BHAJAN LAL Vs. STATE OF HARYANA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Petitioners are perpetual lease holders in village Mawai, Tehsil Ballabgarh, District Gurgaon. Consolidation proceedings in this village started under the provisions of the East Punjab Holdings (Consolidation and Prevention of Fragmentation) Act, 1948 (hereinafter called the Act), Scheme was framed and repartition took place. No right holder filed any objections/appeal under Sections 21(2), 21(3) nor application under Section 42 of the Act was filed. However respondent No. 3 and his co-allottees filed an application under Section 42 of the Act and the order was passed on December 7, 1963. It is stated that the petitioners were not made parties to the petition nor any notice was issued to them. Gram Panchayat filed C.W. No. 1249 of 1964 and in this petition also the petitioners were not made parties. During the implementation of the order dated December 7, 1963, respondent No. 1 then passed ex parte order dated July 7, 1965.

(2.) It is in this situation that the present petition has been filed. Return has been filed on behalf of the Respondent No. 1.

(3.) It is contended that no notice was served on the petitioners nor were they made parties to the proceedings under Section 42 of the Act. In the return filed, it is stated that a general proclamation was issued in the village that whosoever is interested may appear before respondent No. 1 whether they were made parties or not is denied for want of knowledge. In this situation the impugned order cannot be sustained on this short point that the petitioners were not made parties to the proceedings before respondent No. 1 and that no notice as required by law was served upon the petitioners. The requirement of law is to serve individual notices and not a general proclamation in the village.