KUNDAN LAL Vs. HARI RAM

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is a letters patent appeal from the order of a learned single judge dated 23-11-1973.

(2.) The salient facts are simple. The dispute centres round a plot of land No. 783-A situated in Mohalla Guru Nanakpura, Namaul. The single question is whether this plot was evacuee property. The respondents, Lala and Hari Ram (hereinafter referred to as the respondents) are father and SON. They claim that the said plot was owned by them and it was their ancestral property.

(3.) On 6-4-1963, this plot was listed as evacuee property in a report prepared by the Assistant Settlement Officer. That the said plot was an evacuee property was described as a "new discovery" in the report. This is what the survey report said : "ft is a new discovery. It is lying vacant at the spot. It is owned by one Hakim Sadiq Ali Patwari as told by Shri Net Ram member M. C. Illaqa." The value of the property was estimated at Rs. 995. The officer who signed the survey report was one Sunder Dass, Rent Controller. After the survey report the property was dealt with as an acquired evacuee prporety under the Displaced Persons (Compensation and Rehabilitation) Act, 1954. It was taken over by the Regional Settlement Commissioner and was treated as a pool property. It was ordered to be sold.