos. 1609-10 of 2001)
JANUARY 31, 2008 g,
[DR. ARIJIT PASAYAT AND P. SATHASIVAM, JJ.]
~
.,
'
Bihar Land Reforms (Fixation of Ceiling Area and
Acquisition of Surplus Land) Act, 1961 - s. 43 - Ceiling
proceedings - challenged in writ petition questioning c
jurisdiction of the authorities concerned - Dismissal of -
Subsequent suit for declaration that order of ceiling authorities
was without jurisdiction - Maintainability of the suit - Held: In
view of the fact that the ceiling authorities had the jurisdiction
to decide the dispute raised and the plea of jurisdiction was
D
discussed in earlier writ petition, the suit is barred in terms of
s. 43.
.,..~
Jurisdiction - Of civil court - Exclusion of - By statutory
provision - held: Such bar cannot operate in cases where the
plea raised before civil court goes to the root of the matter and E
if upheld lead to conclude the impugned.order a nullity.
Ceiling court passed an order in respect of
applications u/s 16 (3) of Bihar Land Reforms (Fixation of
Ceiling Area and Acquisition of Surplus Land) Act, 1961.
..... The same was unsuccessfully challenged by the F
appellant, in writ petition before High Court wherein issue
relating to jurisdiction of the authorities under the Act was
also raised. Thereafter, the appellant filed a Title Suit for
declaration that the orders passed by the Ceiling Court
were without jurisdiction and were not binding on the G
' ~ appellant (purchaser). Respondent No.1-defendant filed
objection regarding maintainability of the suit in view of
the bar in terms of s. 43 of the Act. The objection was
rejected. In Civil Revision, High Court allowed the
241 H
.--L
242 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2008] 2 S. C.R.
A objection. Review against the order of High Court was
also dismissed. Hence the present appeals.
Dismissing the appeals, the Court
HELD: 1. The jurisdiction of the civil appeal to deal
B with civil right can be .excluded by legislature, but the
statutory provision in this regard must be express and
clear. The bar created under the relevant provisions of a ....
statute excluding the jurisdiction of the civil court cannot
·'
however operate in cases where the plea raised before
c the civil court goes to the root of the matter and could, if
upheld, lead to the conclusion that the impugned order is
a nullity. If the proceedings of the orders passed are
completely without jurisdiction then the bar to the
maintainability to the suit in the ordinary civil court would
not apply. [Para 6] [245-8, C, D]
D
2. The High Court noted that a plain reading of
Section 43 of Bihar Land Reforms (Fixation of Ceiling Area
~~
and Acquisition of Surplus Land) Act, 1961 shows that
while a suit is not maintainable against an order passed
E under the Act, the jurisdiction of the authority passing such
order can be decided by a civil court. Since the High Court
observed that it is not in dispute that the authorities who
passed the order in the ceiling cases and/ or appeal
petitions had such jurisdiction to decide the dispute raised
F under s. 16(3) of the Ceiling Act and since the issue relating .)..
to such jurisdiction was also raised by the plaintiff in his
earlier writ petitions, which were rejected by this court~
the High Court was right in holding that the title suit filed
by the present appellant was not maintainable in terms of
s.43 of the Act. [Para's 6 and 7] [245-E, F, G; 246-A]
G
Ram Swarup and Ors. v. Shikar Chand and Anr. AIR 1966 ,.. ,
SC 893 - relied on.
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Civil Appeal Nos.
1609-10 of 2001.
H
DOLHIN PADHARO DEVI v. INDRAJEET TIWARY 243
& ANR. [PASAYAT, J.]
From the final Order and 'Judgment dated 28.4.1997 and A
11.12.1998 of the High Court of Judicature at Patna in Civil
Revision No. 1297/1993 and Civil Review No. 155/1997
respectively.
Akhilesh Kumar Pandey, Sudhanshu Saran and Shefali
Jain for the Appellant.
8
Manish Mohan, Umang Shankar, Pankaj Prakash,
Sandeep Chaturvedi and Ugra Shankar Prasad for the
Respondents.
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by c
Dr. ARIJIT PASAYAT, J. 1. Challenge in these appeals is
to the judgment rendered by a learned Single Judge of the Patna
High Court dismissing the Civil Revision filed and the order in
the Review Petition. Before the High Court challenge was to D
the order passed by learned Munsif, Bikramganj in T.S. No. 162
· of 1992 by which the Objection Petition, filed by the defendant-
1't-"" Petitioner before the High Court viz. respondent No.1 in the
present appeal, was rejected. His stand was that in view of
Section 43 of the Bihar Land Reforms (Fixation of Ceiling Area
and Acquisition of Surplus Land) Act, 1961 (in short the 'Act') E
the suit was incompetent.
2. Factual position in a nutshell is as follows:
Two pre-emption applications under Section 16(3) of the
Act were filed by the pre-emptier defendant Respondent No.1, F
herein. They were registered as Ceiling Case Nos. 19 and 20
of 1973. The plaintiff i.e. purchaser filed objection. The Deputy
Commissioner of Lands Reforms, Sasaram rejected both the ·
Petitions. Thereafter the appeals bearing Nos. 49of1974 and
52 .of 1975 were filed which were allowed by learned Additional G
Collector. Purchaser-plaintiff, the appellant herein, challenged
the same up to the High Court in CWJC Nos. 5970 and 5971 of
1983 and raised an issue relating to jurisdiction of the Authorities
under the Act. The High Court by a common order and judgment
dated 11th October, 1991 dismissed the writ petitions. After H
244 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2008] 2 S.C.R.
A dismissal of the two writ petitions, the purchaser-plaintiff
(appellant herein) filed Title Suit No. 162of1992 in the Court of
Munsif, Bikramganj for declaration that the orders passed by
the Ceiling Court in Ceiling Ca~e Nos. 19 & 20 of 1973 were
without jurisdiction and r:iot binding on the purchaser. The present
B respondent No. 1 appeared and filed a petition before the Court
below relating to maintainability of the suit. It was pointed out
that the said suit was barred in terms of Section 43 of the Act
and the Court below had no jurisdiction to entertain the said
suit, against an order passed under the Act. Learned Munsif,
c after hearing the parties, rejected the application and therefore
the Civil Revision was filed. The defendant respondent No.1 in
the present appeal, relied on a decision of the High Court in
the case of Nand Kishore Singh v. Satya Narain Singh &
Ors. (AIR 1978 Patna 315). The High Court after considering
o the ratio of the said decision and the factual position held
that the question relating to jurisdiction of the authorities
under the Act ·was specifically in issue in the writ petitions.
By judgment dated 11th October, 1991, the writ petitions were
dismissed. Therefore it was held that the title suit filed by the
E present appellant was not maintainable in terms of Section
43 of the Act.
3. In support of the appeals, learned counsel for the
appellant submitted that the view of the High Court is clearly
wrong and the reasoning of the High Court cannot be
F maintained.
4. Learned counsel for the respondents on the other hand
supported the impugned order of the High Court.
5. Section 43 of the Act reads as follows:
G
"43. Bar of jurisdiction of Civil Court :
(1) Save and except as provided in this Act, no civil
Court shall have jurisdiction to settle, decide or deal
with any question which is by or under this Act,
H
j
...,.~ ~+- . DOLHIN PADHARO DEVI v. INDRAJEET TIWARY 245
& ANR. [PASAYAT, J.]
required to be settled, decided or dealt with by the A
Board of Revenue (xx xx), the appellate authority or
the Collector.
(2) No order of the Board of Revenue, (x x x x) the
appellate authority or the Collector made, under this B
Act, shall be questioned in any court."
6. It is firmly established that the jurisdiction of the civil
appeal to deal with civil right can be excluded by legislature, but
the statutory provision in this regard must be express and clear.
The bar created under the relevant provisions of a Statute c
excluding the jurisdiction of the Civil Court cannot however
operate in cases where the plea raised before the Civil Court
goes to the root of the matter and could, itupheld, lead to the
conclusion that the impugned order is a nullity. This position was
highlighted by this Court in Ram Swarup and Ors. v. Shikar
0
Chand. & Anr. [AIR 1966 SC 893). If the proceedings of the
orders passed therein are completely without jurisdiction then
the bar to the maintainability to the suit in the ordinary civil
court would not apply. The High Court noted that a plain
reading of Section 43 of the Act shows that while a suit is not
maintainable against an order passed under the Act, the E
jurisdiction of the authority passing such order can be
decided by a Civil Court. The following observations of the
High Court are relevant: ·
"9. In the present case, it is not in dispute that the S.B.L.R. F
and/or the Additional Collector, who passed the order in
the ceiling cases and/ or appeal petitions had such
jurisdiction to decide the dispute raised under Section
16(3) of the Ceiling Act.
10. The issue relating to such jurisdiction was also raised G
by the plaintiff-opposite party in his earlier writ petitions,
which were rejected by this court.
7. In view of the aforesaid position, the High Court held
that the title suit filed by the present appellant was not H
246 SUPREME COURT REPORTS (2008] 2 S.C.R.
A maintainable in terms of Section 43 of the Act.
--r--
8. In view of what has been stated by this court in Ram
Swaroop's case (supra) and the observations of the High Court
at paragraphs 9 & 10 quoted above, the inevitable conclusion
is that the appeals are without merit and deserve dismissal
B which we direct.
K.K.T. Appeals dismissed. j
Search Indian case law
Ask in plain English, not just keywords. 25,000 AI words free, no card.
Try "jurisdiction"Sign in to search