GRAM PANCHAYAT Vs. ADDL COLLECTOR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS writ petition is filed to quash the order of the Additional Collector, Ambala dated 8. 6. 1981.

(2.) THE Gram Panchayat is the writ petitioner. The 3rd respondent namely the Block Development and Panchayat Officer, Jagadhari, moved an application for ejectment of the 4th respondent under Section 7 of the Punjab Village Common Lands (Regulation) Act, 1961 on the ground that the 4th respondent has been in illegal possession of 23 kanals 18 marlas of the land belonging to the Gram Panchayat in Khasra Nos. 5/18, 19 and 22. The said application was opposed by the 4th respondent on the ground that the land was subject to river action and, therefore, it does not vest in the Gram Panchayat and the same was exempt from the definition of Shamlat Deh. The said application was allowed by the Assistant Collector 1st Grade by his order dated 11. 12. 1979. But the said order was reversed by the Additional Collector, Ambala in the impugned order holding that the land in dispute was described as alluvian dilluvian action land, and, therefore, it is not shamilat deh and does not vest in the Gram Panchayat. Aggrieved by the said decision, the Gram Panchayat filed the writ petition.

(3.) THEREFORE , it is clear that the land which is subject to river action, cannot be treated as shamlat deh. The record clearly shows that the land in dispute is subject to river action. If that is the case, the land does not come under the definition of shamlat deh. In this view of the matter, I do not find any illegality or infirmity in the order of the Additional Collector, Ambala dated 8. 6. 1981. The writ petition is, therefore, liable to be dismissed on this short ground.