SANT SINGH NALWA Vs. FINANCIAL COMMISSIONER HARYANA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) These two appeals by certificate are directed against judgments dated 9-10-1969 and, 10-10-1969 of the Punjab and Haryana High Court in Letters Patent Appeals Numbers 558 of 1968 and 570 of 1969 by which the contentions raised bad the appellants in the two appeals were rejected. After the matter came up in this Court the two appeals were consolidated as they arose out of almost the same subject-matter and involved identical points. The facts which have given rise to these appeals lie within a very narrow compass and may be briefly summarised thus.

(2.) The appellants were refugees from Pakistan and Sant Singh Nalwa was allotted 63 standard acres and 8 1/2 units in village Marghain and another area of 19 standard acres and 51/2 units in Garden Colony in Jundla which were entered as sailab land in the revenue records. The other appellant. Kartar Kaur, was allotted 96 acres, 3 bighas and 13 biswas in the same district. These lands were given to the appellants as they were displaced persons. After the appellants had become owners of the lands, the State of Punjab passed the Punjab Security of Land Tenures Act, 1953, (hereinafter referred to as the 'Act') which later applied to Haryana also, under which every land owner whether a displaced person, allottee or otherwise could not retain any area of land which fell beyond the extent prescribed by sub-section (3) of Section 2 of the Act.

(3.) After the coming into force of the Act the revenue authorities proceeded to determine the permissible area of the land of both the appellants so that the area which was found to be in excess may be taken over by the State after paying the compensation as provided in the Act and the Rules made thereunder, viz., The Punjab Security of Land Tenures Rules, 1953 (hereinafter called the 'Rules'). In order to determine the permissible area the Act contains certain provisions by which the entire area held by a landowner has to be converted into standard acres on the basis of a formula contained in sub-section (5) of Section 2 of the Act which defines 'standard acre' thus: