RANCHI, India, Sept. 5 -- Jharkhand High Court issued the following order on Aug. 5:
Present writ petition has been filed for the following relief(s):- (A) To set aside the order dated 25.02.2015 passed by the Learned Land Reforms Deputy Collector, Chatra in Case No.13 of 2011 in Preemption Case (as contained in Annexure-1 to this writ application), whereby and whereunder only on the basis of a ground taken by the respondent no.4 and 5 that he is the adjoining raiyat of the land in dispute purchased by the petitioner the preemption has been allowed.
The petitioner further prays to set aside the order dated 02.09.2023 (Annx-3), passed by the Additional Collector in Pre-emption Appeal Case No.34 of 2015-2016 whereby and whereunder the order passed by the Land Reforms Deputy Collector, Chatra dated 25.02.2015 has been affirmed only on the ground that since the petitioner had sold the land to his wife on 26.08.2011 after his purchase from the exlandlord (through power of attorney holder) on 8.8.2011 the wife of the petitioner was heard, so there is no scope to interfere in the order of L.R.D.C., accordingly the appeal filed by the petitioner before the Additional Collector was rejected on 02.09.2023.
Further since a review petition was filed by the petitioner on 21.06.2024 before the court of Additional Collector, Chatra in appeal on the ground that in 2019 itself, the Bihar State Legislature has, by way of amendment, deleted the right of preemption under Section 16(3) of the Bihar Land Reforms Act, 1961, so the entire case pending before any court as per the amendment has been abated but the Additional Collector in Review Petition Case No.01/2024-25 dated 14.12.2024 has summarily rejected the review petition only on the ground that parties were already heard earlier and so there was no need of rehearing in review. Accordingly, this Hon'ble Court may declare the order dated 14.12.2024 as unsustainable and be set aside.
(B) Since the preemptors respondent no.4 and 5 were not the cosharers and land purchased by them were only a small piece of land of 29 decimals already disputed and title suit is going on by other party and the petitioner has purchased 48 decimals from the same family of Chandra Prakash Singh, so the preemptor cannot come under the definition of a raiyat nor he can be a co-sharer under the Bihar Land Ceiling Act, 1961. Accordingly, the Hon'ble High Court may declare the preemption application filed by the respondent nos. 4 and 5 redundant and void abinitio as a right of raiyat was never created. Moreover, disputed land is a household land vis-a-vis same is of the case of the respondent no.4, so right of preemption is not applicable with regard to household land. Besides that the disputed land is adjoining to the main road (west side) cannot be claimed under preemption as it is a weak right and well cornered within the parameters of Section 16(3) of the Bihar Land Ceiling Act, 1961.
Since in view of Sections 84 and 85 of Bihar Reorganisation Act the entire enactment of the Ceiling Act of 1961 enacted by the Assembly of erstwhile State of Bihar is still applicable in the State of Jharkhand; further the State of Bihar has amended and deleted the right of preemption under Section 16(3) of the Ceiling Act by the amending Act of 2019 (25.2.2019) under which all pending cases either before the trial court or before any other court including the Hon'ble High Court and Hon'ble Supreme Court have been abated. Accordingly, it may be declared that the order of preemption does not survive.
*Rest of the document can be viewed at: (https://hcservices.ecourts.gov.in/ecourtindiaHC/cases/display_pdf.php?filename=A9S7c5LDIsB6RXaCf816x9pdO20dXW0RAJxodkFYghPgzNRvNc%2FtUUT8peooRt2g&caseno=WPC/2591/2025&cCode=1&cino=JHHC010071572025&state_code=7&appFlag=)
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