Allahabad High Court
Raja Ram vs State Of U.P. Thru. Sec. Rev. Dept Lko. ... on 5 August, 2010
Author: A.P. Sahi
Bench: Ferdino Inacio Rebello, A.P. Sahi
1
Chief Justice's Court
Special Appeal No.1199 of 2010
Raja Ram Vs. State of U.P. and others
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Hon'ble Ferdino Inacio Rebello, C.J.
Hon'ble A.P. Sahi, J We have heard learned counsel for the parties.
This appeal questions the legality of the judgment of the learned single Judge on the ground that the appellant, who is a Lekhpal governed by the provisions of Lekhpals Service Rules 1958, could not have been transferred by the Additional District Magistrate/ Additional Collector from one tehsil to another.
On behalf of the appellant, learned counsel submits that Rule 21 framed under Article 309 of the Constitution confers power only on the Collector to effect transfer of a Lekhpal. It is submitted that in these circumstances, it will not be open to the Addl. Collector to effect any transfer, who may have been conferred powers under the provisions of The U.P. Land Revenue Act 1901 (hereinafter referred to as "the Act") to exercise the powers of the Collector, as the rules made under Article 309 have not conferred any power on the Collector to delegate powers to the Addl. Collector.
On the other hand, on behalf of the respondent - State, learned counsel draws our attention firstly to the Rule 21 of the Lekhpals Service Rules 1958 and to Section 14 and 14-A of The U.P. Land Revenue Act, 1901. It is submitted that once the Collector confers power on the Addl. Collector, and in the instant case learned counsel produced the order dated 10.1.2005 whereby the Collector has conferred power of Addl. Collector, then for the purpose of Lekhpals Service Rules, the Addl. Collector will be a Collector and no fault canl be found in the order of transfer. We may refer firstly to Rule 21 of the Lekhpals Service Rules, which reads as under:-
"21. Transfers :- (a) The Collector may at his discretion transfer a Lekhpal from one halqa to another within the 2 district and the Assistant Collector may similarly transfer a Lekhpal within the sub division.
(b) When any tract is under survey, record or settlement operation or under the operations for consolidation of holdings, the transfer of a Lekhpal outside the area under the aforesaid operations, shall not be made by the Collector or the Assistant Collector without consulting the Records of Settlement Officer, or the Settlement Officer of Consolidation, as the case may be."
We may also refer to Rule Section 3 (c) which defines Collector as under:-
"3 (c) "Collector" means the Collector of the district."
Next we come to the provisions of The U.P. Land Revenue Act, 1901. Section 14 and Section 14-A (3) which reads as under:-
"14. Collector of the district.-- The State Government shall appoint in each district an Officer who shall be the Collector of the district, and who shall, throughout his district, exercise all the powers and discharge all the duties conferred and imposed on a Collector by this Act or any other law for the time being in force.
14-A. (3) An Additional Collector shall exercise such powers and discharge such duties of a Collector in such cases of class of cases as the Collector concerned may direct."
It is no doubt that the Rules have been made under Article 309 of the Constitution of India in the matter of transfer. However, as Article 309 itself provides that this power can be exercised by the Governor till such time provisions are made by the appropriate legislature.
On a perusal of Section 14 of the Act, it is clear that a Collector discharges or exercises power not only under the provisions of the Act but also under any other law for the time being in force. In other words, considering the definition of Addl. Collector which is not defined in the Lekhpals Service Rules, it will be presumed that he is Collector who can also exercise power under Section 14 of the Act.
Once that be the case and the Collector has conferred such 3 powers on the Additional Collector, then the Additional Collector can exercise powers for all other purposes. He can act as the Collector under the Service Rules also. To that extent, we are of the opinion that the Additional Collector has rightly exercised the power of transfer. There is no provision in the Rules, which prohibits such an interpretation pertaining to the transfer of a Lekhpal. Apart from that the appointment of Lekhpal is also under the provisions of the U.P. Land Revenue Act, 1901.
We may also point out the judgment of the Full Bench referred to by the learned single Judge in the case of Brahm Singh and others Vs. Board of Revenue and others, 2008 All.C.J. 801, which has noted this aspect namely that the legislature has not confined the powers of the Collector only to that extent but has also extended it to other enactments.
In these circumstances, we do not find any error in the impugned order hence there is no merit in the appeal. It is, accordingly, dismissed.
Dt. 5.8.2010 Irshad