PUNJAB STATE Vs. GRAM PANCHAYAT MALLAH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal has been filed by the defendant against the judgment and decree of the Additional District Judge, Ambala, dated March 16, 1966.

(2.) Briefly, the case of the Gram Sabha, Mallah, plaintiff is that it was the owner of the land in dispute situated in villages Kidarpur and Malpur which had been given on lease to a contractor for the collection of sand, shingle, stone, limestone etc. The Collector vide his order dated March 26, 1963, cancelled the lease. The suit has been instituted for declaration that the land belonged to the plaintiff and that the State be restrained from interfering with its rights to extract minor minerals. The suit was contested by the State which, inter alia, pleaded that the property in dispute did not vest in the plaintiff and that the Collector had the right to suspend the lease. The trial Court held that the property did not vest in the plaintiff; that it had no right to extract or auction minor minerals and that the order of the Collector was legal. Consequently, it dismissed the suit. The plaintiff went up in appeal to the Additional District Judge, Ambala, who reversed the above findings and decreed the suit of the plaintiff. The State has come up in second appeal to this Court.

(3.) The first question that arises for consideration is whether the property in dispute vests in the Gram Panchayat. It is not disputed that if the property is Shamilat Deh as defined in the Punjab Village Common Lands (Regulation) Act, 1961 (hereinafter referred to as the Act), it would west in the Gram Panchayat. The term Shamilat Deh has been defined, in section 2(g) as follows :-