High Court declaration of law binds for the statute's full life; contrary revenue orders are revisable.

A High Court's declaration of law is treated as declaratory of the law as it always stood, so it binds subordinate authorities for the full period of the statute's operation and is not confined to future cases. Orders passed contrary to that declaration are jurisdictionally defective and can be corrected in revision. Revenue entries, an alleged tax-avoidance motive, or absence of mutation do not by themselves justify treating transferred or partitioned land as part of an assessee's holding; the real inquiry is actual title, possession, and the statutory basis for separate assessment. The text states that the revenue orders were quashed and the matters remitted for fresh decision under the declared law.

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Issues: (i) Whether a declaration of law by the High Court operates only prospectively or is binding for the whole period during which the statute remains in force. (ii) Whether the Board of Revenue could refuse revision relief when the subordinate authorities acted contrary to the law declared by the High Court. (iii) Whether revenue entries, alleged tax-avoidance motive, or absence of mutation could justify including land in the assessee's holding or rejecting proof of transfer or partition.

Issue (i): Whether a declaration of law by the High Court operates only prospectively or is binding for the whole period during which the statute remains in force.

Analysis: A judicial declaration does not create law for the first time; it explains what the law has always been. Unlike legislation, a court's interpretation is not confined to the date of the judgment. The declaration of law is co-extensive with the life of the statute and binds subordinate authorities within the High Court's territorial jurisdiction for the entire period of the law's operation.

Conclusion: The High Court's declaration of law was binding throughout the period of the statute's operation and could not be treated as a merely future interpretation.

Issue (ii): Whether the Board of Revenue could refuse revision relief when the subordinate authorities acted contrary to the law declared by the High Court.

Analysis: Revisional power extends to jurisdictional error, illegal assumption of jurisdiction, and substantial irregularity. Where an authority within the High Court's superintendence proceeds or decides contrary to the law declared by the High Court, it acts without jurisdiction. Such orders are revisable because the question goes to the existence and legality of jurisdiction, not merely to a conclusion on facts or law.

Conclusion: The Board of Revenue ought to have interfered in revision against orders passed contrary to the law declared by the High Court.

Issue (iii): Whether revenue entries, alleged tax-avoidance motive, or absence of mutation could justify including land in the assessee's holding or rejecting proof of transfer or partition.

Analysis: Revenue records are not decisive where title or possession has otherwise passed. A transfer or partition is not rendered void merely because it was motivated by tax saving. The real inquiry is whether the land was in fact held or occupied by the assessee, and whether, in the case of joint family property, the share of each member is separately assessable under the statutory scheme. Where land has been sold, mutation after the charging date cannot override the transfer if title has already passed.

Conclusion: Revenue entries and suspicion of tax avoidance could not by themselves sustain the assessments; the matters required reconsideration on the correct legal basis.

Final Conclusion: The writ petitions were allowed, the impugned revenue orders were quashed, and the matters were remitted for fresh decision according to the law declared in the judgment.

Ratio Decidendi: A High Court's declaration of law is declaratory of the existing law, binds subordinate authorities for the full life of the statute, and orders passed in defiance of that declaration are without jurisdiction and revisable.

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