SHAMSHER SINGH Vs. COMMR JULLUNDUR DIVISION JULLUNDUR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The challenge in this Letters Patent appeal is directed against the judgment and order dated January 6, 1982, of a learned single Judge of this Court dismissing the writ petition (C.W.P. No. 2469 of 1971) of Arjan Singh, father of Shamsher Singh, appellant, seeking a writ of certiorari quashing the order of the Collector, Ludhiana auctioning his land in order to recover the arrears of land revenue alleged to have been collected by Arjan Singh as Lambardar and not deposited in the Government treasury.

(2.) The factual matrix is short and deserves notice at the outset; Arjan Singh, father of the appellant, was Lambardar of Patti Bhagu Singh, village Ghalib Kalan, Tehsil Jagraon, District Ludhiana. He was declared defaulter to the tune of Rs. 14,804.69 for having a collected land revenue and not depositing the same in the Government treasury. His land measuring 50 Kanals 8 Marlas was auctioned by the Collector, Ludhiana (Respondent No. 2) on June, 26, 1970 to recover Rs. 14,804.69 on account of arrears of land revenue. The objections filed by Arjan Singh under S.91 of the Punjab Land Revenue Act, 1887 (for short, 'the Act') had been rejected by the Commissioner, Jullundur Division, Jullundur (respondent No. 1) on March 4, 1971. Aggrieved by these orders, Arjan Singh filed Civil Writ Petition No. 2469 of 1971 challenging the impugned orders on various grounds. With the permission of the Court, the writ petition was amended and it was, inter alia, pleaded that the writ petitioner was not defaulter within the meaning of cl. (8) of S.3 of the Act. A person who has misappropriated and embezzled Government money or the money he had collected on behalf of the Government cannot be held to be a defaulter as envisaged by cl.(8) of S.3. Since the writ petitioner was not a defaulter, proceedings taken under the Act for recovery of the above mentioned amount were wholly without jurisdiction and void ab initio in the face of the ratio of the Division Bench decision of this Court in Gurmukh Singh v. The State of Punjab, 1971 PunLJ 166.

(3.) The writ petition was contested by the respondents. They controverted the material allegations made in the writ petition. They contested the legal proposition propounded by the writ petitioner that a Lambardar who collects land revenue from the land-owners and does not deposit the same in the Government treasury was not a defaulter within the meaning of cl. (8) of S.3 of the Act.