AJMER SINGH Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS Letters Patent Appeal under Clause 10 of the Letters Patent arises oat of the judgment of the learned Single Judge in Civil Writ Petition No. 49 of 4983 dated May 10, 1989. The petitioner, his father and, brother settled on the disputed land, which was situated in the village Malanwala, in the year 1970-71. They built up kothas on the land and had been residing there. They filed three separate applications for the transfer of land in their possession in their favour.

(2.) THE only point raised by the learned counsel before us in this appeal is that the Additional Commissioner had no power to decide the matter. According to the learned counsel, under the powers Under Section 15 of the Punjab Package Deals Properties (Disposal) Act, it is only the State Government or the Commissioner who can interfere with the orders of the Chief Sales Commissioner and that the Additional Commissioner has no jurisdiction to deal with the matter and, therefore, the impugned order passed by the Additional Commissioner, Ferozepur, is without jurisdiction and it is accordingly liable to be set aside. In support of this proposition, the learned counsel relied upon the decision of the Apex Court in Kiran Singh and Ors. v. Chaman Paswan and Ors. , A. I. R. 1954 SC 340. There cannot be any dispute with the proposition that an order passed by the Court/tribunal having no jurisdiction is a nullity and that its invalidity could be set up whenever and wherever it is sought to be enforced or relied upon. The only controversy is whether the Additional Commissioner has jurisdiction to pass the order impugned in the writ petition. The learned Single Judge rejected this contention of the learned counsel on the ground that the same was not raised before the Additional Commissioner. Even otherwise, we are of the opinion that the Commissioner includes the Additional Commissioner also. Section 2 (1) of the Punjab Package Deals Properties (Disposal) Act reads as follows :" Commissioner means - the Commissioners of a Division.