NARENDRA KUMAR ACHARYA Vs. BHURE KHAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This writ petition under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution of India has been filed by the petitioner against the respondents on 10/10/2001 with the prayer that by an appropriate writ, order or direction, the order dtd. 6/9/2000 (Annex.12) passed by the respondent no.42 Collector, Bikaner by which he came to the conclusion that the patta (Annex.2) dtd. 6/4/1949 which was issued in favour of Maharaja Sardul Singh comprises of the land of khasra nos. 33, 34 and 37 and not of khasra no.83 and therefore, he ordered that necessary correction to that effect be made in revenue record and the order dtd. 30/5/2001 (Annex.13) passed by the respondent no.44 Board of Revenue by which the application filed by the petitioner under Sec. 9 of the Rajasthan Land Revenue Act, 1956 (hereinafter referred to as "the Act of 1956") was rejected, be quashed and set aside.

(2.) Before proceeding further, it may be stated here that during the pendency of this writ petition, the respondent no.1 Bhure Khan died and his LRs were taken on record and amended cause title was filed.

(3.) The case of the petitioner as put forward by him in this writ petition is as follows :- The petitioner is the devotee of deity and the respondents under the provisions of Sec. 136 of the Act of 1956 had transferred the land belonging to the deity by changing the Arazi numbers and further, a colony had been established in the name of "Jai Naryan Vyas Colony" and the land, which has been grabbed by the respondents, has the market value of crores of rupees. The further case of the petitioner is that initially a patta (Annex.1) was issued in favour of Maharaja Sardul Singh on 21/10/1948 on the name of Vallabh Garden for the land measuring 2589 bighas and 6 biswas at village Shiv Badi and thereafter, a second patta (Annex.2) was also issued in favour of Maharaja Sardul Singh on 6/4/1949 for the land measuring 659 bighas and 19 biswas, which is ultimately the patta and land in dispute in the instant case. The further case of the petitioner is that the land granted patta (Annex.2) was mutated on 28/10/1949 and fixed as Khasra no.83 of Bikaner. The mutation entries were made on 28/12/1949, a copy of which is marked as Annex.4. The entries of khasra no.83 upto the samvat year 2027-28 are marked as Annex.5. Meanwhile, the original grantee Maharaja Sardul Singh expired in 1950 and his successor Maharaja Karni Singh transferred that land and patta in dispute in favour of his mother Smt. Sudarshan Kumari by a registered gift deed in the year 1958 and Rajmata Smt. Sudarshan Kumari sold the various lands by registered sale deed to some persons as mentioned in para no.7 of the writ petition. The further case of the petitioner is that with the passage of time there was a vast development of Bikaner City and various colonies have been developed and established and even in Arazi khasra no.83, the UIT had prepared various schemes and jai Narain Vyas Colony had been established. The further case of the petitioner is that under the garb of the provisions of Sec. 136 of the Act of 1956, the other lands of khasras no.33, 34, 35, 36 and 37 were being substituted in place of khasra no.83 by the respondent no.42 Collector, Bikaner through the impugned order Annex.12 dtd. 6/9/2000, which was wholly without jurisdiction and illegal. According to the petitioner, in Arazi khasra no.37, there is a land dedicated to the local deity and duly recorded as "Oran Bhomiaji" and in Rajasthani it means a forest or gochar land dedicated to any deity and nobody had a right to take any forest produce from it except the deity. So far as the land of Arazi Khasra no.33 is concerned, the same was also entered as abadi land in the Gram Panchayat Shiv Badi and the Gram Panchayat Shiv Badi had issued various residential pattas to various persons. Further, the Arazi Khasra no.34 is a cultivable agricultural land. The further case of the petitioner is that the Patwari, on his own, without any order of the competent Revenue Authority recorded Arazi khasra no.37 as "Oran" in the Samvat Years 2025 to 2028 and even the word "Oran" means a forest or gochar land dedicated to the deity. However, after Samvat year 2028, the land of khasra no.37 was recorded in the name of Oran Bhomiaji, which means a forest or gochar land dedicated to the deity and nobody had right to take any forest produce from it except the deity. The further case of the petitioner is that a complaint was made by one Birma Ram Choudhary before the Divisional Commissioner, Bikaner and the Divisional Commissioner, Bikaner examined the matter and through order Annex.11 dtd. 24/2/2000, he came to the following conclusion :