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Kedar Mishra v. State of Bihar

Civil Appeal · Neutral citation not assigned (Civil Appeal Nos. 3778-3780 of 2016)Decided 12 Apr 2016
Civil Appeal Nos. 3778-3780 of 2016
Chief Justice T.S. Thakur · Justice R. Banumathi · Justice Uday Umesh Lalit

Background

This order sends the case back; it does not decide the dispute. The appellant applied for a right of pre-emption under the Bihar land ceiling law. The Board of Revenue and the High Court rejected his application on the purely technical ground that his 10% earnest money deposit was recorded under the wrong treasury account head.

Decision Breakdown

This is not a final decision on the dispute. The Court held that this technical objection could not be used to non-suit the appellant and set aside the High Court's order. It remitted the matter to the Board of Revenue to reconsider Revision Case Nos. 174, 175 and 176 of 1996 afresh on merits. The Court made clear that it had not expressed any opinion on the merits.

Lesson Learnt

An innocent clerical error, such as a wrong account head entry, should not defeat a substantive right at the threshold. There is no final ruling yet on whether the appellant has a valid right of pre-emption.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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