BIRBAL Vs. STATE OF HARYANA AND ORS.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The present judgment decides four connected writ petitions bearing C. W. P. No. 8321 of 1996, C. W. P. No. 8322 of 1996, C. W. P. No. 8323 of 1996 and C. W. P. No. 8368 of 1996. For the sake of convenience, the facts have been extracted from C. W. P. No. 8321 of 1996 - Birbal vs. State of Haryana and others.

(2.) The facts that have emerged from the record are that Smt. Sona and Smt. Sugni widows of Tiku were big land owners (hereinafter referred to as the landowners) in Tehsil Dabwali, District Sirsa. Vide order dated 24.03.1961, the Collector, Surplus Area, Dabwali, while deciding their surplus area case, treated the landowners as displaced persons and thus allowed them to retain 100 acres of land, but later on, when it was discovered that the landowners were not displaced persons, order dated 24.03.1961 was reviewed through order dated 31.07.1962, through which now the landowners were allowed to retain only 60 acres and resultantly, the remaining 61.16 acres of land were declared surplus. Thereafter, on 16.03.1963, the area of 61.16 acres, which was declared surplus, was gifted by the landowners in favour of Gramothan, Vidyapeeth, Sangaria. On 03.08.1963, 465 kanals out of the above surplus land was acquired by the State of Haryana for construction of the Lasara Drain. As a result of such acquisition, possession of the 465 kanals of land was taken by the State, but the whole of the acquired land was not utilized, and therefore, vide order dated 13.07.1978, 375 kanals 07 marlas of land out of the total of 465 kanals was released, which, after release under Section 90 of the Punjab Security of Land Tenures Act read with Section 7 of the Haryana Ceiling on Land Holdings Act, 1972, now again fell in the pool of surplus land. The above 375 kanals 07 marlas of land was then allotted under the Haryana Utilisation of Surplus and other Areas Scheme, 1976 (hereinafter referred to as the Scheme) to persons considered eligible under the aforementioned Scheme. Out of the total land of 375 kanals 07 marlas, 265 kanals was allotted to respondents no. 5 to 8. The petitioner challenged the above allotment through appeals filed before the Collector, Sirsa. These appeals were allowed and the matter was remanded back to the Prescribed/Allotment Authority, Dabwali for fresh decision. On remand, the matter was re-considered by the Prescribed Authority, Dabwali and after such re-consideration, vide decision dated 21.04.1989 (Annexure P-3), the allotment made earlier in favour of respondents no. 5 to 8 as also other allottees, was reiterated. Aggrieved by such order, the petitioner again challenged the same through appeals filed before the Collector, Sirsa.

(3.) These appeals were considered and rejected vide order dated 13.02.1990 (Annexure P-4). The petitioner then approached the Commissioner, Hisar Division, Hisar through revision petitions, which were also considered and dismissed, vide order dated 07.12.1990 (Annexure P-5). The above dismissal of the revision petitions by the Commissioner gave a cause to the petitioners to file revision petitions before the Financial Commissioner, but after consideration of these revision petitions, through order dated 13.09.1995 (Annexure P-6), they also met the same fate. The order of allotment dated 27.01.1988 (Annexure P-1) and orders dated 21.04.1989 (Annexure P-3), 13.02.1990 (Annexure P-4), 07.12.1990 (Annexure P-5) and 13.09.1995 (Annexure P-6) are assailed by the petitioner before this Court through the present writ petition.