KAUSHALYA DEVI Vs. BACHITTAR SINGH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an appeal by special leave against the judgment of the Punjab High Court by which the order of the Deputy Custodian General with respect of the cancellation of an allotment was set aside.

(2.) The main facts of the case are not in dispute being matters of record. The only point which was in controversy was whether the order of cancellation of the allotment in favour of the respondents had been made before July 22, 1952. The facts may therefore be briefly summarised in order to understand how this controversy arose. One Ragha Ram, who is dead and is now represented by the respondents, was a temporary allottee in village Fatoewal. District Hoshiarpur. He was also allotted some land on a quasi-permanent basis in village Budhewal. Of the appellants, Nil Kanth and Bindraban were sitting allottees in village Budhewal. It seems that they along with other three appellants were given quasi-permanent allotments in various other villages of Hoshiarpur district. All five of them applied to the Director-General Rehabilitation (Rural) praying that they be all restored to village Budhewal, On July 3, 1950, the Director-General made an order to the effect that

(3.) The respondents felt aggrieved by the final order which was passed on September 18, 1952 and went in revision to the Custodian General. This revision application was heard by the Deputy Custodian General and the main contention raised by them was that the order of September 18, 1952, cancelling their allotment was illegal inasmuch as a rule had been made, which came into force on July 22, 1952, according to which no quasi-permanent allotment could be cancelled after that date except in certain circumstances, which admittedly did not exist in this case. Thus the narrow point for the consideration of the Deputy Custodian General was whether the quasi-permanent allotment made in favour of the respondents had been cancelled after July 22, 1952, or before it. There was no misapprehension in the mind of the Deputy Custodian General as to the effect of the change in the Rules in case the order of cancellation was made after July 22, 1952. The question that had to be decided by the Deputy Custodian General was a question of fact, namely, whether the order of cancellation had been made before July 22, 1952 or after it. The Deputy Custodian General came to the conclusion that the order of allotment in favour of the respondents had been cancelled on May 6, 1952 by the Deputy Commissioner, though that order was not actually available on the record. He gave certain reasons in support of the conclusion and eventually dismissed the revision filed by the present respondents.