AIR 1988 PATNA 160 ::(1987) BLJ 632 ::1987 BLJR 426 ::1987 BBCJ 157

Patna High Court

Hon'ble Judge(s): S. S. Sandhawalia , C.J. AND Ashwini Kumar Sinha , J

Bihar Land Reforms (Fixation of Ceiling Area and Acquisition of Surplus Land) Act (12 of 1962) , S.43, S.16(3)— Suits of purely civil nature are not barred by S.43 - Collusive sale of plaintiff's land by his benamidar to defendant - Application for pre-emption under S.16(3) by owner of adjoining land Suit by plaintiff for declaration of title and for declaration of sale deed as void - Suit is maintainable in civil Court - S.43 is no bar. S.43 indicates that a suit which is purely of a civil nature involving questions of title and possession is not barred under S.43. Only because one of the many questions involved in the suit may have been raised before the revenue court it cannot be said that S.43 bars the maintainability of the suit. A civil court is quite competent to deal with a case where the decision of the Board of Revenue, the appellate authority or the Collector was without jurisdiction or the orders passed by such authorities were not passed under the Act. S.43 does not operate as a bar against the maintainability of a suit for declaring that the order passed by the revenue authorities was void ab initio. It is true that the revenue Court is competent to decide the question of benami raised before it. A question of benami before the revenue Court in the application for pre-emption under S.16(3) is only an ancillary question which may be gone into if....