SURAM SINGH Vs. STATE OF HIMACHAL PRADESH ETC.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) In this and the connected writ petition the Petitioners challenge the validity of proceedings taken for their dispossession from land which has been the subject of consolidation proceedings.

(2.) The Petitioners are land -owners in village Saliali, Tehsil Nurpur, District Kangra. Consolidation proceedings were commenced in the village under the East Punjab Holdings (Consolidation and Prevention of Fragmentation) Act, 1948. They proceeded to the point where repartition was effected. When the occasion arose for the owners and the tenants to enter into possession, according to the Petitioners the tenants declined to enter into possession of the land allotted to them because of their economic incapacity to cultivate the land. The Petitioners say that as owners they have been in continuous cultivatory possession of the land ever since.

(3.) In November 1974 the tenants, who have been impleaded as Respondents, applied to the Consolidation Officer for delivery of possession of the land. The Consolidation Officer has issued notice to the Petitioners alleging that they had taken possession illegally of the land and that they should vacate possession, or alternatively file an objection. It appears that since the issue of notice the Consolidation Officer has also issued a warrant of possession.