SAIDO Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB AND OTHERS

JUDGEMENT

(1.) (Oral)- The petitioner is aggrieved by the orders dated Jan. 24, 2013 (P-9) and May 29, 2013 (P-10) passed under Sec. 7 of the Punjab Public Premises and Land Eviction and Recovery Act, 1973 whereby, petitioner was ordered to be evicted from the land measuring 12 kanals situated within the revenue estate of Village Bela Sariana. The finding given by the authorities is that the management of the land vests in the Gram Panchayat and the petitioner is in its illegal occupation. While holding so, the authorities have placed reliance on Sec. 42-A of the East Punjab Holding (Consolidation and Prevention of Fragmentation) Act, 1948.

(2.) When this petition came up for preliminary hearing on Aug. 14, 2014, petitioner claimed that she is a land-less woman and has constructed her dwelling unit on a part of the subject land. We thus, issued notice to the respondents to explore the possibility whether the subject land can be sold to her at a concessional rate, in terms of Government Policy meant for allotment of residential plots to BPL families.

(3.) Balbir Kaur, Sarpanch of Gram Panchayat has filed her written statement controverting the petitioner's claim. It is stated that the petitioner is neither a Scheduled Caste nor she belongs to land-less family. Her husband owns 35 kanals 18 marlas land in the village, as per report of the halqa Patwari (R4/1) and thus, it is not a case of land-less family to whom the Gram Panchayat land can be sold.