- (1.) SHRI Ujjwal and SHRI Madhok This reference has been made to this larger Bench by a Division Bench of this Board by its order dated 20. 6. 1963. It arises from an order passed by the Deputy Commissioner Colonisation, whereby the opposite party were allowed exchange of land in the Bhakra Colony area in lieu of some other land. The applicant has been contesting the validity of this exchange. At one time he had preferred an appeal in this Board which was returned as being incompetent. The applicant subsequently sought a revision of the order of the Deputy Commissioner by the State Government in the Revenue Department under sec. 83 of the Rajasthan Land Revenue Act 1956. This provision of the law is reproduced below - "83. Power of State Government to call for records and revise orders. The State Government may call for the record of any non-judicial proceeding not connected with settlement held by any officer subordinate to it, and may pass thereon such orders as it thinks fit. " The State Government did not decide this case but sent it on to this Board along with 62 other cases of a like nature, in terms of the following notification - ''government of Rajasthan Irrigation Department Notification No. F. 7 (164)Irg/62, dated Jaipur the 19th April, 1963. In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-sec. (2) of sec. 8 read with clause (a) of sec. 260 of the Rajasthan Land Revenue Act, 1956 (Rajasthan Act 15 of 1956), the State Government hereby transfers the cases specified in the Schedule appended hereto, relating to Bhakra Project filed under sec. 83 of the said Act to the Board of Revenue.
(2.) A question was raised before the Division Bench whether the aforesaid notification validly conferred jurisdiction on this Board to exercise the powers of the Land Revenue Act. The Division Bench accordingly framed the following two questions for pronouncement by a larger Bench. (1) whether the aforesaid notification of 19. 4. 1963 confers jursidiction on the Board of Revenue to hear this revision petition, and (2) if the reply is in the affirmative as regards (1) above, whether the revision will be heard by the Board of Revenue under sec. 83 or under sec. 84 of the Rajasthan Land Revenue Act. It may be noted that after the Division Bench made the above reference, the State Government were pleased to issue yet another notification which runs at follows - "irrigation Department. Notification Jaipur, July 2, 1963. No. F. 7 (164) Irg/62. In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-sec. (2) of sec. 8, read with clause (a) of sec. 260 of the Rajasthan Land Revenue Act, 1956 (Rajasthan Act 15 of 1956), and in partial modification of this Department's Notification bearing even number dated the 19th April, 1963, the State Government hereby delegates its powers under sec. 83 of the said Act in respect of the pending cases specified in the annexed Schedule and entrusts the said cases for disposal to the Board of Revenue for Rajasthan. " In the Schedule attached to the above notification 62 cases have been listed including the case of the present parties. 'we have heard at length the arguments advanced by the counsel for the parties as well as the Advocate General. At the outset, it has to be determined whether exchange of tenancy holdings in colony areas is a matter which attracts sec. 83 of the Land Revenue Act. The law that is applicable in the matter is the Rajasthan Colonisation Act. Sec. 12 of that Act runs as follows - "12. Exchange - Subject to any orders that he may receive from the Commissioner, the Collector may allow any. tenant to exchange the whole or any part of his tenancy for other land in the colony and the land so taken in exchange shall, in the absence of any special condition to the contrary to be recorded in writing by the Collector, be deemed to be held on the conditions and subject to the obligations on which the land so given in exchange was held. " It may be noted that the order of the Deputy Commissioner Colonisation which is the subject matter of this revision was passed in his capacity as Collector under the Colonisation Act. Sec. 5 of this Act runs as follows - "5. Applicability of tenancy and land revenue laws - (1) Except as otherwise provided in 'this Act, the laws relating to agricultural tenancies, land, the powers, duties, jurisdiction and procedure of revenue courts, the survey and record operations, the settlement and collection of revenue, rent and other demands and the partition of estates and tenancies, for the time being in force in a colony, shall, in so far as may be applicable, apply to tenancies held and to proceedings conducted under this Act. " According to the general principle of interpretation of laws, matters specially provided for in a Special Act like the Colonisation Act, are excepted from the operation of the general laws regulating revenue and tenancy matters. Exchange of agricultural tenancies in a colony area is one of such matters. The Colonisation Act has no special provision regarding powers of revision but sec. 5 opens the door to the application of the relevant provisions of the Rajasthan Tenancy Act and the Rajasthan Land Revenue Act, 1956. In this view, the Board of Revenue would have the power to exercise the powers of revision under sec. 84 of the Land Revenue Act if a land dispute in a colony area is of a judicial nature or connected with settlement in which no appeal lies to the Board. Likewise, sec. 83 of that Act would be attracted and the State Government would exercise powers of revision if the dispute is of a non-judicial nature which is not connected with settlement. Whether a particular person is allotted Government land in a colony area or is