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Judgment
B.P. Jha, J.—In as application under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution of India, the petitioner prays for quashing an order dated 23.8.1V82 as contained in Annexure ''1''.
By the impugned order, the District Collector re-opened the case and directed that the matter be disposed of by Additional District Magistrate (C) in accordance with law. It is relevant to refer Section 45B of the Bihar Land Reforms (Fixation of Ceiling Area and Acquisition of Surplus Land) Act, 1961 (hereinafter referred to as ''the Act''), which runs as follows:
45B. State Government to call for and examine records:
The State Government or the Collector of the district, who may be authorised in this behalf may, at any time, call for and examine any record of any proceeding disposed of by a Collector and may, if it thinks fit, direct that the case be reopened and disposed of afresh in accordance with the provisions of the Act.
On a perusal of Section 45B of the Act, it is clear that the legislature has empowered the District Collector to reopen the case as well as to dispose of the same in accordance with law. In the present case the District Collector directed the Additional Collector (C) to dispose of the matter in accordance with law which is without jurisdiction. Hence I quash the order dated 23.8.1982 as contained in Annexure ''1''. However, it will be open for the District Collector to proceed afresh in accordance with law.
In the result, the petition is allowed. The order dated 23.8.1982 as contained in Annexure ''1'' is hereby quashed. The parties shall bear their own costs.
Chaudhary Sia Saran Sinha, J.
I agree to order proposed by my learned brother.