BHAGWAN SINGH Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Bhagwan Singh petitioner of village Wandar Jatana of Faridkot Tehsil after receiving notice under Section 32-B of the Pepsu Tenancy and Agricultural Lands Act, 1955, filed his return showing the following holdings :-

(2.) Sometime after the Collector's order, an area of 48 Kanals and 13 Marlas at one time and 10 Kanals and 14 Marlas at another, was redeemed by the mortgagors after payment of the mortgage money. Thus, the petitioner as a mortgagee came to lose this area of 59 Kanals and 7 Marlas. In the impugned order (annexure P) the Commissioner of the Patiala Division considered that the mortgaged area was in fact an application by the petitioner and was liable to be taken into account in reckoning the surplus area. This is a position which is wholly untenable. The petitioner was only a mortgagee with respect to the area which subsequently came to be redeemed by the mortgagors. The area under mortgage with the petitioner could not be regarded as land under his ownership. The matter is indeed covered by authority. In Bishan Singh v. State of Punjab, 1968 PunLJ 259, Mahajan, J. held that -

(3.) In the clear view of the matter, the order of the Commissioner cannot be upheld and is accordingly quashed. The petitioner did not go in revision against the order of the Commissioner, Patiala Division, passed on 23rd March, 1964. This, however, is not a defect which is fatal to the entertainment of this petition.