BALWINDER SINGH Vs. STATE OF HARYANA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS is a petition by three persons, namely, Balwinder Singh, Tara Singh and Jodha Singh, under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution for declaring the auction of land as arbitrary, illegal and mala fide and for restraining the respondents from conducting auction of the land which is in the petitioners' possession.

(2.) THE petitioners are residents of Guldehra Tehsil Pehowa, District Kurukshetra and were landless persons belonging to a backward class. The petitioners have explained that an announcement was made by the then Chief Minister of Punjab, Sardar Partap Singh Kairon, asking the people to settle on the land for cultivation so as to make the barren land and the Jungle cultivable. The petitioners and others came down to village Guldehra to settle there and they were given land for reclamation on patta for an indefinite period. An assurance was given to them that, on growing more food, proprietary rights would be granted to them and that the lease money paid by them would be finally adjusted towards the price of the land. The petitioners brought the land under cultivation, spending huge money and putting hard labour. They installed tubewells and constructed pucca residential houses on the land. The land was originally given to them on patta with lease money ranging from Rs. 5.00 to Rs. 10.00 per acre per year which the petitioners used to deposit regularly against receipts issued by respondent No. 3 Gram Panchayat. The lease money was increase from time to time and it is now Rs. 180.00 per Killa per year. The petitioners have asserted that their names find mention in khasra girdawari as well as the jamabandi. Respondent No. 3, Gram Panchayat, stopped accepting lease money from the petitioners.

(3.) RESPONDENT No. 3, Gram Panchayat has controverted the petitioners' plea on all counts. It is stated that the petitioners are unauthorised occupants of the land inasmuch as no lease can be granted except by open auction for a specified period. Rule 6 of the Punjab Village common Lands (Regulation) Rules, 1964 (for short, "the Rules") requires that lease for shamlat deh can be granted by the Gram Panchayat by open auction only for a period not exceeding two years if it is under plough and for five years if the land is infested with trees, bushes, etc. Since the petitioners are admittedly tenants, the Gram Panchayat is authorised to auction the land under Rule 6 of the Rules.