GURCHARAN SINGH Vs. JAG RAM

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE present revision petition dated 19.7.1996 has been preferred under Section 16 of the Punjab Land Revenue Act, 1881 against the order dated 18.3.1996, passed by the Commissioner (Appeals), Patiala Division, Patiala, in a mutation case regarding inheritance.

(2.) THE brief facts of this case are, that, Smt. Chand Kaur had reportedly died on 18.9.1978; and, after this fact was detected by the Naib-Tehsildar-cum- Assistant Collector, IInd Grade, Lehragaga, during attestation of the Jamabandi of village Chudal Khurd, Tehsil Sunam, District Sangrur, the Halqa Patwari had entered mutation No. 1915 of village Chudal Khurd, Hadbast No. 80 regarding inheritance of Smt. Chand Kaur in favour of her daughters namely, Gurdev Kaur, Tej Kaur and Gurcharan Singh, Chet Singh, Surjan Singh sons; being her progeny from the loin of Inder Singh, her second husband. As revealed from the record, Chand Kaur was earlier married to Bir Singh, of village Chudal Khurd, and after the death of Bir Singh, Chand Kaur had remarried with Inder Singh of village Bhaini Bhagha, and had given birth to three sons and two daughters. However, from her first marriage with Bir Singh, Chand Kaur had no issue. After the death of Bir Singh, his inheritance was mutated in favour of Chand Kaur, which had continued undisputed throughout. Mutation No. 1915, as entered by the Halqa Patwari, was taken up by the Assistant Collector, IInd Grade, Lehragaga; but on an objection being raised by one Jag Ram son of Nikka Singh, the mutation was declared as contested, and the same was taken up by the Assistant Collector, Ist Grade, Sunam. Before the Assistant Collector, Ist Grade, Sunam, the succession of Chand Kaur was claimed by Kura Singh etc., claiming themselves as legal Heirs of Bir Singh, on the one side; and, by Gurcharan Singh etc., as legal heirs of Inder Singh, the second husband of Chand Kaur, on the other side. The Assistant Collector, Ist Grade, Sunam, vide his order dated 13.12.1993, had rejected this mutation by observing, "as Chand Kaur deceased re-married Inder Singh prior to enforcement of Hindu Succession Act and also was not in actual possession of the land in dispute, under law property inherited by her from Bir Singh should revert to legal heirs of Bir Singh. So legal heirs of Bir Singh are entitled to get a fresh mutation relating to inheritance of Bir Singh entered and decided under Law". Against this order, Gurcharan Singh etc. had filed an appeal before the District Collector, Sangrur, which was accepted vide Collector's order dated 28.7.1994, and the mutation No. 1915 was sanctioned, as entered by the Halqa Patwari, in favour of Gurcharan Singh etc. Aggrieved by this order Jag Ram and Kura Singh had filed an appeal before the Commissioner (Appeals), Patiala Division, Patiala, which was accepted; and the order dated 28.7.1994, passed by the District Collector, Sangrur, was set aside vide his order dated 18.3.1996. The present revision petition is directed against this order.

(3.) AT the outset, it may be pointed that, the Assistant Collector, Ist Grade, Sunam, as well as, the learned Commissioner (Appeals), Patiala Division, Patiala had gone into the extraneous considerations unjustifiably; and while doing so, both these officers had passed untenable and unsustainable orders. The District Collector, Sangrur, had rightly appreciated the facts of the case, and the provisions of law, and vide his order dated 28.7.1994, had very appropriately set aside the order passed by the Assistant Collector, Ist Grade, and had sanctioned the mutation in favour of the sons and daughters of the deceased Chand Kaur, from out of her second wed-lock with Inder Singh. Section 14 of the Hindu Succession Act, 1956, which is reproduced below, makes it amply clear, that, any property possessed by a female Hindu, whether acquired before or after the commencement of this Act, shall be held by her as full owner thereof and not as a limited owner :-