TEKA Vs. GRAM PANCHAYAT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Through this writ petition the orders Annexures P.1 and P.3 passed by the Assistant Collector Ist Grade, Panipat, and the Collector, Karnal, respectively have been impugned. Vide Annexure P.1 and application under Section 7(1)/(2) of the Punjab Village Common Lands Act, 1961 (for short 'the Act'), as applicable to the State of Haryana, filed by respondent Gram Panchayat was allowed and eviction of the petitioner from the land in dispute was ordered. He filed an appeal Annexure P.2 before the Collector but the same was dismissed vide order Annexure P.3 and the order of the Assistant Collector was upheld. The sheet-anchor of his case is that the land in dispute does not form part of the shamilat deh. Therefore, his eviction could not be ordered under the provisions of Section 7 of the Act. He claimed that he was cultivating the land in dispute as a co-sharer and was himself paying revenue in respect of the said land. He further relied on a judgment of the civil Court dated 20th November, 1965 by which the land amongst the co-sharers has been partitioned.

(2.) C.M. No. 153 of 1988 has been filed by the petitioner stating that all these averments had been admitted by the respondent-Gram Panchayat in its written statement. However, no such written statement forms a part of the file. A notice of this application was, therefore, given for today to the counsel for the Gram Panchayat respondent who has put in appearance. A copy of the written statement filed by him has been produced by Mr. Rameshwar Malik, counsel for respondent No. 1, which bears out the fact that the land in dispute is in cultivation of the petitioner as a co-sharer and a partition between the co-sharers had already been effected which is borne out by the judgment dated 20th November, 1965. Mr. Malik candidly states that these facts were not to the notice of the Gram Panchayat when the application under section of the Act was filed.

(3.) The upshot of all the facts narrated above is that the application under Section 7 of the Act filed by the Gram Panchayat was not all maintainable and consequently the orders Annexure P.2 and P.3 passed by the authorities under the Act are without jurisdiction. Both the impugned orders Annexures P.1 and P.3 are quashed and the writ petition is allowed accordingly. C.M. is also disposed of. The parties are left to bear their own costs.