RENUKA SEKHON Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) IN this Writ Petition, two questions of law were raised before the learned Single Judge and were referred for decision by a larger Beach. The questions posed are : (i) Can the consolidation proceedings be continued with regard to land which was situated in a village at the time of issuing Notification under Section 14 (1) of the East Punjab Holdings (Consolidation and Prevention of Fragmentation) Act, 1948 when subsequently at the time of effecting re-partition the land becomes part of a Notified Area Committee on a declaration having been made by the State Government under Section 241 of the Punjab Municipal Act, 1911; and (ii) in which authority would the land reserved for common purposes vest after the Gram Panchayat ceases to exist and a new authority by the same Notified Area Committee comes into existence.

(2.) THE questions were raised in view of the undisputed facts, that 56 Acres 4 Kanals of land forming a part of Khasra Nos. 1192 to 1337 of village Dakha Hadbast No. 142, Tehsil Ludhiana, District Ludhiana, was notified under Section 14 (1) of the East Punjab Holdings (Consolidation and Prevention of Fragmentation) Act, 1948. The consolidation proceedings were going on when the State notified the area under consolidation as notified area of the Notified Area Committee. Resultantly the area under Consolidation fell within the Municipal limit of the Municipal Committee. The petitioner challenged the continuation of the consolidation proceedings on the grounds viz. (i) that the consolidation proceedings cannot continue as the land in dispute had become a part of the Notified Area of the Committee, and (ii) that the land in dispute was earlier subjected to consolidation in the year 1950 and having been kept in the said proceedings for extension of abadi, it cannot be subjected to the consolidation proceedings again.

(3.) IT would be expendient to collate the scheme of the East Punjab Holdings (Consolidation and Prevention of Fragmentation) Act, 1948. The Act was enacted with the object of bringing prosperity to the peasantry and to promote the village economy by making the plots viable for agricultural purposes and further to prevent fragmentation of the agricultural land holdings. It was an act in the nature of agrarian reforms. It provides compulsory consolidation of agricultural holdings. "consolidation of Holdings" has been defined by Section 2 (b) of the East Punjab Holdings (Consolidation and Prevention of Fragmentation) Act, 1948 (hereinafter called the Consolidation Act), to mean the amalgamation and the resdistribution of all or any of the lands in an estate or sub division of an estate so as reduce the number of plots in the holdings. The definition of "land" as envisaged by Section 2 (d) of the consolidation Act provides that "land" means land which is not occupied as the site of any building in a town or village and is occupied or let for agricultural purposes or for purposes subservient to agriculture, or for pasture, and includes the sites of building and other structures on such land. The "estate" has not been defined in the said Act. Section 2 (k), however, provides that words and expressions used in this Act but not defined, have the meanings assigned to them in the Punjab Land Revenue Act, 1887 (XVII of 1987 ). The Punjab Land Revenue Act defines "estate to mean any area for which a separate record of-right has been made; or which has been separately assessed to land revenue; or would have been so assessed if the land revenue has not been released, compounded for or redeemed; or which the State Government may, by general rule or special order, declare to be an estate. In order to implement the object of the Act, the Government has been empowered by Section 14 of the Consolidation Act to notify its intention to make as scheme for the consolidation of holdings in such estate or part thereof as may be specified. Section 14 of the said Act reads as under; "14. Government may of its own accord or on application declare its intention to make scheme for consolidation of holdings.-- (1) With the object of consolidating holdings in any estates or group of estates or any part thereof for the purpose of better cultivation of lands therein, the State Government may of its own motion or on application made in this behalf declare by notification and by publication in the prescribed manner in the estate or estates concerned its intention to make a scheme for the consolidation of holdings in such estate or estates or part thereof as may be specified. (2) and (3) xx xx xx xx xx xx xx xx