JAGMOHAN SINGH Vs. STATE OF HARYANA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Jagmohan Singh and other rightholders of village Kanmwalgarh, Tehsil Fatehabad, District Hissar have filed this writ petition under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution of India for issuance of a writ of certiorari quashing the recovery proceedings launched against them as also for issuance of a writ of mandamus to the respondents that they should not charge betterment levy and acreage rates from them. It has arisen from the following circumstances.

(2.) The petitioners are rightholders having lands in village Kanwalgarh. This land is situated by the side of Ghagger river. This land is occasionally irrigated by the flood waters of Ghagger river. Sometimes the petitioners irrigated their lands by drawing water from Ghagger river. The State Government charges water rate which is popularly known as 'Abyana'. In addition to this 'Abyana', the respondents who are State of Haryana through Secretary Revenue to Haryana Government, Collector, District Hissar, Tehsildar-cum-Assistant Collector, Fatehabad and Divisional Canal Officer, Tohana are pressing the petitioners to pay betterment charges at the rate of Rs. 5/- per acre per crop. In addition to that they have been levied acreage charges at the rate of Rs. 10/- per acre. The result is that the petitioners have to pay 'Abyana' for irrigation purposes and betterment charges. Over and above that they are required to pay acreage rates. In the petition the levies of all these three items have been challenged as being illegal and without any authority of law. The State has controverted the pleas raised by the petitioners.

(3.) Before me, Mr. A.K. Walia has contested only the levy of acreage rates. He has not challenged the levy of "Abyana" and betterment charges and rightly so because those are squarely covered by the provisions of Northern India Canal and Drainage Act and the Punjab Betterment Charges and Acreage Rates Act, 1952, respectively.