STATE OF HARYANA Vs. JIWAN SINGH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The respondent Jiwan Singh who is a displaced person from Pakistan was allotted 55.80 standard acres of land in village Neza Dali Kalan in Sirsa Tehsil of Hissar District in lieu of the land left by him in Pakistan, The second appellant, Collector Surplus Area, Sirsa, in determining the surplus area under the Puniab Security of Land Tenures Act, 1953 (hereinafter referred to as the Act) left only 100 ordinary acres with the respondent as his permissible area and declared the rest of the land measuring 78.57 ordinary acres, equivalent to 25.99 standard acres, as surplus. Permissible Area as defined in Sec,2(3) of the Act is as follows:

(2.) According to the respondent the surplus area in his case cannot exceed 5.80 standard acres in view of the Proviso (ii) (a) to Sec. 2(3), and being aggrieved by the order of the Collector preferred an appeal to the Commissioner. The Commissioner remanded the case to the Collector for a fresh determination of the respondent's surplus area observing that in .the case of a displaced person if the allotment was in standard acres, 50 standard acres would be the permissible area and if the allotment was in ordinary acres the permissible area would be 100 ordinary acres. On remand the Collector upheld his own previous order and the appeal taken by the respondent from this order was dismissed by the Commissioner. The respondent filed a revision petition before the Financial Commissioner, Punjab, who also upheld the order of the Collector and dismissed the petition. The respondent thereafter filed a writ petition in Punjab and Haryana High Court which was allowed. The learned Judge who heard the writ petition held following a Full Bench decision of the same High Court, Khan Chand v. State of Punjab, AIR 1966 Punj 423 that it was "not legitimate for the authority to treat as surplus area anything more than 5.80 standard acres of the petitioner's land". The Letters Patent Appeal preferred against the decision of the learned single Judge by the State of Haryana and the Collector Surplus Area, Sirsa was dismissed. The correctness of the High Court's decision is challenged before us in this appeal by special leave.

(3.) The case turns on the true meaning of proviso (ii) (a) to Section 2 (3) Counsel for the appellants submits that this provision means that the permissible area in the case of displaced persons who were allotted land in excess of 50 standard acres can be determined either in terms of standard acres or in terms of ordinary acres, as the authority concerned chooses. Counsel contends that the words "as the case may be" refer to the discretion of the authority in this matter. We do not find it possible to accept this contention. There is no specific provision in the Act giving a discretion to the Collector or any other authority under the Act. to determine the permissible area for a displaced person either in standard acres or in ordinary acres. On a plain reading proviso (ii) (a) seems to indicate that where the land allotted to a displaced person was in standard acres and its area exceeded 50 standard acres, the permissible area would be 50 standard acres. and where the land was allotted not in standard acres the permissible area would be 100 ordinary acres. The nature of the original allotment - whether it was in standard acres or in ordinary acres -seems to be the determining factor. The Full Bench decision of the Punjab and Haryana High Court Khan Chand v. State of Punjab, (AIR 1966 Punj 423) (supra), on which the judgment under appeal relies, reads proviso (ii) (a) to mean: