NAND LAL SINGH Vs. STATE OF RAJASTHAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) All these writ petitions are directed against common judgment passed by Board of Revenue dated 30.11.2005 whereby revision petitions filed by Petitioners were rejected and order dated 28.02.2006 by which their review petitions were dismissed.

(2.) It may be noted that Petitioners were earlier granted khatedari rights of the lands, which were in fact part of notified protected forest area, by order of Assistant Forest Settlement Officer dated 30.04.1975. The Government filed appeals against aforesaid order before District Collector, who allowed the same holding that Assistant Forest Settlement Officer had no competence to confer khatedari rights of lands of protected forest. It is against those two judgments, Petitioners approached Board of Revenue which rejected their revision petitions and also review petitions.

(3.) Learned Counsel for Petitioners have argued that Assistant Forest Settlement Officer rightly allowed claim of Petitioners because they were in possession of the land even prior to the land in dispute was notified as protected forest by notification dated 09.01.1969. Learned Counsel in this connection referred to order dated 30.04.1975 of Assistant Forest Settlement Officer and argued that in these cases, the Assistant Forest Settlement Officer took into consideration copies of girdawaris and revenue receipts and also inspected the sites. He, at the time of inspection, found possession of Petitioners and also noticed that some of Petitioners had been cultivating the land and crop was standing, there were wells on such lands and in fact some such lands were subsequently sold by original owners. The Assistant Forest Settlement Officer had rightly excluded the lands from purview of protected forest in exercise of his powers under Rule 12 (3) of the Rajasthan Forest (Settlement) Rules, 1958.