Lahiri, J. - (1.) This suit has been placed before the Special Bench under a report of P. B. Mukharji J. under Chapter V, Rules 2 and 3 of the Original Side Rules as it involves many important questions of far reaching consequence.
(2.) The plaintiff Maharaja Probirendra Mohan Tagore asks for a declaration that his right, title and interest in the settled estate created under a deed of family settlement dated November 18, 1904 under the Bengal Settled Estates Act, 1904 (Bengal Act III of 1904), have not been affected by notification No. 310 L.R./ZAM dated the 30th October, 1952, issued by the Revenue Department of the Government of Bihar under Sub-section (1) of Section 3 of the Bihar Land Reforms Act, 1950 (Bihar Act XXX of 1950) and for a further declaration that the said notification is invalid and inoperative and does not bind the plaintiff and for certain other incidental relicts.
(3.) The plaintiff's case as made in the plaint is that on the 18th November, 1906, his paternal grandfather Sir Jotindra Mohun Tagore executed a deed of family settlement in respect of immovable properties situate within and outside the jurisdiction of this Court; that by this deed of family settlement Maharaja Sir Jotindra Mohun Tagore was the first tenant for life, his son Maharaja Sir Prodyot Kumar Tagore was the second tenant for life and the plaintiff the third tenant for life; that the said deed of family settlement was approved by the then Government of Bengal and is still valid and subsisting. The State of Bihar purporting to act under a colourable piece of legislation called the Bihar Land Reforms Act of 1950, threatens to take away the plaintiff's properties constituting a part of the aforesaid estate, by a notification dated the 30th October, 1952 published in Bihar Gazette Extraordinary, on the 26th November, 1952. The plaintiff claims that the State of Bihar has no authority to take away the plaintiff's interest in the said estate. The State of Bihar has been impleaded as defendant No. 1 in the suit, the State of West Bengal has also been impleaded as the second defendant to enable the court to "effectually and completely adjudicate upon all the questions involved in the suit".;