KEHAR SINGH Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB AND ORS.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This judgment will dispose of CWP Nos. 3664 and 4218 of 1987 as the question of law and facts involved in both the cases are common. The facts have been taken from CWP No. 4218 of 1987.

(2.) The petitioners who are allegedly landless workers belonging to the poor section of society are said to have been inducted as lessees on about 220 acres of land situate in village Nurpur Jattan, which was identified as Shamlat Deh in the Revenue Record. It has been averred in para 3 of the petition that in 1972 some of the land was allotted to the petitioners on a nominal Chakota for five years and the petitioners were given to understand that in due course of time they would be given permanent settlement rights. On the basis of this verbal assurance the petitioners invested money, labour and time on the land and improved the quality of the land so as to make it highly productive.

(3.) A chequered and prolonged legal battle between the petitioners on the one side and the Gram Panchayat on the other culminated in the order Annexure P-1 and dated 21.4.1986 in which it was held by the Additional Director, Consolidation of Holdings. Punjab exercising the powers of the State Government under section 42 of the East Punjab Holdings (Consolidation and Prevention of Fragmentation) Act, 1948, that the land in question was not Shamlat Deh but belonged to the proprietors who had been in possession thereof for a long period. Certain other proceedings were subsequently taken at the instance of the petitioners and those having failed, the present writ petition has been filed impugning the order Annexure P-1.