Civil Appeal No 903 of 1976
Appeal from the Judgment and Order dated the 15 7 1976 of the Orissa High Court in OJC No 698 of 1976
G Rath Advocate General Orissa RK Mehta for the Appellants
Vepa Parthasarthy and CS Rao for Respondents
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by KAILASAM J
This appeal is by the State of Orissa represented by the Secretary Revenue Department against the judgment of a Bench of the Orissa High Court on a cer tificate of fitness granted by it
The respondent herein is a land holder whose ceiling surplus was determined by the Revenue Officer under section 43 of the Orissa Land Reforms Act 1960 as amended by Act 13 of 1965 and subsequently by Act 29 of 1976
The Revenue Officer rejected the plea of the respondent that there was a partition between him and his sons and determined the surplus extent as 1208 standard acres
The respondent preferred an appeal before the Sub Divisional Officer and the Sub Divisional Officer confirmed the order of the Revenue Officer and dismissed the appeal Against the order of the appellate authority the respondent filed a revision before the Additional District Magistrate Gan jam
The Additional District Magistrate held that the appellate orders trader section 44 were final and that no revision lay to him
The respondent thereupon filed a petition under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution challenging the order of the Additional District Magistrate rejecting the revision petition
A Bench of the Orissa High Court by an order dated 15th July 1976 allowed the writ petition holding that the Additional District Magis trate had powers to revise the order of the appellate au thority passed under section 44 by virtue of the powers conferred on him under section 59 of the Act
The High Court came to this conclusion that a revision was entertain able tinder section 59 by the Additional District Magistrate even before the amendment introduced by Orissa Act 29 of 1976 the details of which will be referred to later
The only question that arises in this appeal is whether an order passed by the appellate authority under section 44 which has become 9 502 SCI77 558 final under section 442 is capable of revision by the Collector under section 59 before the amendment of the Act in 1976
Section 44 runs as follows  44
1 On the termination of the proceedings under Section 43 the Revenue Officer shall by order confirm the draft statement with such alterations or amendments as may have been made therein under the said Section
2 An appeal against the order of the Revenue Officer under sub section 1  con firming the statement if presented within thirty days from the date of the order shall lie to the prescribed authority and subject to the results of such appeal if any the orders of the Revenue Officer shall be final Under section 441 the Revenue Officer confirms the draft statement and under section 442 an appeal lies to the prescribed authority against the order under sub section 1 and subject to results of such appeal if any order of the Revenue Officer shall be final
Section 58 provides a right of appeal to any person aggrieved by an order passed under any of the sections enumerated in sub section
As the decision in this case will depend upon the construction that is put upon section 59 we extract section 591 and 2 in full
Revision 1  The Collector may revise any order passed in appeal by any officer below the rank of a Collector under this Act and the Board of Revenue may revise any order passed by the Collector under this Act and the period of limitation for such revision shall be as may be prescribed
2 For the purposes of sub section 1 the Collector or the Board of Revenue as the case may be may suo motu or on application of either party or any interested person call for and examine the record of any matter in respect of any proceedings under this Act as to the regularity of such proceedings or the correctness legality or propriety of any decision or order passed thereon and if in any case if appears that any such decision or order shall be modified annulled reversed or remitted for reconsideration the Collector or Board of Revenue as the case may be may consider accordingly
 Sub section  1  provides that the Collector may revise any order passed in appeal by any officer below the rank of a Collector under this Act
It also empowers the Board of Revenue to revise an order passed by the Collector under the Act
Sub section 2 enables the collector or the Board of Revenue suo motu or on the application of the party con cerned call for and examine the record in respect of any proceedings under the Act and modify annual reverse or remit for reconsideration such a decision to the lower authority
The section as if stands does not put any re striction on the power of revision by the Collector or the Board of Revenue for it states that the Collector or the Board of Revenue may revise any order passed under this Act which would 559 include an order passed under section 442
Again sub section 2 of section 59 provides that the Collector or the Board of Revenue may examine the record of any matter in respect of any proceedings under the Act which would include the proceedings under section 442
