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Mr. Satish Chandra, appearing for the respondents, rightly, in our view, submits that two principles enunciated by this Court in Gorakh Nath Dube v. Hari Narain Singh & Ors., [1974] 1 SCR 339 and Ningawwa v. Byrappa & 3 Ors., [1968] 2 SCR 797 squarely apply to the facts of this case and the document in question evidenced a void transaction, and not a mere voidable transaction, and no suit was, there- fore, maintainable in view of the bar contained in section 49 of the Act.

In Gorakh Nath Dube, (supra), this Court held that the object of the relevant provision of the Act was to remove from the jurisdiction of any civil court or revenue court all disputes which could be decided by the competent author- ity under the Act during the consolidation proceedings. Questions relating to the validity of a sale deed or a gift deed and the like had to be examined in proceedings before the statutory authorities. The Court, however, drew a dis- tinction between void and voidable documents and said a voidable document was one which remained in force until set aside, and such a document could be set aside only by a competent civil court, and a suit for that purpose would, therefore, be maintainable. On the other hand, a claim that a transaction was void was a matter which could be adjudi- cated upon by the consolidation courts. This is what this Court stated: