JAGBIR SINGH AND OTHERS Vs. BIMLESH AND OTHERS

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Plaintiffs-appellants are in the regular second appeal against the concurrent finding of fact arrived at by the Courts below dismissing their suit for declaration to the effect that the property is gair mumkin pond and they are co-owners in Shamlat Deh. The suit was filed under Order 1 Rule 8, CPC.

(2.) The defendants contested the suit and pleaded that there is no pond and the area is covered by huge construction. The defendants further pleaded that all the proprietors of the village had orally gifted the property to late Sh. Bhagat Prem who was a renowned saint of the area. Plea of adverse possession was also taken.

(3.) In the considered opinion of this Court that the suit itself was not maintainable before the Civil Court. Once the plaintiffs themselves claim that the property is gair mumkin pond reserved for common purposes, obvious the question which would arise, whether the property is Shamlat Deh or not as defined under Section 2(g) of the Punjab Village Common Land (Regulation) Act, 1961 (for short as 'Act of 1961')? Section 13-A of the Act of 1961 clearly provide that only authority constituted under the Act of 1961 shall have jurisdiction to decide a suit for adjudication whether such land or other immovable property is Shamlat Deh or not and whether any land or other immovable property or any right, title or interest therein vest or does not vest in Panchayat under this Act. The jurisdiction of the Civil Court is barred under Section 13 of the Act. Section 13 and 13-A as applicable in the State of Haryana are extracted as under:-