The submission of the learned counsel for the appellant is that the power of revision under section 59 is restricted to an appeal that is disposed of under section 58 and is not available against an order passed under section 442
The learned counsel very strongly relied on the wording of section 442 which provides that the order of the Revenue Officer shall be final subject to the result of an appeal provided under section 442 and therefore submits that no other relief is available to the aggrieved party
The learned counsel in contrast referred us to section 58 where the order of the lower authority is not stated to be final subject to the result of the appeal As no finality is provided for orders passed on appeal under section 58 the submission was that a revision under section 59 is available for those orders but orders passed under section 442 are final and they are not subject to revision under section 59
There is no doubt that section 441 provides that the order of the Revenue Officer shall be final subject to the result of an appeal under section 442 while no such final ity is mentioned in the case of an appeal under section 58
But this cannot conclude the matter for the powers of revi sion conferred under section 59 are very wide and empowers the Collector or the Board of Revenue to revise any order passed under this Act and sub section 2 empowers the Collector and the Board of Revenue to set aside any irregu larity in respect of any proceedings under this Act
As the power of revision is not restricted we are unable to accept the contention of the learned counsel that because of the wording of section 442 providing
that the order of the Revenue Officer subject to the result of the appeal would be final bars the revisionary jurisdiction of the Collector and the Board of Revenue as provided under section 59
We do not find any conflict between the two sections and the provision as to finality under section 442 is provided for so that in the absence of the aggrieved party proceeding further in the matter the consequences of the vesting of surplus lands under section 45 the preparation of the Compensation Assessment Roll the settlement of surplus lands etc can be proceeded with
The learned counsel drew our attention to the amendment to the Orissa Act by Act 29 of 1976
The Orissa Land Reforms 2nd Amendment Act  1975 and submitted that the amendments introduced to section 44 45 and 59 would make it dear that the legislature understood that the sections as they stood before the amendment did not enable the Collector to exercise revisional jurisdiction over orders passed by the appellate authority under section 442 of the Act
By the amending Act
section 44 sub sections 2 and 3 are amended
Sub section 2 of section 44 as it originally stood provided that subject to the result of such appeal if any the orders of the Revenue Officer shall be final and sub section 3 provided that the draft statement as con firmed or as modified in appeal shall be final and con 560 clusive
By the amendment sub section 2 is recast and sub section 3 provides that the draft statement as con firmed or as modified in appeal on revision shall be final and conclusive
The amendment specifically provides for a revision
The amended sub section 1 of section 59 pro vides that on an application by party aggrieved by any order passed in an appeal under any provision of this Act filed within the prescribed period the prescribed authority may revise such order
Though the amendment to section 443 makes it clear that a right to revision is provided for orders passed under section 442 we do not think that this could mean that section 442 as it originally stood did not provide for power of revision to the Collector under section 59
In our opinion amendment does not make any difference
The learned counsel for the appellant submitted that section 443 is in the nature of a special provision and should be construed as an exception to section 59 on the principle of harmonious construction
In support of this plea the learned counsel referred to the decision in The JK Cotton Spinning  Weaving Mills Co Ltd vs State of UP  Ors
In construing the provisions of clause 5a and clause 23 of the GO concerned this Court held that the rule of harmonious construction should be applied and in applying the rule the court will have to remember that to harmonise is not to destroy and that in interpreting the statutes the court always presumes that the legislature inserted every part thereof for a purpose and the legisla tive intention is that every part of the statute should have effect and a construction which defeats the intention of the rule making authority must be avoided
This decision does not help the appellant for in our view in applying the rule of harmonious construction with a view to give effect to the intention othe legislature the court will not be justified in putting a construction which would restrict the revisionary jurisdiction of the Collector and the Board of Revenue
It may be noted that the Act is of exproprietory nature and the determination of the excess lands is done by the Revenue Officer and on appeal by the Revenue Divisional Officer
In such circumstances it is only 13roper to presume that the legislature itended that any error or irregularity should
