HOSHIAR SINGH Vs. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This Writ Petition has been instituted in this Court under Article 226 of the Constitution of India to challenge an order passed under the provisions of Delhi Land Holdings (Ceiling) Act, 1960. For convenience, it is necessary to mention that under the provisions of the Act, a person together with his family cannot hold land in excess of 30 standard acres, but in the case of a family whose members exceed, that family is entitled to 5 additional standard acres for each member in excess of five. It is the admitted case between the parties that the petitioner is entitled to retain 45 standard acres. Under Section 4 of the Act, every person holding land in excess of the ceiling is required to submit a return within 90 days of the commencement of the Act indicating the parcels of land not exceeding the limit which he desires to retain. Thus, within 90 days of the commencement of the Act, the petitioner could have submitted a return specifying the 45 standard acres that he could retain. But he did not do so. Section 5 of the Act further provides that if a person does not submit the return, the Competent Authority shall collect the necessary information. Section 6 provides that on receipt of the return under Section 4 of the Act, or after collecting information under Section 5, the Competent Authority after giving the person affected an opportunity of being heard and holding an enquiry, shall determine the total area of land held and also the land held in excess of the ceiling limit. He may also determine the specific parcels of land which the person is to retain and other similar questions which need not be elaborated at this stage.

(2.) In the present case, when the Competent Authority dealt with the matter under Section 6 of the Act, he prepared a draft list as required by Rule 9 of the Delhi Land Holdings (Ceiling) Rules, 1961. In this list, he showed that the petitioner and Mst. Surjan owned a total area of 537 Bighas and 16 Biswas. The petitioner filed objections as required by the said Rule and the Competent Authority gave a decision to the effect that the petitioner's family consisted of eight persons and he was entitled to retain 45 standard acres as against 57 standard acres held by him. He was, therefore, required to return 12 standard acres out of the area, the petitioner was further directed to make the selection of the area he wanted to retain within 15 days from the date of the order. Against this order, the petitioner filed objections to the Deputy Commissioner under Section 9 of the Act. These objections were dealt with by Shri Dharam Dutt, Additional Collector, Delhi and have led to the impugned order. By the impugned order, it has been held that the petitioner is holding 85 standard acres, and it has, therefore, been held that 40 standard acres of land are in excess which will vest in the Government. The order also specifies the exact Khasra numbers of the 40 standard acres which have to vest in the Government. I shall presently deal with the circumstances in which the area of land said to be owned by the petitioner has been increased by the Additional Collector.

(3.) The fact of the matter is, that the total area of land which the petitioner has been found to have an interest in has been calculated as 540 Bighas. The Competent Authority had determined that the petitioner held a half-interest in this land and Mst. Sarjan held the other half-interest Thus, the area with both Hoshiar Singh and Mst. Sarjan was held by the Competent Authority to be 57 standard acres each. The Additional Collector first considered the objections of Mst. Sarjan and came to the conclusion that the land had to be divided into four equal shares and thus, the decision of the Competent Authority that Hoshiar Singh and Mst. Sarjan held a half share each was wrong. Actually, Mst. Sarian held a 1/4th share by virtue of a mutation, No. 166 dated 7th January, 1956, and Hoshiar Singh, Jawahar Singh son of Hoshiar Singh and Mst. Angoori, wife of Hoshiar Singh, each held a l/4th share. Thus, taking the whole area to be 114 standard acres the holding of Mst. Sarjan was held to be 28 standard acres, and the other three persons, were also holding 28 standard acres each. The Competent Authority had determined the excess in the hands of Mst. Sarian as being 27 standard acres on the basis that her holding was 57 standard acres. The Additional Collector found that the holding being only 28 standard acres was less than 80 standard acres and consequently, it was held that Mst. Sarjan did not hold any excess land and her objections were, therefore, accepted. As regards the balance of the land measuring 85 standard acres, it was held that though, it was in the names of three persons, all those persons were members of one and the same family. By reason of the definition in Section 2 (d) of the Delhi Land Holdings (Ceiling) Act, 1960, the excess in the hands of the petitioner was calculated on the basis that the land held by him and by the members of his family had to be clubbed together and the excess worked out. The total land held by the family being 95 standard acres, the excess of 40 standard acres over and above the ceiling had to vest in the Government.