GURBACHAND SINGH LACHHMAN SINGH Vs. CH HOSHIAR SINGH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS is a petition under Section 3, Contempt of Courts Act, filed by Gurbachan singh against two officers both named Hoshiar Singh, one of whom is the Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Sirsa, while, the other is Naib Tehsildar cum Managing officer at Sirsa.

(2.) THE facts of the case are that the petitioner is one of a number of persons who were considered by the authorities to be in an unlawful occupation of certain lands situated at a village called Kariwala, and the decision had been taken by the authorities to eject them, with police assistance, if necessary. This dispossession was apparently to take, place on 20-5-1958. The present petitioner and a number of others who were thus threatened with dispossession filed petitions in this Court under Article 226 of the Constitution challenging the action of the authorities. These petitions apparently came before my Lord the Chief Justice on 16-5-1958 when he issued an order staying dispossession until the 19th of May, when the petitions were to come up for admission before a Division Bench on the 19th of may, stay order was extended up to the 23rd of May for the purpose of enabling the petitioners to produce certain relevant copies.

(3.) IT is not in dispute that the first order staying dispossession up to the 19th of may was brought to the notice of both the respondents on the 19th of May on which date the communication from the High Court reached Sirsa. It is also not in dispute that on the morning of the 20th of May both the Sub-Divisional Magistrate at Sirsa and the Naib Tehsildar, who was already in the village, were in formed by the interested parties who had received information from counsel, and also had counsel with, them at the time, that an extension of the stay order up to the 23rd of May had been granted by this Court. In spite of this fact it is alleged that in the village the Naib Tehsildar formally dispossessed the present petitioner and handed, over his land to one Budh Singh though he refrained from carrying out any further acts of dispossession since apparently there was a crowd present and he feared that the police who were present to assist him might not be sufficient to cope with any outbreak of disorder which might take place.