be rectified by higher authorities like the Collector and the Board of Revenue
In our view it will be in conformity with the intention of the legislature to hold that section 59 confers a power of revision of an order passed under section 442 of the Act
The learned counsel next referred to a decision of this Court in The Bengal Immunity Company Limited vs The State of Bihar and Others2 The rule of construction is stated at p 791 in the following terms by Venkatarama Ayyar J speaking for the Court  It is a cardinal rule of construction that when there are in a Statute two provi sions which are in conflict with each other such that both of them cannot stand they should if possible
be so interpreted that effect can be given to both and that a con struction which renders either of them inoper ative and useless should not be adopted except in the last resort
This is what is known as the rule of harmonious construction
One application of this rule is that when there 561 is a law generally dealing with a subject and another dealing particularly with one of the topics comprised therein the general law is to be construed as yielding to the special in respect of the matters comprised therein
 Construing section 59 as conferring a power of revision against an order passed under section 442 is not in any way contrary to the principle laid down in the above deci sion
We agree with the view taken by the Orissa High Court that the language of section 591 is wide enough to enable the Collector to revise any order including an appellate order under section 44 of the Act
In the result the appeal is dismissed with costs
SR Appeal dismissed


Summary:
Under Section 43 of the Orissa Land Reforms Act the Revenue Officer determines the ceiling surplus and on the termination of the proceedings thereunder the Revenue Officer us 441 confirms the draft statement us 442 an appeal lies to the prescribed authority against the order under sub section 1 and subject to results of such appeal if any order of the Revenue Officer shall be final
Sec tion 58 provides a right of appeal to any person aggrieved by an order passed under any of the Sections enumerated in subsection 1
Sub section 1 of section 59 provides that the Collector may revise any order passed in appeal by any officer below the rank of a Collector under this Act
Section 591 also empowers the Board of Revenue to revise any order passed by the Collector
Sub section 2 enables the Collector or the Board of Revenue sue motu or on the application of the party concerned call for and examine the record in respect of any proceedings under the Act and modify annual reverse or remit for reconsideration
In the proceedings us 38 of the Act the plea of the respondent landlord that there was a partition between him and his sons was rejected by the Revenue Officer who deter mined the surplus extent as 1208 standard acres
The appeal preferred before the Sub Divisional Officer having failed the respondent filed a revision before the Additional District Magistrate
The Additional Magistrate held that the appellate orders us 44 are final and that no revision lay to him
The writ petition filed against this order filed by the respondent was allowed by the Orissa High Court by its order dated 15 7 1976 holding that the Additional Magistrate had powers to revise an order of the appellate authority passed us 44 by virtue of the powers conferred on him under section 59of the Act
Dismissing the appeal by certificate the Court HELD i The language of section 591 of the Orissa Land Reforms Act is wide enough to enable the Collector to revise any order including an appellate order under section 44 of the Act
561 B ii In applying the rule of harmonious construction with a view to give effect to the intention of the legisla ture the court will not be justified in putting a construc tion which would restrict the revisionary jurisdiction of the Collector and the Board of Revenue
560E In the instant case the Act is of expropratory nature and the determination of the excess lands is done by the Revenue Officer
The legislature intended that any error or irregularity should be rectified by higher authorities like the Collector and the Board of Revenue
560E J K Cotton Spinning  Weaving Mills Co Ltd vs State of UP  Ors  held not applicable
The Bengal Immunity Company Ltd vs The State of Bihar  Ors
1955 2 SC R 603 referred to
iii It cannot be said that there is any conflict between section 441 and 8
58 inasmuch as section 441 provides that the order of the Revenue Officer shall be final sub ject to the result of appeal us 442 while no such final ity 557 is mentioned in the case of an appeal us 58
The provision as to finality us 442 is provided for so that in the absence of the aggrieved party proceeding further in the matter the consequences of the vesting of surplus lands us 45 the preparation of the Compensation Assessment Roll the settlement of surplus lands etc can be proceeded with
559 D F iv The amendment to 8
443 by the Amendment Act of 1975 making it clear that a right to revision is provided for orders passed us 442 does not make any difference
The amendment could not mean that section 442 as it originally stood did not provide for power of revision to the Collec tor  us 59
560 A B