SUNDER SINGH Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This judgment will dispose of Civil Writ Nos. 1133 of 1973 and 1676 to 1694 of 1973. The facts giving rise to Civil Writ No. 1679 of 1973 may be stated as follows :-

(2.) The petitioner has challenged the order of ejectment passed against him, inter alia, on the ground that landholders of this village had filed against the Gram Panchayat a suit for a declaration that they had partitioned the land before the coming into operation of the Pepsu Village Common Lands (Regulation) Act, 1954 (Act No. 15 of 1955), and as such they have become full-owners of this land. This suit was decreed by the learned Subordinate Judge, 4th Class, Bassi in their favour on 25th of June, 1959. A copy of this judgment is added as Annexure 'C' to Civil Writ No. 1133 of 1973. It has been asserted that in the face of this judgment it was not open to the Revenue authorities to Order the ejectment of the petitioner.

(3.) A reading of the judgment of the civil Court shows that the shamilat land in this village had been partitioned according to the Khasra Girdawari entries of 1954-55. It is not disputed that the Pepsu Village Common Lands (Regulation) Act, 1954 came into force on the 4th of March, 1955. Thus, at the time when this Act was brought on the Statute Book all the shamilat land in this village had been partitioned though it continued to be shown in the Revenue papers as 'shamilat' land. The question whether a civil Court was competent to determine the nature of the land or not came up for consideration before I.D. Dua, J. (as his Lordship then was) in Gram Panchayat Deh Mauza Gharhi Brahman Tehsil Sonepat v. Kesho Narain and others,1964 AIR(P&H) 462 The learned Judge observed as under :-