RAM SINGH LAMBERDAR Vs. STATE OF HARYANA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) TAKING advantage of CWP No. 5877 of 1992 pending adjudication before the Full Bench of this Court and by briefly tracing the history as to how Full Bench came to be constituted in the matter aforesaid, petitioners secured order of admission of this writ petition which was ordered to be listed for hearing after decision of CWP No. 5877 of 1992 as also status-quo re : possession by making it look like as if questions involved in this case were the same as were under adjudication in CWP No. 5877 of 1992.

(2.) GRAM Panchayat, Sirsla, District Kurukshetra, arrayed as third respondent in the petition, takes serious exception to the admission order and vide civil miscellaneous application in hand filed under Section 151 of the Code of Civil Procedure seeks recalling of the said order and dismissal of writ petition. It has, inter-alia, been pleaded in the application aforesaid that as a matter of fact petitioners have filed the present writ by concealing true and correct facts which were within their knowledge. They had already filed suits under Section 13-A of the Punjab Village Common Lands (Regulation) Act, 1961 (for short 'the Act') in May, 2001, for setting aside mutation No. 701 dated August 8, 1964 and for declaring them as owners as also for delivering them the possession of the land in dispute. Copies of suits filed by petitioners 1, 2, 3 and 5 and real brothers of Jagat Ram, petitioner No. 4, namely, Subhash and Suresh, have been enclosed with the application as Annexures A-1 and A-2. It is the case of applicant-Gram Panchayat that petitioners were never in possession of land in dispute on 17.5.2001 even when civil suits were filed by them and for that they had sought a decree for possession as well in their suits, referred to above. That being so, there was no question for them to have obtained order of status-quo from this Court when they filed present petition on 17.5.2002. It has further been pleaded in the application aforesaid that the Gram Panchayat is owner in possession of the land in dispute and has been leasing out the same by public auction which is conducted every year and it is always the highest bidder who is in possession. For this year, auction was conducted in the month of May, 2002 and the persons, who had given highest bids were given possession as lessees, particulars of whom as also the area leased out as also the lease money deposited by them for one year would be depicted from Annexure A-3. A total sum of Rs. 5,46,314/- was received by the Gram Panchayat which included a sum of Rs. 38,675/- on account of electricity bills. The auction was conducted in the presence of sarpanch, Panches besides District Development and Panchayat Officer, Block Development and Panchayat Officer and Social Education and Panchayat Officer. The proceedings of the auction have been annexed with the application as Annexure A-3. The land is being leased out for the last 40 years which would be evident from the lease/bid register maintained by the Gram Panchayat. Copy of revenue record from 1980-81 till date would demonstrate possession of respective lessees. A copy of Jamabandi for the year 1980-81 and the latest Jamabandi for the year 2000-01 have also been annexed with the application as Annexures A-4 and A-5. It is then pleaded that Panches of the Gram Panchayat, Sirsla, who were directly related to some of the petitioners and in connivance with them, tried to project their possession and interfere with the peaceful possession of lessees by destroying their crops which had been sown by them for which even an FIR was lodged against them. The names of Panches and their relations with the petitioners have been detailed in para No. 7 of the application. The petitioners in collusion with the Panches, who are related to them, tried to create lawlessness on account of which auction could not be conducted properly. The Gram Panchayat, in these circumstances, had to make a request to the Deputy Commissioner to provide police help. The Deputy Commissioner acceded to the request of the Gram Panchayat and provided police help. The auction was conducted on May 2, 2002, May 6, 2002, May 9, 2002 and May 20, 2002 and the persons mentioned in para No. 9 of the application are stated to be the highest bidders for different parcels of land. All the lessees were put in possession and they had sown saplings of paddy and Jawar but the petitioners, who had obtained order of the status-quo on May 17, 2002, though were not in possession of the land, taking law into their own hands, destroyed the saplings sown by the lessees, who approached the police and lodged an FIR No. 254 dated June 1, 2002. It is then pleaded that mutation in favour of the Gram Panchayat was sanctioned way back in 1964 as would be evident from the suits filed by the petitioners under Section 13-A of the Act and yet vires of Act No. 9 of 1992 were challenged simply with a view to mislead this Court and obtain order of status-quo.

(3.) IN response to notice issued by this Court in the application aforesaid, petitioners have filed reply wherein it has, inter-alia, been pleaded that vires of Act No. 9 of 1992 have been assailed as the land in dispute pertains to shamlat Patti and petitioners are proprietors. In fact, land in dispute was mutated in favour of the Gram Panchayat only on the basis of the letter and in view of the judgment of this Court in Mohinder Singh v. Commissioner, Ferozepur. The land, it is asserted, belongs to proprietors of the Patti and Gram Panchayat has sufficient land for its income and as such land comes within the definition of Bachat. Filing of suits under Section 13-A of the Act has not been denied. However, it is stated that since the present case is the one wherein the petitioners are claiming land being proprietors and the Gram Panchayat has absolutely no right, they have filed the present petition. The lease of land, it is stated, confers no right on the Gram Panchayat which has not been reserved for common purposes and, thus, could not even be leased out. The alleged lease given from time to time, as stated in the application, is stated to be matter of record. It is stated that the illegality which is being perpetuated can not be legalised and the Gram Panchayat has no right over the land in dispute. Challenging mutation of the year 1964 in the suits under Section 13-A of the Act is admitted. It is, however, pleaded that the land in dispute belonged to shamlat Patti and has been transferred in the name of Gram Panchayat on the basis of letter of the year 1992.