SUBE SINGH Vs. STATE OF HARYANA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The controversy here is with regard to 69 Kanals and 1 Marla of land, now in the cultivating possession of the petitioner Sube Singh.

(2.) On April 15, 1953, the day on which the Punjab Security of Land Tenures Act, 1953 (hereinafter referred as 'the Act') came into force, the land in question was in the ownership of Puran Singh and Jagminder Singh, but the surplus land of the landowner-Sampuran Singh and Jagminder Singh by the order of the Collection (Agrarian), Jhajjar of February 25, 1963. The possession of the land has however, continued with the tenants ever since and this land was not utilized either under the 1953 Act or the Haryana Land Reforms Act, 1972. It is the case of the petitioner that he came to hold this land as a tenant since 1958-59, but according to the return filed by the respondent-State, his possession began in 1960. Be that as it may, there is no dispute that the petitioner has continued in possession ever since and further that he was not in any way related to the landowners-Sampuran Singh or Jagminder Singh

(3.) On August 25, 1971, the petitioner applied for the purchase of the said land under Section 18 of the 1953 Act. This application was eventually allowed on November 30, 1973 and in terms thereof, the petitioner paid Rs. 5,000/- as price of the land of the landowners. What has now led to the filing of the present writ petition is the application filed by the petitioner on November 15, 1976 (Annexure P/1) praying therein that the said land be excluded from the surplus pool and in the alternative it may be allotted to him. This prayer was declined by the Collector (Agrarian), Jhajjar, by his order of November 30, 1976. The appeal against this order was dismissed by the Commissioner, Ambala, on February 18, 1977 and finally the revision petition too was dismissed by the financial Commissioner, Haryana by his order of July 25, 1979.