BALWANT SINGH Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) ALL the 163 petitions viz. C. W. P. No. 7127, 7916, 7917, 7920 to 7922, 8197, 8500, 8653, 9103, 9202, 9241, 9411, 9631, 9647, 10162, 10416, 10643, 10910, 10926, 11269, 16561, 11875, 11876, 11895, 11915, 12412, 12565, 12569, 12613, 12621, 12641, 12645, 12667, 12795 to 12797, 12775, 13000, 13001, 13004, 13165, 13423, 13548, 13551, 13552, 13740, 13867 to 13869, 141162, 14163, 14066, 14235, 14304, 14332, 14333, 14387, 14419, 14432, 14434 to 14442, 14462 to 14466, 11564, 14713, 14842, 14942, 14942, 15145 to 15192, 15203, 15289, 15409, 15405, 15488, 15610, 15611, 15784, 15894, 15923, 15955, 16066, 16058, 16066, 16070, 16159, 16265, 16680, 16691, 16726 to 16728, 16734, 16817, 16915, 16917, 17010, 17124, 17125, 17154, 17157, 17167 to 17170, 17232, 17332, 17322, 17381, 17505, 17509, 17672, 17676, 17725, 17773, 18016, 18018, 18024, 18049, 18076, 18353, 18406, 18604, 18714, 18792, 18821, 18822, 18917, 19018 and 19173 of 1991, 11544, 14 to 14740, and 14792 of 1989, 15725 of 1990 and 133, 230, 316, 401, 402, 476, 742, 1000, 1006 and 1163 of 1992 can be disposed of by oen common order. In these petitions the vires of Section 7 of the Punjab Village Common Lands (Regulation) Act, 1961 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Act') have been challenged. Since the arguments have been mainly addressed in C. W. P. No. 11269 of 1991, the facts, as stated therein, may be briefly noticed.

(2.) THE petitioner is a resident of village Neelpur, tehsil Rajpura, district Patiala. On November 24, 1990, the Gram Panchayat filed an application under Section 7 of the Act for eviction of the petitioner from the land measuring 2 biswas comprised in Khasra No. 95/8. A copy of this application has been produced as Annexure P. I. The petitioner contested this application and claims that he has been in possession of half of the land in dispute, Viz. 1 biswas which was allotted to him during the consilidation proceedings and that the Panchayat had nothing to do with it. While the matter was pending before the District Development and Panchayat Officer, Patiala, who exercises the powers of the Collector, the petitioner has filed the present petition. The primary ground raised in the petition is that the provisions of Section 7 are beyond the legislative competence of the Punjab State and that is confers totally arbitrary, unregulated and unbridled powers on the Collector. It has been further claimed that the conferring of the powers on the District Development and Panchayat Officers is contrary to the principles of natural justice and the spirit of the Act. The Panchayat Officers have been allowed to be judges to their own cause and they cannot be expected to be judges with an open mind. Copy of the notification issued by the Punjab Government by which the powers of the Collector under the Act have been conferred on the District Panchayat Officers has been produced as Annexure P. 2. Prayer for declaring Section 7 of the Act as void and that the proceedings initiated against the petitioner are without jurisdiction as also for quashing of the notification conferring the powers of the Collector on the District Development and Panchayat Officers has been made.

(3.) EVEN though the vires of a provisions of the Act have been challenged, yet no written statement has been filed by the State of Punjab. However, a written statement has been filed on behalf of the Gram Panchayat, which has been impleaded as respondent No. 2. It has been averred that the petitioner had never been given the land in dispute either on lease, batai or contract and he has no share in this land. It has been further averred that the land was never allotted to the petitioner and was, in fact, given by the Panchayat to one Mr. Tarlok Singh for his personal use till he lived in the village. The said Tarlok Singh left the village about ten years back and after that the petitioner illegally occupied the land. It has been further stated that the provisions of Section 7 are intra-vire and the section does not confer any arbitrary, unguided or unbridled powers.