allowed to exchange his holding for unoccupied land is a matter which does not affect the rights and liabilities of other persons, and, therefore, the matter is not of a judicial nature. Therefore, if the present application of revision is to subjected to revision, the powers of revision shall be exercisable under sec. 83 and not under sec. 84 of the Land Revenue Act. The next question is whether the State Government, which, in the view we have taken above, is capable of exercising powers of revision in this case, has validly directed this Board to exercise powers under sec. 83 of the Land Revenue Act. The powers and duties of the Board have been laid down in sec. 8 of the Rajasthan Land Revenue Act. This provision runs as follows : - "8. Powers of the Board - (1) Subject to the other provisions of this Act or to the provisions of the Rajasthan Tenancy Act, 1955 (Rajasthan Act 3 of 1955) or of any other law in force, the Board shall be the highest revenue Court of appeal, revision and reference in Rajasthan : Provided that in all matters where there is a doubt or dispute involving the determination of the jurisdiction of a civil or a revenue court in respect thereof the decision of the High Court shall be final and binding on all civil and revenue courts in (the State) including the Board. (2) In addition to the powers mentioned in sub-sec. (1), the Board shall exercise such other powers and perform such other duties as may from time to time be entrusted to it by the State Govt. or as are conferred imposed on the Board by or under this Act or any other law for the time being in force. " The counsel on both sides and the Advocate General agree that the present case has not come up to this Board under sec. 8 (1) of the Land Revenue Act, but under sec. 8 (2) thereof. The Legislature has conferred on the State Government powers of revision under sec. 83 of the Land Revenue Act, and the question remains whether this Board can exercise the revisional powers of the State Government by virtue of devolution of powers or duties under sec. 8 (2) of the Land Revenue Act. The notification of 19. 4. 63 reproduced above says that this case along with others has been transferred to this Board in exercise of the powers conferred by sub-sec. (2) of sec. 8 read with Cl. (a) of sec. 260 of the Land Revenue Act. Sub-sec. 260 (a) of the Land Revenue Act, as amended by the Divisional Commissioners Abolition Act, is as follows : - "260. Deligation - The State Government may, by notification in the official Gazette - (a) delegate all or any of its powers under this Act, except the power to make rules to the Board or the Settlement Commissioner, or the Director of Land Records or a Collector, or. . . . . . . . . . . . " Transfer of cases in a legal sense implies that both the transferring authority and the authority to which the cases are transferred have jurisdiction to decide the cases. No doubt, the State Government has the revisional powers in this case, but these revisional powers do not vest in the Board. Therefore, unless the Board has under the law the power to decide this application for revision, no case of revision can be transferred to it by the State Government. Under secs. 83 and 84 of the Rajasthan Land Revenue Act, such a revisional power in cases of a non-judicial nature or cases not relating to settlement does not vest in the Board. Therefore, the State Government in our opinion, could not have legally transferred the present case or other cases of a like nature to this Board. However, the notification of 19. 4. 63 has been modified by the notification of 2. 7. 1963. This latter notification says that the State Government delegates to the Board its powers under sec. 83 of the Land Revenue Act in respect of the pending cases specified in the Schedule annexed to this notification, and entrusts these cases for disposal to the Board of Revenue. As we read it, the State Government under this notification purports, in the first place, to delegate to the Board of Revenue the power of the State Government to hear revisions under sec. 83 of the Land Revenue Act in respect of the present case as well as the other cases listed in the schedule to this notification, and, in the second place, it purports to entrust the said cases for disposal to this Board. In other words this notification means that the State Government having delegated its power under sec. 83 in respect of these cases proceeds to entrust these cases for disposal to the Board. Therefore, unless to act of delegation is valid, this Board would not be properly exercising the powers of revision in this case. In our view sec. 260 (a) of the Land Revenue Act authorises the State Government to delegate a power that is vested in it by the Legislature and the power of revision under sec. 83 is one of such powers which can be delegated to the Board of Revenue, as an entity or category without any reservation or restriction. In other words, we are of the view that the State Government could validly delegate its revisional powers to the Board of Revenue in respect of all cases falling under a particular Act such as the Colonisation Act, and not only specified cases arising under that Act. To put the matter differently, it is not valid for the State Government to delegate to the Board its powers of revision under sec. 83 of the Act in certain cases arising under a provision of the Colonisation Act, or any other Act, and reserve other cases arising under that provision to itself for disposal, as this would tantamount to the splitting of the power under sec. 83. In our view, the power has to be delegated as a whole and not in part and the two notifications in question are defective and cannot be acted on. The learned Advocate General also concedes this position. In view of the foregoing discussion, we would answer the reference from the Division Bench as follows : - (1) Neither notification No. F. 7 (164) Irg/62, dated 19. 