IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA CWJC No.13980 of 2002 Krishna Nandan Rai, son of Late Ram Charitra Rai, village and PS Matihani, District Begusarai – petitioner. Vs. 1. The State of Bihar, 2. The Collector, Begusarai. 3. The Dy. Collector Land Reforms, Begusarai. 4. The Anchal Adhikari, Matihani, Begusarai. 5. Smt. Dineshwari Sharma, wife of Late Bishwanath Singh Sharma, resident of Narrakh Kothi, PS Begusarai Town, Dist. Begusarai – Respondents. 6 2.8.2010 CWJC No. 13610/2002 was filed on behalf of Bisundeo Rai @ Kari Rai and others which was disposed of on 20.12.2002. The petitioners of the aforesaid case had filed an objection against inclusion of certain lands in the land ceiling proceeding against Smt. Dineshwari Sharma. The Collector had rejected the application on the ground that the provisions of section 37 of the Act was deleted by Ordinance No. 20/1995. This court in view of the judgment reported in 1996 (1) PLJR 256 has held that notwithstanding the Ordinance No. 20/1995 all petitions filed under section 37 of the Act which were pending on the date of coming into force of the ordinance were required to be disposed of on merits, in terms of the then existing provisions of section 37 of the Act. The matter was remanded to the Collector to hear the application under section 37 of the Act. It was also directed that the petitioner should not be forcibly dispossessed from the disputed land. The present writ petition has been filed by the purchaser from Parinath Singh Sharma, who is said to be the brother of husband of Smt. Dineshwari Sharma. The submission on behalf of the petitioner is that his lands have wrongly been clubbed with the lands 2 of Smt. Dineshwari Sharma as his vendor had separate lands and his lands have nothing to do with the lands of Smt. Sharma. On behalf of the State a counter affidavit has been filed stating that Misc. Case No. 77/1991 is pending before the Collector with regard to the application filed under section 37 of the Act. In that view of the matter, the petitioner may intervene in the said case and pray to be added as a party, as that would resolve the dispute regarding the question of acquisition of the land purchased by the petitioner. It is somewhat surprising that Misc. Case No. 77/1991 is pending even though there was an order as far back in 2002 to dispose of the application under section 37 of the Act within a period of two months. The Collector should at once call for the records and examine the reasons for the delay. Since great delay has already occurred, the Collector may require to issue notice to the parties that he intends to dispose of Misc. case pending under section 37 of the Land Ceiling Act. Since there is already an order of this court not to dispossess the petitioner in CWJC No. 13610/2002, the same order would be applicable in the case of the petitioner, in the event, he has not been dispossessed from the lands in question. This writ petition is disposed of with the aforesaid observations. haque (Sheema Ali Khan, J.)