DAVE, C. J. - (1.) THIS is an application u/art. 226 of the Constitution of India.
(2.) THE facts giving rise to (this petition) are that the Collector of Ajmer in exercise of the powers conferred upon him under sec. 40 of the Defence of India Act, 1962, passed an order under sec. 29 of the same Act requisitioning certain immovable property mentioned therein. A copy of the order was forwarded to the Deputy Inspector General, Central Reserve Police, Ajmer and the Divisional Superintendent, Western Railway, Ajmer. THE petitioner's case is that although it was directed by the Collector that a copy of his order should also be sent to the Divisional Superintendent, Western Railway, Ajmer, the said order was not served on him nor that order was issued to or served on the Central Government through the General Manager, Western Railway, or any Secretary to the Government of India. Thus there was no notice to the Central Government of the proceedings initiated by the Collector. THE requisitioned property was handed over to the possession of the Central Reserve Police and the rent payable by the Central Reserve Police was fixed at Rs. 770/- per annum by another order dated 17th August, 1963. THEreafter an application dated 18th June, 1964 was made to the Collector by the Union of India through the Manager, Western Railway, Ajmer, under sec. 151 of the Code of Civil Procedure read with sec. 35 of the Defence of India Act. Regarding this application, the Ajmer Club submitted preliminary objections to the Collector saying that it was not maintainable and that the Collector had no jurisdiction to review his previous orders. It was also urged that the application was beyond limitation. THEse preliminary objections were turned down by the Collector by his orders dated 11th and 17th December, 1964. Aggrieved by the said orders, the Ajmer Club presented a revision application under sec. 230 of the Rajasthan Tenancy Act, 1955 to the Board of Revenue, Rajasthan. An application for stay of proceedings before the Collector was also made on 22nd March, 1965. This application was allowed by a learned member of the Board of Revenue on the same day and he passed an ad interim stay order. It is against this order dated 22nd March, 1965 (Ex. 12) that the present application is directed. It is contended by learned counsel for the petitioner that the Collector had passed two orders, one on 4th March, 1963 and the other on 17th August, 1963, under secs. 29 and 30 of the Defence of India Act, that aggrieved by those order, the petitioner had presented an application under sec. 151 of the Code of Civil Procedure read with sec. 35 of the Defence of India Act, that while proceeding under the Defence of India Act, the Collector was exercising the powers of tin-State delegated to him under sec. 40 of the said Act, that he was not proceeding as a Revenue Officer and, therefore, the Board of Revenue had no jurisdiction to entertain a revision application against his order under sec. 230 of the Rajasthan Tenancy Act, 1955. Sec. 230 of the Rajasthan Tenancy Act runs as follows - "sec 230. The Board may call for the record of any case decided by any sub-ordinate revenue court in which no appeal lies either to the Board or to a civil court under sec. 239 and if such court appears - (a) to have exercised jurisdiction not vested in it by law; or (b) to have failed to exercise jurisdiction so vested; or (c) to have acted in the exercise of its jurisdiction illegally or with material irregularity. the Board may pass such orders in the case as it thinks fit. " It would appear from a plain reading of this section that the Board may exercise its powers under the said section only if there is a case decided, and the said is case decided by subordinate revenue court and if no appeal lies to the Board or to a civil court against the decision of that subordinate revenue court. Now, in the present case, a bare perusal of the order of the Collector dated 4th March, 1963 shows that it was passed by him under sec. 29 of the Defence of India Act, Sec. 29 runs as follows - "sec. 29. Requisitioning of immovable property - (1) Notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being in force, if in the opinion of the Central Government or the State Government it is necessary or expedient so to do for securing the defence of India, civil defence, public safety, maintenance of public order or efficient conduct of military operation, or for maintaining supplies and services essential to the life of the community that Government may by order in writing requisition any immovable property and may make such further orders as appear to that Government to be necessary or expedient in connection with the requisitioning; Provided that no property or part there of which is exclusively used by the public for religious worship shall be requisitioned. (2) The requisition shall be effected by an order in writing addressed to the person deemed by the Central Government or the State Government as the case may be, to be the owner or person in possession of the property, and such order shall be served in the prescribed manner on the person to whom it is addressed. (3) Whenever any property is requisitioned under sub-sec. (1), the period of such requisition shall not extend beyond the period for which such property is required for any of the purposes mentioned in that sub-section. " It would appear from the perusal of the said section that it gives special power to the Central Government or the State Government to requisition any immovable property or to make such further orders as appear to that Government to be necessary or expedient in connection with the requisitioning if, in the opinion of the Government, it is necessary or expedient so to do for securing the defence of India, civil defence, public safety, maintenance of public order or efficient conduct of military operations, or for maintaining supplies and services essential to the life of the community. These are not the powers which are usually exercised by the revenue courts or by the revenue officers. Sec. 40 of the said Act provides that the Central Government or the State Government may by order direct that any power or duty which by this Act or by any rule made there under is conferred or imposed upon the Central Government, may be delegated to any officer or authority. It was on account of the delegation of the powers by the Government to the Collector that he had proceeded to exercise his powers under sec. 29 of the Defence of India Act. The petitioner thought that the orders which the Collector had passed on 4th March, 1963 and 17th August, 1963 were prejudicial to it and therefore, it had moved another application before the Collector under sec. 151 C. P. C. read with sec. 35 of the Defence of India Act, requesting him to revise his previous orders. It may be observed here that we express no opinion whether such applications were maintainable before the Collector, because his jurisdiction to entertain those applications has not been challenged before us. It would suffice so say that he was proceeding to dispose of those applications under the Defence of India Act and in that connection he dismissed the preliminary objections raised by the Ajmer Club. Since the Collector had not proceeded in the matter as a court or as a revenue officer his order could not be revised by the Board of Revenue under sec. 230 of the Rajasthan Tenancy Act, 1955. The ad-interim stay order passed by the learned member of the Board of Revenue was thus without jurisdiction and it cannot be maintained. The writ application is, therefore, allowed and the impugned order of the Board of Revenue dated 22nd March, 1965 is hereby set aside. The proceedings initiated before the Board of Revenue under sec. 230 of the Rajasthan Tenancy Act, 1955 are also hereby quashed. The Board of Revenue is directed to return the record to the Collector, Ajmer. In the circumstances of the case, we leave the parties to bear their own costs. . ;