Section 5A in West Bengal Estates Acquisition Act, 1953
5A. [ Restriction on certain transfers.(1) The State Government may after the date of vesting enquire into any case of transfer of any land by an intermediary made between the 5th day of May, 1953 and the date of vesting, if in its opinion there are prima facie reasons for believing that such transfer was not bona fide.
(2)If after such enquiry the State Government finds that such transfer was not bona fide, it shall make an order to that effect and thereupon the transfer shall stand cancelled as from the date on which it was made or purported to have been made :Provided that, subject to such cancellation, nothing in this sub-section shall be deemed to affect any rights which the transferor or the transferee may otherwise have against each other.(3)If after such enquiry the State Government finds that the transfer was bona fide, it shall make an order to that effect and thereupon the following consequences shall ensue, namely :(i)the land shall, without prejudice to any rights which the transferor or the transferee may have against each other, be deemed to be the land of the transferee for the purpose of this Act;(ii)if any such land or any part thereof is retained by the transferee under the provisions of this Chapter, such land or such part thereof may be taken into account in calculating the land which may be retained by the transferor under this Chapter as if such land or such part thereof had never been transferred and were retained by the transferor or chosen by him as land to be retained by him.(4)The State Government may [delegate] [Section 5A Inserted by Section 2 of the West Bengal Estates Acquisition (Amendment) Act, 1954 (West Bengal XIII of 1954) (with restrospective effect).] all or any of its powers under this section to such officers in its service as it may deem fit.(5)The procedure to be followed in such enquiry shall be such as may be prescribed : Provided that(i)no order shall be passed in an enquiry held under this section except after giving the transferor and the transferee an opportunity of being heard;(ii)in conducting such enquiry the State Government and any officer to whom any powers have been delegated under sub-section (4), shall have all the powers of a civil court for the purposes of taking evidence, administering oaths, enforcing the attendance of witnesses and compelling the production of documents and shall be deemed to be a civil court within the meaning of sections 480, 481 and 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898 (Act No. 5 of 1989).(6)An appeal against any order passed by the State Government under sub-section (2) or sub-section (3), or passed under any of those sub-sections as read with sub-section (4) by an officer to whom powers have been delegated under sub-section (4), if preferred within sixty days of such order [or within sixty days from the date of appointment of the Special Judge, whichever is later] [Inserted by Section 3(1) of the West Bengal Estates Acquisition (Amendment) Act. 1961 (West Bengal Act No. 9 of 1961).], shall lie to a Special Judge [being a person who is or has been a District Judge or an Additional District Judge] [Substituted by Section 3(2) of the West Bengal Estates Acquisition (Amendment) Act. 1961 (West Bengal Act No. 9 of 1961) for the words not being an Officer below the rank of a District Judge.] appointed by the State Government for the purpose of this section and such Special Judge shall dispose of the appeal according to the prescribed procedure.(7)In this section,(i)a transfer shall be held to be not bona fide if it was made principally or partially with the object of increasing the amount of land which a person may retain under this Chapter or principally or partially with the object of increasing the amount of compensation payable under Chapter III or Chapter IV;(ii)a transfer in favour of one or more of the following relatives of the transferor, that is to say,a wife, a husband, a child, a grand-child, a parent, a grand-parent, a brother, a sister, a brother's son, a sister's son, a daughter's husband, a son's wife, a wife's brother or sister, or a brother's wife, made between the 5th day of May, 1953 and the date of vesting shall be presumed to be not bona fide until the contrary is proved :Provided that no such presumption shall be made in respect of transfer of land by an intermediary if the aggregate area of such land owned by the intermediary at any time between the 5th day of May, 1953 and the date of transfer did not exceed twenty acres in extent in the case of non-agricultural land and twenty-five acres in extent in the case of agricultural land;(iii)'transfer' means a transfer by sale, mortgage, lease, exchange or gift;(iv)'transferor' and 'transferee' include the successors in interest of a transferor or a transferee.]
