KASHMIR SINGH Vs. GRAM PANCHAYAT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is a revision petition directed against the order dated 10.1.2002 passed by the Additional District Judge, Gurdaspur accepting the appeal of the defendant-respondent gram panchayat wherein the order dated 2.6.2001 passed by the Civil Judge (Junior Division), Gurdaspur was challenged. The Civil Judge vide his order dated 2.6.2001 has restrained the defendant-respondent gram panchayat from dispossessing the plaintiff- petitioner from the suit land during the pendency of the suit for the reason that the land in dispute is the land of the proprietor and the gram panchayat had no jurisdiction over that land and also on the ground that the land has been auctioned by the gram panchayat in favour of the brother of the plaintiff-petitioner. The entry in Khasra girdawari from Kharif 2000 has been recorded for the reason that the plaintiff-petitioner has been cultivating the land under his brother as he has taken the land from the gram panchayat in auction. It is true that a land which has entry like jumla mustarka malkan would not vest in the gram panchayat and the gram panchayat may not have even the right to auction such land, yet the plaintiff-petitioner has to show that he is proprietor and that he is person interested in the jumla mustarka malkan. In the present case, the plaintiff-petitioner has not been able to show that in either of the Courts below and also before this Court his proprietary rights in the land. Therefore, the conclusion reached by the Additional District Judge that he has come in possession on the basis of the auction in favour of his brother cannot prima facie be disbelieved and rejected. Therefore, I do not find any material irregularity or illegality in the impugned order passed by the Additional District Judge, Gurdaspur which may warrant interference of this Court under Section 115 of the Code. However, it is left open to the plaintiff-petitioner to produce on record the evidence showing that he is the proprietor in the village and, therefore, the land would vest in the proprietary body and not in the gram panchayat.