Bihar Land Reforms (Fixation of Ceiling Area and Acquisition of Surplus Land) Act, 1961

The appellant, a purchaser, challenged orders of the ceiling authorities under the Bihar Land Reforms (Fixation of Ceiling Area and Acquisition of Surplus Land) Act, 1961, first through writ petitions raising the jurisdiction of those authorities, which were dismissed by the High Court. He then filed a title suit seeki…

The appellant, a neighbour of a parcel of land, claimed a right of pre-emption under sub‑clause (3) of Section 16 of the Bihar Land Reforms (Fixation of Ceiling Area and Acquisition of Surplus Land) Act, 1961, after the land was gifted by his brother (the third respondent) to his sister (the fifth respondent) on 11 May…

The case concerned surplus land declared under the Bihar Land Reforms (Fixation of Ceiling Area and Acquisition of Surplus Land) Act, 1961. Respondent No.8's 4.64 acres were declared surplus, notified and allotted to eight downtrodden persons (parcha holders). Later the District Collector, invoking Section 45‑B, re‑ope…

The appeal concerned proceedings initiated under Section 10 of the Bihar Land Reforms (Fixation of Ceiling Area and Acquisition of Surplus Land) Act, 1961. The question was whether the 1982 amendment, specifically Sections 32‑A and 32‑B, caused abatement of matters that had become final or were pending, thereby obligin…

The appellants, co‑sharers of a parcel of land in the town of Hajipur, sought a re‑transfer of the land that had been sold to a third party under a registered deed. They invoked Section 16(3) of the Bihar Land Reforms (Fixation of Ceiling Area and Acquisition of Surplus Land) Act, 1961, which allows a co‑sharer or adjo…

The appellant, a landholder, filed a return under the Bihar Land Reforms (Fixation of Ceiling Area and Acquisition of Surplus Land) Act, 1961 in 1973-74 claiming he did not possess excess land. The Deputy Collector in 1976 upheld his claim and ordered the proceedings dropped, but no final statement under Section 11(1) …

The appellant, a land‑holder under the Bihar Land Reforms (Fixation of Ceiling Area and Acquisition of Surplus Land) Act, 1961, challenged a Collector’s order that allotted him twelve units of land, although he had claimed fifteen. The State of Bihar neither appealed the Collector’s order nor filed any cross‑objection.…

The Supreme Court allowed the appeal of Suresh Prasad Singh, holding that he was a co‑sharer of the transferors in the land sold to the respondent and therefore entitled to a mandatory right of pre‑emption under Section 16(3) of the Bihar Land Reforms (Fixation of Ceiling Area and Acquisition of Surplus Land) Act, 1961…

Arvind Kumar Singh sold land to Paras Sah, whose deed was registered on 14 June 1984. Paras Sah then executed a second sale deed in favour of Ghurla Kuer, which was not registered until 31 August 1984. Chandrika Singh, a raiyat of adjoining lands, filed a pre‑emption application on 17 July 1984 under Section 16(3) of t…

Kedar Mishra, a co‑sharer and raiyat, claimed right of pre‑emption under Section 16(3) of the Bihar Land Reforms (Fixation of Ceiling Area and Acquisition of Surplus Land) Act for three parcels sold by his brother. He deposited the required ten percent of the purchase price, but the treasury challan recorded the deposi…

The case concerned two Hindu deities, Ram Jankijee and Thakur Raja (also called Raja Rani), each of which had been the beneficiary of a separate deed of dedication of 81.14 acres of land, registered and placed in possession through shebaits. Under the Bihar Land Reforms (Fixation of Ceiling Area and Acquisition of Surp…

The appellants challenged the constitutionality of certain provisions of the Bihar Land Reforms (Fixation of Ceiling Area and Acquisition of Surplus Land) Act, 1961, specifically an amendment to Section 29 that removed an exemption for extra units used for religious rites. They contended that the amendment was not prot…

The appellants, Ashok Kumar Pandey and others, had mortgaged portions of their land in 1966 and later transferred the same lands to the mortgagees by registered deeds in 1972, after the notified ceiling date of 9‑9‑1970 under the Bihar Land Reforms (Fixation of Ceiling Area and Acquisition of Surplus Land) Act, 1961. L…

The State of Bihar appealed a Patna High Court order that had upheld a Board of Revenue decision allowing a land holder, governed by Mohammedan law, to claim an additional unit of land for his adult son. The land holder had been shown to hold surplus land under the Bihar Land Reforms (Fixation of Ceiling Area and Acqui…

The appellants, members of a Mitakshara joint family holding 33.95 acres of land, were initially ordered to retain only 18 acres, with the remainder deemed surplus. An appellate authority later held that the appellant's son, being a major on the relevant date, should be treated as a separate family, a decision that was…

K.N. Farms Industries (Pvt.) Ltd., a land‑holder, challenged the inclusion of 43.29 acres of tanks in its surplus land assessment under the Bihar Land Reforms (Fixation of Ceiling Area and Acquisition of Surplus Land) Act, 1961, as applied in Jharkhand. The appellant argued that tanks, being water bodies, are not "land…

The father of the respondents purchased land as the shebait of the deity Sri Sri Durgamata Thakurani and later sold it to the appellants. The appellants sought to enforce the sale, while the respondents claimed the land was a debutter (charitable endowment) and that the shebait could not validly sell it. The trial cour…

The Collector of Bihar reopened a land‑ceiling proceeding under Section 45‑B of the Bihar Land Reforms Act without giving notice or a hearing to the land‑holder, Sarju Madhav Rastogi. The proceeding was transferred to the Additional Collector, who after a brief appearance by the deceased land‑holder, issued notices in …

The appeal arose from land‑ceiling proceedings under the Bihar Land Reforms (Fixation of Ceiling Area and Acquisition of Surplus Land) Act, 1961, where the original draft statement was prepared, objections were considered, but final publication was not made. After the 1982 amendment, the matter was taken up afresh unde…