STATE OF PUNJAB Vs. BHAG SINGH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This judgment will dispose of six Letters Patent Appeals No. 135 to 139 of 1987, and 102 of 1992. The first five Letters Patent Appeals are against a common Judgment of a learned Single Judge dated December 9, 1986, by which five writ petitions viz. C.W.Ps. No. 4295 of 1979, 307, 316, 315 and 306 of 1980 were allowed. The main judgment was written in CWP No. 4295 of 1979. The sixth Letters Patent Appeal, i.e., LPA No. 102 of 1992 is against the judgment of another learned Single Judge in C.W.P No. 333 of 1980, which was decided on March 20, 1991, in the same terms as in CWP No. 4295 of 1979. The State of Punjab has come up in these appeals against the aforesaid judgments of the learned Single Judges.

(2.) The facts in all the aforesaid cases are almost identical and are being taken from C.W.P. No. 4295 of 1979 against which L.P.A. No. 135 of 1987 has been filed. The respondents herein, i.e., the petitioners in C.W.P. No. 4295 of 1979 claimed themselves to be the owners of certain land, situated in the revenue estate of village Ganeshpur, Tehsil and district Patiala, and they alleged to be in possession of the same for more than 15 years. On February 26, 1976, apprehending threat to their peaceful enjoyment of the land and interference in their possession at the behest of the Gram Panchayat, they filed a civil suit in the Court of Subordinate Judge Ist Class, Patiala, against the Gram Panchayat and the Gram Sabha of village Ganeshpur. The suit was for declaration that the plaintiffs were owners in possession of the land and for permanent injunction for restraining the defendants from interfering in their possession of the land in dispute. The Gram Panchayat contested the suit that the plaintiffs were not the owners of the land in dispute and were not entitled to the relief claimed. However, the learned Subordinate Judge 1st Class, Patiala, after considering the entire evidence and earlier judgments of the Civil Court decreed the suit of the plaintiffs on April 17, 1976. This judgment became final between the parties.

(3.) The Punjab Village Common Land (Regulations) Act, 1961, was amended by the Punjab Legislature by Punjab Act No. 19 of 1976. The Amending Act received the assent of the President of India on April 15, 1976, which was published in the Punjab Gazette (Extra Ordinary) Legislative Supplement Part I on April 27, 1976. By virtue of Section 7 of the Amending Act, Section 13 of the principal Act was substituted. Section 13 prior to its Substitution read as under: