S.N.Sahay, J. - (1.) THIS petition is directed against notice (Annexure 3) which has been issued to the petitioners in a case under sections 33/39, U. P. Lard Revenue Act, 1901. The case of the petitioners is that Pattas were granted, to the petitioners by the Land Management Committee in respect of certain plots situate in village Jairampur in the year 19V 5. The names of petitioners were mutated on the basis of the said Pattas and they were duly recorded as Bhumidhars with non-transferable rights in the Khatauni. After sometime proceedings for corrections of papers under sections 33/39 of the said Act, were started and the impugned notices were issued to the petitioner to file objections, if any. The petitioners riled objections on 28-9-1989. It is stated that the cases have been submitted by the Naib Tahsildar, Salon to Sub- Divisional Officer, Salon, Rae Bareli opposite party no. 1, for orders and it is said that the Pattas granted in favour of the petitioners will be cancelled. The petitioners have accordingly approached this court under Article 226 of the Constitution for quashing the impugned notices and for restraining the opposite party no. I from proceedings with the cases pending against the petitioners under sections 33/39 of the Act.
(2.) THE learned counsel for the petitioners has contended that the jurisdiction to cancel the Pattas is vested in the Collector under section 198 (4) of the U. P. Zamindari Abolition and Land Reforms Act, 1950 and as the Collector is a Persona Designata, the opposite party no. 1 has no jurisdiction to proceed with the cases under sections 33/39 of the said Act. In support of this contention, learned counsel has relied on the decision of a learned single Judge of this court in Shiv Lai v. Board of Revenue, 1985 AWC 17=1985 ALJ 120. He has been held that the power under section 198 in connection with the cancellation of the lease is to be exercised only by the Collector and not by the Sub Divisional Officer. THE Collector has been given power as Persona Designata, which obviously means that he is a specifically empowered Tribunal and is a person or authority specially constituted or empowered to entertain and adjudicate upon the particular type of litigation mentioned in section 198 (4) of the U. P. Zamindari Abolition and Land Reforms Act. The meaning of the expression 'Persona Designata' was considered and explained in Central Talkies v. Dwarika Prasad, AlR 1961 SC 606. The meaning given in osborna Concise Law Dictionary and Faratna Sardhi Naidu v. Koterewara Rao, AIR 1924 Madras 561, was approved. A Persona Designata is a person who is pointed out or described as an individual as opposed to a person ascertained as a member of a class or as filling ,of particular character. Persons selected to act in their private capacity and not in their capacity as Judges are Persona Designata. Thus the criterion for determining a Persona Designata is whether he has been selected to act as an individual or in his private capacity or as a member of class or as filling a particular character. The law laid down in the above mentioned case has been followed in the latter decisions of the Supreme Court reported in Ram Chandra Agarwal v. State of U. P., AIR 1966 SC 1888, and Thakur Das v. State of Madhya Pradesh, AIR 1978 SC 1, and also by a Full Bench of this court in Maharaja Dharmendra Prasad Singh v. State of U. P., AIR 1969 Alld. 484. Section 198 (4) of the U. P. Zamindari Abolition and Land Reforms Act, 1950, confers power on the Collector to cancel the allotment and lease in the circumstances mentioned therein. The power to cancel the allotment and the lease may be exercised by the Collector of his own motion or on the application of any person aggrieved. There is no provision for appointment of Collector in section 198 (4J of the said Act. The definition of the word 'Collector' is contained in section 3 (4j of the Act. According to the ?definition, which will also govern the cases under section 198 {4) also Collector means an officer appointed as Collector* under the provisions of the U. P. Land Revenue Act, 1901 and includes an Assistant Collector of 1st Class empowered by the State Government by a Notification in the Gazette to discharge all or any of the functions of Collector under the Act.
(3.) THE Collector is appointed under section 14 of the U. P. Land Revenue Act, 1901 which provides that the State Government shallappolnt in each District an officer who shall through out his district exercise all the powers and discharge all the duties conferred and imposed on a Collector by this Act or any other law for the time being in force. THE Assistant Collector, whether of the 1st Class or Hnd Class, is appointed under section 15 and it is provided in section 18 that the State Government may place any Assistant Collector of the 1st Class in charge of one or more sub-divisions of a district and remove him therefrom. Section 18 (2) provides that such Assistant Collector shall be called 'Assistant Collector incharge of sub-division of a district or a Sub-Divisional Officer and shall exercise all the powers and discharge all the duties conferred and imposed upon him by the Act and by any other law for the time being in force subject to the control of the Collector. It may be . mentioned that various revenue courts have been constituted under the U. P. Land Revenue Act and by virtue of section 4 (8) thereof, Collector and Sub-Divisional Officer, both are Revenue Courts. The combined effect of the provisions contained in the aforesaid enactments is that the power which has been conferred on the Collector under section 198 (4) is exercised by him as Revenue Court and the- same power can be exercised by the Sob-Divisional Officer also. The State Legislature has power under Entry 65 read with Entries 18 and 45 of the State List in the Constitution to make law regarding jurisdiction and powers of all courts except the Supreme Court with respect to land, i.e. to say rights in or overland, land tenures and transfer and alienation of agriculture land, as also land revenue including the maintenance of land records. It has also power under Entry 11-A, of the Concurrent List to make law with respect the administration of justice and constitution and organisation of all courts except the Supreme Court and the High Courts. In respect of matters concerning cancellation of lease granted under section 198, the State Legislature did not proceed to constitute a new court, Tribunal or authority, but conferred power under sub-section (4) thereof on the existing Revenue Court or Collector, who could exercise the power under section 198 (4) also by virtue of the provisions contained in section 14 of the U. P. Land Revenue Act without anything more. Therefore, it cannot be said that the Collector is a specially constituted Tribunal to adjudicate upon, the legality or otherwise of a lease granted in favour of a person under section 198. There is nothing to show in the Scheme of section 198 that the Collector has been selected to act under sub-section (4)N of section 198 in his private capacity or is referred to as an individual as opposed to a person ascertained as a member of a class or as a rilling of particular character He is just an officer appointed by the State Government to be the Collector of the district under section 14 of the Land Revenue Act to exercise all the powers and discharge all the duties conferred and imposed on the Collector by this Act or any other law for the time being in force. Therefore, in view of the provisions referred to above and the tests laid down by their Lordships of the Supreme Court in the cases mentioned above, we are unable, with due respect, to share the views of the learned Single Judge. We have arrived at the conclusion that the Collector exercises the power under section 198 (4) not as Persona Designate but as a Revenue Court and by virtue of the provisions contained in section 3 (4), the Sub-Divisional Officer has also jurisdiction to exercise the powers of the Collector under section 198 (4) of the Act, if he satisfies the conditions laid down in section 3 (4).;