JAGIR SINGH Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This judgment will dispose of Civil Writ No. 617 of 1968 (Jagir Singh and others V. State of Punjab and others) and Civil Writ No. 1819 of 1968 (Bhajan Singh and others V. State of Punjab and another) as a common question of law arises in both these petitions.

(2.) Jagir Singh's petition relates to village Mahmoodpur, Tehsil and District Ludhiana, in which village the petitioners are landholders. The Punjab Government issued Notification No. 8479-A dated June 12, 1962, under Section 14 of the East Punjab Holding (Consolidation and Prevention of Fragmentation) Act, 1948 (hereinafter called the Act), for the object of consolidating holdings in that village. Immediately thereafter, consolidation proceedings started and prescribed consolidation fee was realised from the landholders under Section 28 of the Act. After going through all the formalities, a Scheme was prepared and re-partition proceedings were taken by the Assistant Consolidation Officer under Section 2(1) of the Act on November 6, 1962. Thereafter, several right-holders filed appeals and petitions under Sections 21 and 42 of the Act and some writ petitions were also filed in this Court. The petitioners have given particulars of seven such proceedings. It has been specifically asserted in para 7 of the petition that no proceedings were pending in any Court or before any officer under the Act after July 26, 1967, when the petition filed by Kartar Singh under Section 42 of the Act was dismissed by the Additional Director. This allegation is borne out by the order of the Additional Director dated 17th June, 1967, a copy of which has been filed as Annexure 'H' to the writ petition, and is in the following words :-

(3.) The petitioners have further alleged in the petition that Kartar Singh son of Pakhar Singh, Lachman Singh son of Tara Singh and Kirpal Singh son of Santa Singh respondents belong to one group and wield a good deal of influence with the authorities, particularly with the Ex-Minister Shri Rajinder Singh, and that Harbans Singh son of Kishan Singh is a cousin of Kartar Singh who holds a very responsible post in the police department. All these persons having failed in their attempt to set aside the consolidation proceedings through regular proceedings, approached the then Minister for Revenue and Consolidation Department (Shri Rajinder Singh) and manoeuvred to secure an order to get the village denotified through the personal influence of respondent No. 7, who wanted to gain undue advantage in the allotment of his new tak during the consolidation but did not succeed in doing so. As a result of these efforts, Memo No. 728-CH-III-68/219 dated 18th January, 1968, was issued by respondent No. 2 (The Deputy Secretary to Government, Punjab, Revenue Department, Chandigarh) to respondent No. 3 (The Director, Consolidation of Holdings, Punjab, Jullundur) purporting to be a denotification relating to 44 villages including Mahmoodpur. The memo, is in these terms :-