TMI Blog2004 (9) TMI 687X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the said Goinda Oraon filed an application under section 71A of the Act for restoration of the land in question on the ground that the appellants had fraudulently acquired the land by means of a 'sada hukumnama'. This application was registered as S.A.R. Case No. 415/77-78. The Special Officer, Ranchi issued notices to the appellants and, after hearing the parties and recording evidence, came to the conclusion that the land belonged to the ancestors of Goinda, who were members of scheduled tribes and khatiyani holders of the land in question. Although, originally there were four co-sharers in the land, namely, Kochya Oraon, Bachua Oraon, Jagna Oraon and Goinda Oraon, the tenancies were surrendered only by Kochya and Bachua and not by the other two. The surrender was made on 7.3.1938 and the settlement in favour of the appellants was made on 25.3.1938. The Special Officer took the view that the surrender and the settlement of the land constituted one continuing act and was, therefore, contrary to the provisions of the Act. He also held that the surrender was illegal as all the shareholders had not surrendered their rights and decided that by reason of the provisions of Secti ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Deputy Commissioner. By a further amendment made by the Bihar Scheduled Areas Regulations, 1969, certain amendments were made, inter alia, in Rule 3 of Order I of Code of Civil Procedure and in Article 65 of the IInd Schedule of Limitation Act of 1963. What is of importance for us is the introduction of Section 71 A and 71B in the Chota Nagpur Tenancy Act, 1908 (Bengal Act VI of 1908). Section 71A reads as follows: 71A. Power to restore possession to members of the Scheduled Tribes over land unlawfully transferred If at any time it comes to the notice of the Deputy Commissioner that transfer of land belonging to a raiyat (or a Mundari khunt kattidar or Bhuinhar) who is a member of the Scheduled Tribes has taken plae in contravention of section 46 (or section 48 or Section 240) or any other provisions of this Act or by any fraudulent method, (including decrees obtained in suits by fraud or collusion) he may, after giving reasonable opportunity to the transferee, who is proposed to be evicted to show cause and after making necessary enquiry in the matter, evict the transferee from such land without payment of compensation and restore it to the transferor or his heir and if such h ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... lea of limitation. Learned Amicus Curiae further contended that Section 71A is an enabling power of the Deputy Commissioner which can be exercised by him, even suo-motu, if at any time it comes to his notice that the rights of a raiyat belonging to a Scheduled Tribe have been taken away by reason of : (a) contravention of section 6 or section 48 or s. 240 B or any other relevant provision of the Act; or (b) by any fraudulent method including decrees obtained under statutes by fraud or collusion. Learned amicus curiae also drew our attention to the judgments of this Court in Jai Mangal Oraon v. Mira Nayak and others (2000) 5 SCC 141; Ibrahimpatnam Taluk Vyavasaya Coolie Sangham v. K. Suresh Reddy and others (2003) 7 SCC 667; State of Rajasthan v. Shankar Lal Kunda Ram Banwarilal (1992) Supp. 2 SCC 76; and Uttam Namdeo Mahale v. Vittal Deo and Others (1997) 6 SCC 73. Apart from the reasoning given by the High Court, it appears to us that the judgment of this Court in Ibrahimpatnam (supra) is decisive on the contention of limitation urged before us. Under somewhat similar circumstances suo-motu power was given to the Collector under section 50B (iv) of the Andhra Pradesh (Telanga ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... er is to be exercised, in sub-section (4) of Section 50-B of the Act, the words at any time are used to that the suo motu power could be exercised within reasonable period from the date of discovery of fraud depending on facts and circumstances of each case in the context of the statute and nature of rights of the parties. Use of the words at any time in sub-section (4) of Section 50-B of the Act cannot be rigidly read letter by letter. It must be read and construed contextually and reasonably. If one has to simply proceed on the basis of the dictionary meaning of the words at any time , the suo motu power under sub-section (4) of Section 50-B of the Act could be exercised even after decades and then it would lead to anomalous position leading to uncertainly and complications seriously affecting the rights of the parties, that too, over immovable properties. Orders attaining finality and certainty of the rights of the parties accrued in the light of the orders passed must have sanctity. Exercise of suo motu power at any time only means that no specific period such as days, months or years are not prescribed reckoning from a particular date. But that does not mean that at an ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ill assume that the surrender of tenancy on 7.2.1938 and the settlement of the lands on the present appellant on 25.2.1938 were in quick succession and could be viewed as parts of the same transaction within the meaning of the term 'transfer' as contemplated by the Act. Nonetheless, it has not been established before us that the transfer was contrary to any other provisions of the Act. We shall now examine the last argument of Shri Narasimha that the transfer was fraudulent. Even on this, we are afraid that the appellants are entitled to succeed. We need not go into the details of the transaction for we may even assume that the transfer was fraudulent. Even then, as held in Ibrahimpatnam (supra), the power under Section 71A could have been exercised only within a reasonable time. Looking to the facts and circumstances of the present appeal, we are not satisfied that the Special officer exercised his powers under Section 71A within a reasonable period of time. The lapse of 40 years is certainly not a reasonable time for exercise of power, even if it is not hedged in by a period of limitation. We derive support to our view from the observations made by this Court in Jai Manga ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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