LACHHI Vs. GRAM PANCHAYAT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This judgment will dispose of Civil Writ Petition Nos. 1876, 1870 and 1877 to 1881 of 1977.

(2.) For facility of reference, the facts giving rise to Civil Writ Petition No. 1876 of 1977 may briefly be stated as under. The petitioner was a shareholder in the land in dispute which is situate in village Dehalka, tehsil Palwal, district Gurgaon. He claims to be in possession of it for more than 12 years prior to the coming into force of the Punjab Village Common Lands (Regulation) Act, 1954. The Social Education and Panchayat Officer, Palwal, filed an application under Section 7(2) of the Punjab Village Common Lands (Regulation) Act, 1961 (hereinafter called the Act), before the Assistant Collector, Ist Grade, Palwal, seeking the ejectment of the petitioner on the ground that the land had been entered as belonging to the Gram Panchayat in the revenue record. The petitioner urged before the Assistant Collector that he had been in possession of it for more than 12 years prior to 1950. In support of it he produced Jamabandis from the years 1940-41 onwards. The learned Assistant Collector took notice of these Jamabandis and, since in the Jamanbandi for the year 1944-45 the land was shown to be in self-cultivation of the Gram Panchayat, he turned down the plea of the petitioner and ordered his ejectment.

(3.) The petitioner filed an appeal before the Collector, Gurgaon. Alongwith the memorandum of appeal, he filed an application for condonation of delay on the ground that the Advocate engaged by him in the Court of the learned Assistant Collector did not inform him in time and so the appeal had to be filed after the limitation. It was prayed that delay in filing the appeal be condoned and the same be decided on merits. The learned Collector, Gurgaon, without referring to the ground urged by the petitioner dismissed the same by a cryptic order which reads as under :-