KESAR SINGH Vs. FINANCIAL COMMISSIONER

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This order shall dispose of three writ petitions bearing CWP Nos. 16264, 16268 and 16283 of 2013 as the facts and law involved in these cases are identical. However, for the sake of convenience, the facts are being extracted from CWP No. 16264 of 2013. Respondent no. 5-landlord filed an application under Section 14-A of the Punjab Security of Land Tenures Act, 1953 (hereinafter referred to as the "Act") for seeking ejectment of the petitioner from the land in dispute on the ground of non-payment of arrears of rent w.e.f. Rabi 1993. As per the case of respondent no. 5, the rate of rent was Rs. 6,000/- per acre per year, whereas the stand of the petitioner in the written statement was that the rate of rent was Rs. 100/- per acre per year.

(2.) The positive stand of the petitioner in the written statement is that the application for ejectment is not maintainable because the rent @ Rs. 100/- per acre per year has already been paid.

(3.) The petitioner also alleged that the land owner has not been issuing receipts after receiving the rent. In the proceedings under Section 145 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, the land owner offered to sell the land to the petitioner @ Rs. 24,000/- per acre and the petitioner had already paid Rs. 35,000/-. However, in the rejoinder filed by the land owner, it is averred that the rent was Rs. 6,000/- per acre per year and Rs. 35,000/- was received as rent and not the sale price.