ANAND KANWAR Vs. STATE OF RAJASTHAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) IN all these 20 writ petitions, a common question regarding lands allotted to various petitioners, who are either Ex-service men or their heirs, has been raised and a prayer has been made that each of the petitioners should not be dispossessed from the lands in their possession. Therefore, all the above mentioned petitions are decided by one Order.

(2.) FOR the sake of giving facts, which are generally common in all the petitions, reference of Writ Petition No. 240/83, filed by the petitioner. Hansraj, has been made. Ail the petitioners served in Indian Army and each of the petitioners has been given Regiment No. & rank held by them. The petitioners were enrolled in December 1941-4i and served on active war front and were discharged in the year, 1944, after cessation of hostilities. During the war, many of the petitioners served abroad also. Prior to April 7, 1949, there existed Sovereign State of Jaipur (briefly, the then Jaipur State) and then His Highness Maharaja Sawai Man Singh was the Ruler of the said State, who wielded all sovereign powers vested in him. He appointed a representative committee to make recommendations for the purpose of rehabilitation of the Ex-Army Personnel vide his order No. 1010/sc dated July 29, 1943. On the recommendations of the said Committee, the then Government of Jaipur State took certain decisions vide Order No. 584/sc dated May 20, 1944. which were published in Jaipur Gazette Volume LXII No. 5393 dated June 1, 1944. In pursuance to the said recommendations, the then Government of State issued an order dated June 27, 1947 (Anx. 1), with a view to give the benefit of Patte-dari system to the Ex-service-men agriculturists and to get some barani land under cultivation, which was to be allotted to the Ex-service-men. According to this Notification, land was allotted to each of the petitioners, details of which are mentioned! in each of the petitions. As per this Notification, Ex-service-men of Officer category were to be allotted 120 Bighas of land, those belonging to BCO category, 80 Bighas of land & those belonging to NCO category and other personnel, were to be allotted 60 Bighas of land. It was also made clear in this Notification that the allottees under the scheme will not be required to pay any rent for first 10 years. The other facilities & concessions were also mentioned therein. In pursuance of this order, the then Government of Jaipur State allotted land to Ex-service-men for purposes of cultivation in District Sawai Madhopur or at such other places which is mentioned in each of the petitions. This order was communicated to the then Deputy Commissioner, Sawai Madhopur, which is now in the record of the office of the Collector, Sawaimadhopur, with the title of "allotment File Man Nagar Soldiers' Farm, Daulatpura, Tehsil Kbandar" and file bears No. 212/2010. After allotment of the lands to the petitioners, in the year, 1948-49, the same were shown in Chausala Khasra Girdawari maintained in the then Jaipur State to be in possession of the various allottees by Order No. 97/sc dated September 14, 1949, issued by the then Deputy Commissioner, Sawaimadhopur. Respondent No. 3 the Collector, Sawaimadhopur, vide order dated September 16, 1949, entered these lands in the names of various allottees and the actual possession of the lands was also given to them.

(3.) I have heard both the parties and gone through the documents on record in each of the petitioners. The respondents have not cared to file any return in any of the petitions, even though, several chances were given to them. It was only expected that the respondents will clarify their position with regard to the claims made by the petitioners in each of the petitions, so that, this Court may be in a position to know how far the facts stated by the petitioners are correct. The petitioners have stated facts in the petitions supported by affidavits and in the absence of any respondents disputing the correctness of the facts, by filing counter affidavits, this Court has to proceed on the assumptions that the facts stated in the petitions, which are supported by affidavits, are correct. The same view was taken by this Court in Surajmal V. Prithisingh (l ). However, it may also be pointed out that Anx. 1 was issued under instructions of Maharaja of Jaipur, who wielded Sovereign powers, while he ruled the then Jaipur State, therefore, whatever order was passed under his instructions, it had force of law. In this way, the respondents cannot challenge the authority regarding land allotted to Ex-servicemen. It is also evident that Ex-servicemen fought for the country and when they were discharged from service,it was only expected that the State shall look after them & re-habilitate them. Alongwith this purpose, the authorities of the then Jaipur State found out a way, by which, Banjar (un-cultivable) land was to be made cultivable, it will also enrich the State by production of more food stuffs. A close look at Anx. i dated June 27,1974 will show that it has been clearly mentioned that the allottees Ex-servicemen were given full rights of 'pattedar', without any payment. In this way, the then Ruler of Jaipur State showed his gratitude to Ex-servicemen, who were prepared to lay down their lives at his orders and went to fight in the war. Therefore, there is no force in the objection of the learned Deputy Govt. Advocate that the Ex-servicemen allottees do not have the rights of 'pattedar', since they made no payment for the lands allotted to them. It is further mentioned in this document that the allottees shall be paid Rs 10/- each per bigha for making the Barani land cultivable and this amount was not to be recovered from them. Several other facilities and concessions in payment of revenue were also mentioned therein. In my considered opinion, this document has all the force of law and the respondents cannot violate the terms of this order, more so, in view of the provisions of Art. 300a of the Constitution of India: Man Nagar Co-operative Society was formed by the allottees themselves to put joint labour in making the Barani land cultivable and after this purpose was served, the said Society was disbanded as is mentioned in the petitions under consideration. The matter is more than 40 years old and it is not expected that each of the petitioners, who is Ex-servicemen or the heirs of the Ex-servicemen will be able to trace the 'pattas' and produce in the Court of law. It is evident that the demand notice issued to each of the petitioners for depositing several thousand rupees, regarding the lands in their possession, goes to show that they are in possession of the lands and have been cultivating the same, since long. Since the lands in possession of each of the petitioners were allotted vide Anx. 1, without payment of any charge, the respondents are not authorised to recover any amount as price of the land from them.