DHARAMPAL Vs. COMMISSIONER KARNAL DIVISION, KARNAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) All these civil writ petitions are taken up together for final disposal as common questions of law and facts are involved in these writ petitions.

(2.) The brief facts of the cases are that the Block Development and Panchayat Officer, Kaithal, filed an application under Sec. 7(2) of the Punjab Village Common Land Act, 1961 (hereinafter to be referred to as "the Act of 1961") before the Court of learned Assistant Collector 1st Grade, Kaithal and vide his order dtd. 28/11/1997 ordered the ejectment of the petitioners from the land in question and imposed a penalty of Rs.10,000.00 per hectare per year from the year 1975-76 till the vacation of the land. An appeal was preferred against the same by the petitioners before the Collector, Kaithal which was dismissed on 27/11/1998. Against the order of the learned Collector, Kaithal, the petitioners filed revision petitions before the Commissioner, Ambala Division, Ambala Cantt., who vide order dtd. 9/3/2004 remanded their cases to the learned Collector, Kaithal, to decide the same on merit after hearing both the parties and giving them opportunity to produce evidence after spot inspection. In compliance of order of the learned Commissioner, Ambala Division, Ambala, the learned Collector vide order dtd. 24/8/2004 remanded the case to Assistant Collector 1st Grade, Kaithal. The District Development and Panchayat Officer/Assistant Collector 1st Grade, Kaithal, vide order dtd. 26/10/2015 ordered the ejectment of the petitioners from the land in question and imposed Rs.10,000.00 per hectare per year as penalty from the date of the filing of the application till vacation of the possession. Aggrieved by order of Assistant Collector 1st Grade, the petitioners filed appeal before the learned Collector, Kaithal, which was dismissed vide order dtd. 9/8/2016 and 25/10/2016. Further aggrieved by the order dtd. 9/8/2016 and 25/10/2016, the petitioners filed the revision petitions and prayed for acceptance of the same and dismissal of the application under Sec. 7(2) of the Act of 1961.

(3.) After hearing both the parties, the petitioners as well as the Gram Panchayat, the revision petitions filed by the petitioners were dismissed and orders dtd. 9/8/2016 and 25/10/2016 were upheld vide order dtd. 27/6/2018 which is impugned herein in these writ petitions.