4. 63 nor the subsequent notification of 2. 7. 1963 validly confers jurisdiction on the Board of Revenue to dispose of the present case or the other cases listed in the Schedule to these two notifications. (2) The present revision petitions cannot be heard by this Board either under sec. 83 or sec. 84 of the Land Revenue Act, though it could have been heard under sec. 83 of that Act if there had been a valid notification of the powers of the State Government delegating the revisional powers of the State Government under sec. 83 of the Act to the Board of Revenue. Shri Gajendra Singh - I agree in general terms the answer furnished by the learned Members of the Board to the two questions referred for decision by the Division Bench. My view in this matter is that the provisions of the Rajasthan Land Revenue Act do not apply to the Rajasthan Colonisation Act, 1954 and the notification issued by the Government of Rajasthan delegating their revisional powers to the Board for disposal of this and similar other cases is rather defective. With regard to the first point that the provisions of the Rajasthan Land Revenue Act do not apply to the Colonisation Act, 1954, I am clearly of the opinion that sec. 5 of the Rajasthan Colonisation Act Tenancy and Revenue Laws have only been made applicable to the tenancies held under the Colonisation Act and the pro ceedings conducted under that Act. Beyond this there is no application of tenancy and land revenue laws in matters arising under the Colonisation Act. The Colonisa-tion Act has been enacted for making better provision for the colonisation and administration of lands in Rajasthan in the colony area as the preamble of the Act lays down: This is a case in which the exchange of land allotment has been challenged by the present petitioner before the State Government. The State Government in exer-cise of its power to control the allotment of land in a colony area through the Collector subject to the statement of conditions of tenancies, exercise this power under sec. 7, sub-sec. 3 of the Colonisation Act which runs as follows : - "where such statement of conditions have been issued, the Collector may, subject to the control of the State Government allot land to any person, to be held subject to such conditions contained in the statement issued under sub-sec. 2 of this section as the Collector may, by order, declare to be applicable to the case. " Thus the above section gives the powers of superintendence and control over allotment of land made by the Collector, to the State Government for interfering where necessary in matters relating to tenancies created under the Colonisations Act. These are the special powers that the State Government exercises. There is no question of State Government exercising the powers of sec. 83 of the Rajasthan Land Revenue Act, 1966 under the Colonisation Act for control of the allotment of land. It is not possible for the Board either to exercise its power of sec. 84 of the Rajasthan Land Revenue Act, 1956 for allotment of land under the Colonisation Act because those powers can only be exercised in relation to matters arising which are of judicia1 nature and connected with settlement in relation to Land Revenue Act. It is, how-ever, possible for the Government to delegate their powers of so called revision under the Colonisation Act to the Board under sec. 8 sub-sec. (2) of the Land Revenue Act by entrusting such powers and such other duties to the Board which it exercises under any other law for the time being in force. Thus under sec. 8 of the Rajasthan Land Revenue Act the Board can exercise such powers and perform such duties which are conferred upon it either under the Land Revenue Act or under any other law for the time being in force or are entrusted to it by the State Government. The Board of Revenue which has been constituted under Chapter II of the Rajasthan Land Revenue Act thus is not only the highest Revenue Court for appeals, revisions and references in Rajasthan, but as stated above exercises such powers and perform such duties which it derives from the three sources. , namely the State Government Land Revenue Act and any other law for the time being in force. The State Government, therefore, in a way in exercise of their power under sub-sec. 2 of sec. 8 of the Rajasthan Land Revenue Act desired through the Notifications referred to above in the main judgment to transfer its power of controlling the tenancies under the Colonisation Act to the Board. These powers in my opinion were of the executive nature which are to be exercised by the Board in a quasi-judicial manner relating to the superintendence and control of the tenancies created under the Colonisation Act. The last Notification of 1963 issued by the State Government delegating its powers under sec. 83 of the Rajasthan Land Revenue Act, 1956 in respect of this case along with other was in my opinion a defective Notification. This has also been conceded by the Advocate General who appeared on behalf of the Government. Thus the Notification does confer valid powers on the Board to dispose of these pending cases, on the contrary the State Government should have simply issued a Notification under sec. 8 sub-sec. (2) of the Rajasthan Land Revenue Act, entrusting its power of superintendence and control under the Colonisation Act under sec. 7 of the aforesaid Act to the Board for disposal of matters relating to tenancies created under the Colonisation Act. . ;