UMRAO SINGH Vs. COMMISSIONER KHUDKASHT RAJASTHAN JAIPUR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) PETITIONER Umrao Singh along with five other residents of village Bichpuri, Tehsil Behror, District Alwar have filed this writ application praying that the order passed by the Khudkasht Commissioner dated 30th November, 1968, dismissing the petitioners' appeal be quashed and the respondents Nos. 3 and 4 be restrained from cultivating the land allotted to them as khudkasht lands.

(2.) THE facts giving rise to this writ petition are, in a nutshell, as follows - Respondents Nos. 3 and 4 Vinayak Dutt and Laxmi Kant were the Muafi-dars of certain lands in village Chittor, Tehsil Rajgarh, District Alwar. THEir 'muafi' was resumed under the provisions of the Rajasthan Land Reforms and Resumption of Jagirs Act, 1952 (hereinafter called the Act ). After the resumption of the said 'muafi' lands, the aforesaid Muafidars applied for the allotment of khudkasht lands under the provisions of the Act and they submitted an application before the Deputy Collector (Jagirs), Alwar, on 21st of April, 1962, praying that land bearing Khasra 600 in village Bichpuri measuring 46 Bighas, land bearing Khasra No. 712 in village Jogarwas measuring 20 Bighas be allotted to them as khudkasht land. It is alleged that Vinayak was an influential person and, therefore, he got the allotment of the aforesaid lands made in their favour by the authorities without complying with the requirements of the provisions of the Act and the rules made thereunder. THE villagers of village Bichpuri. however, objected to the allotment of 46 Bighas of land in their village to the Muafidars on the ground that no notice was given to them before the allotment was made and that the land was a pasture land and as such it could not be allotted to the Muafidars as khudkasht land. On receiving the objections from the residents of the village, the Deputy Collector (Jagirs) issued notice to the respondents Nos. 3 and 4 and meanwhile ordered to maintain the status quo as regards the land in dispute in village Bichpuri. After hearing the respondents Nos. 3 and 4, the Deputy Collector (Jagirs) held that the order of allotment was passed without hearing the persons interested and without making any enquiry by the Tehsildar according to the rules regarding the availability of the land, and, therefore, he proceeded to decide the merits of the application filed by the villagers. THE Deputy Collector (Jagirs) framed two issues on 29th of January, 1963 : (1) Whether the allotted land was Charagah of the whole village and could not be allotted ? and (2) What would be the relief? At this stage the respondents Nos. 3 and 4 raised an objection of jurisdiction and submitted to the Deputy Collector (Jagirs ) that he had no jurisdiction to re-open the matter which had once been finalised by the authorities. On hearing the parties, the Deputy Collector (Jagirs) came to the conclusion that he had no jurisdiction to re-open the matter and therefore he dropped the proceedings. An appeal was taken against this order of the Deputy Collector (Jagirs) to the Khudkasht Commissioner. THE Commissioner was, however, of the opinion that the Deputy Collector (Jagirs ) could review the matter and he passed an order to that effect on 4th April, 1964 which is Ex. 8 on the record, and the case was remanded to the file of the Deputy Collector (Jagirs) with a direction that the application for review filed by the villagers may be disposed of after hearing the parties.