P.N. Mookerjee, J. - (1.) These are the Plaintiffs' appeals arising out of two suits for declaration that an award of the Murarai District School Board under Section 37A of the Bengal Agricultural Debtors Act is ultra vires, without jurisdiction and a nullity and is as such not binding upon the Plaintiffs.
(2.) The Plaintiffs were the landlords of the disputed holdings and in execution of rent decrees they purchased the same sometime in 1935. Thereafter they took delivery of possession through Court and were in actual possession of the lands of the holdings when the present Respondent Momena Khatoon (who was the sole Defendant in the trial Court) applied to the District School Board at Murarai under Section 37A of the Bengal Agricultural Debtors Act for reliefs under that section. Eventually, an award was made in her favour and hence the present suit.
(3.) The main question raised by the Plaintiffs in their plaint was that Momena Khatoon, the applicant before the Board, had no interest in the disputed holdings and was a mere trespasser in respect of the same and as such the Board had no jurisdiction to pass the award in her favour. The defence was that Momena Khatoon had purchased a portion of the disputed holdings and was as such entitled to maintain the application under Section 37A before the Murarai Board. In support of the defence no kabala or document of title was filed but the Defendant's husband was examined as a witness on her behalf and in his evidence he stated that Momena's purchase was made probably in 1934 and it was for Rs. 200 but the document of purchase was not registered. The learned Munsif was of the opinion that the Civil Court had jurisdiction in the circumstances of this case to enquire whether the Board had acted within the four corners of its authority under Section 37A of the Bengal Agricultural Debtors Act and as the learned Munsif was of the opinion that the Defendant had no interest or title in the disputed holdings but was a mere trespasser in respect thereof, he expressed the view that she had no locus standi to make the application under Section 37A of the Bengal Agricultural Debtors Act and the Board also had no jurisdiction to entertain the said application or to make an award in her favour on the basis of the same. In the above view of the matter, the learned Munsif gave the Plaintiffs the declarations sought for in the plaints of the present suits. Against this decision in either suit the Defendant appealed to the learned District Judge, Birbhum. The appeals were finally heard by the learned Subordinate Judge who was of the opinion that the Board having passed an award under Section 37A of the Bengal Agricultural Debtors Act the Civil Court had no jurisdiction to make the declarations sought for by the Plaintiffs. In the opinion of the learned Subordinate Judge Section 37A of the Bengal Agricultural Debtors Act conferred exclusive jurisdiction on the Board with regard to the conditions necessary for entertaining an application under that section and for making an award under it and he felt convinced that that was sufficient to deprive the Civil Court of all jurisdiction over or in respect of the disputed award. The learned Subordinate Judge, accordingly, reversed the decision of the learned Munsif and dismissed the Plaintiffs' suits.;