Case: State of Bihar Vs. Shri K.M. Zuberi and Others

(f) forty-five acres equivalent to 18.211 hectares of hilly, sandy, forest land, even land perennially submerged under water or other kind of land none of which yields paddy, rabi or cash crops (hereinafter referred to as class VI land)" 7. Section 5 puts an embargo for any family to hold land in excess of the ceiling area except provided under the Act. "5. No person to hold land in excess of the ceiling area.--(l)(i) It shall not be lawful for any family to hold, except otherwise provided under this Act, land In excess of the ceiling area. Explanation.-- All lands own ed or held individually by the members of a family or jointly by some or all of the members of such family shall be deemed to be owned or held by the family.(ii) No land holder holding land in excess of the ceiling area shall from the commencement of the Bihar Land Reforms (Fixation of Ceiling Area and Acquisition of Surplus Land) (Amendment) Act, 1972 and till the publication of notification under Section 1 5, transfer any land held by him except with the previous permission in writing of the Collector, who may refuse to give such permission if he is satisfied for the reasons to be recorded in writing that the transfer is proposed to be made with a mala fide intention of defeating the object of this Act: Provided that the transfer of any land made, with the previous permission of the Collector, shall be deemed to have been made from within the ceiling area admissible to the land-holder: Provided also that the transfer of any land beyond the ceiling area admissible to the land-holder shall be deemed to have been made with the object of defeating the provisions of the Act. (iii) Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in any judgment. decree or order of any court or authority, the Collector shall have power to make enquiries in respect of any transfer of land by a land-holder whether by a registered instrument or otherwise made after the 22nd day of October 1959 and if he is satisfied that such transfer was made with the object of defeating, or in contravention of the provisions of this Act or for retaining, benami or farzi land in excess of the ceiling area, the Collector may after giving reasonable notice to the parties concerned to appear and be heard, annul such transfer and thereupon the land shall be deemed to be held by the transferor for the purposes of determining the ceiling area he may hold under this section. (iv) Land donated by a land-holder under the Bihar Bhoodan Yagna Act, 1954 (Bihar Act XXII of 1954), to the extent it subsequently vests in the Bhoodan Yagna Committee under the said Act before the date of the final publication of draft statement under Section 11 of this Act, shall not be taken into account in determining the area he may retain under this section."Explanati on to Section 5(1) connotes that the land owned or held individually by the members of the family or jointly shall be deemed to be held or owned by the family. 8. Section 6 provides for issuance of the public notice calling upon the land-holders of the State who hold land in excess of the ceiling area to submit a return to the Collector of the District where they originally reside indicating the particulars as mentioned therein. 9. Section 7 authorizes the Collector to obtain necessary information if a ceiling surplus holder fails to submit return under Section 6 with regard to area held by such surplus holder. 10. Section 10 is the provision for preparation of a draft statement on the basis of information received from the land-holder. 11. Section 11 provides for publication of the draft statement after disposing all the claims or objections preferred by the land-holder. 12. Section 15 confers power on the State Government and the Collector o f the District to acquire surplus land in the hands of the surplus holder. We are not concerned with the other provisions of the Act for adjudicating the point in issue. An analysis of the aforesaid provisions unequivocally indicate that under the Act the ceiling area is required to be determined of a "family" as defined in Section 2(ee) and. therefore, the land-holder of whose ceiling is going to be determined may be either a person. his or her spouse, and minor children. A major child whether belonging to a Hindu family or a Mohammedan or Christian is not conceived of getting an additional unit while determining the ceiling area of a land holder. A major son of a Hindu can get an independent ceiling determined provided he is raiyat within the meaning of Section 2(k) and has become a land-holder within the ambit of Section 2 (g) but not as a successor to the land-holder whose ceiling is being determined on the ground that he has a right in the property by virtue of birth. In other words, under the Act no distinction has been maintained between Hindu, Mohammedan, Christian for determination of the ceiling area in the hands of the land-holder.The majority view expressed by Chief Justice as well as by Justice Agrawal approached the problem on incorrect premise as if under the Act the adult son of a land-holder governed by Mitakshara School of Hindu Law has been given an additional unit. Minority view of Justice L.M. Sharma is wholly correct one. The ultimate conclusion, as expressed by the majority judgment, in answering question no. 2 is, therefore, unsustainable in law. In our considered opinion, under the Act while determining the ceiling area in the hands of a land-holder whether governed by Mitakshara law or governed by Mohammedan law no additional unit is given to an adult son of the land-holder and, therefore, the earlier view expressed by Patna High Court in Imamul Hassan Choudhrys case reported in 1982 (Vol.30) Bihar Law Journal Reports p.150 lays down law correctly. 13.

Decision (1 = appeal accepted, 0 = rejected): 1

Explanation:
1[ds]It is to be noted that so far as the answer to the first question is concerned, there is no dispute between the parties and, in our view rightly since the statutory definition of "family" in Section 2 (ee) does not conceive of any personal law applicable to the said family and, therefore, no personal law can be taken into consideration for determination of the ceiling surplus with the land holder under the Act. In order to rest the correctness of the majority view, so far as the second question is concerned, it would be appropriate for us to examine the relevant provisions of the Act. Section 2 (aaa) defines "ceiling area" to mean the area of land fixed under Section 4 as the ceilinganalysis of the aforesaid provisions unequivocally indicate that under the Act the ceiling area is required to be determined of a "family" as defined in Section 2(ee) and. therefore, the land-holder of whose ceiling is going to be determined may be either a person. his or her spouse, and minor children. A major child whether belonging to a Hindu family or a Mohammedan or Christian is not conceived of getting an additional unit while determining the ceiling area of a land holder. A major son of a Hindu can get an independent ceiling determined provided he is raiyat within the meaning of Section 2(k) and has become a land-holder within the ambit of Section 2 (g) but not as a successor to the land-holder whose ceiling is being determined on the ground that he has a right in the property by virtue of birth. In other words, under the Act no distinction has been maintained between Hindu, Mohammedan, Christian for determination of the ceiling area in the hands of the land-holder.The majority view expressed by Chief Justice as well as by Justice Agrawal approached the problem on incorrect premise as if under the Act the adult son of a land-holder governed by Mitakshara School of Hindu Law has been given an additional unit. Minority view of Justice L.M. Sharma is wholly correct one. The ultimate conclusion, as expressed by the majority judgment, in answering question no. 2 is, therefore, unsustainable in law. In our considered opinion, under the Act while determining the ceiling area in the hands of a land-holder whether governed by Mitakshara law or governed by Mohammedan law no additional unit is given to an adult son of the land-holder and, therefore, the earlier view expressed by Patna High Court in Imamul Hassan Choudhrys case reported in 1982 (Vol.30) Bihar Law Journal Reports p.150 lays down law correctly.