POOSA RAM Vs. BOARD OF REVENUE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) PETITIONER Poosa Ram and respondent No. 7 Mani Ram s/o Kishna Ram Jat, were the recorded Khatedar tenants of 32 Bighas one Biswa of land bearing old Khasra Number 26 and new Khasra Numbers 368, 374, 377 and 379, situated in village Dariyasar tehsil Nohar district Sri Ganganagar. Earlier to the last settlement, two Bighas of this land, situated in new Khasra Number 368, was entered in the Revenue Record as the Agricultural land. In the last settlement, these two Bighas of land was entered as "gair Mumkin Aabadi land". The entry was made without notice to the petitioner and respondent No. 7 - the Khatedars of this land. After the settlement Operations were over, when the petitioner came to know that his land has been entered in the revenue record as the Gair Mumkin Aabadi land, he moved an application under Section 136 of the Rajasthan Land Revenue Act (for short, 'the Act') before the Sub-Divisional Officer cum Land Record Officer, Nohar, for the correction of the entry. The Land Record Officer, Nohar, by its order dated 1. 8. 78, allowed the application filed by the petitioner and ordered for correction of the entry. He, also, directed the Tehsildar, Nohar, vide Annexure 3, to make necessary Correction in the Jamabandi. In pursuance to this order, necessary corrections in the revenue record were made. Dissatisfied with the order dated 1. 8. 78, passed by the Sub-Divisional Officer Nohar, ordering for the correction of the entry, Sarvashri Mani Ram, Narain, Budha Ram and Megha Ram filed an appeal before the Revenue Appellate Authority, Bikaner (Camp Sri Ganganagar ). The Revenue Appellate Authority, by its judgment dated 18. 9. 89 allowed the appeal filed by Mani Ram and others, set-aside the order passed by the learned Sub-Divisional Officer, Nohar on the ground that the Sub- Divisional Officer (Land Record Officer), Nohar, after the settlement operations are over under Section 136 of the Act, had no power to correct any entry in the record. The petitioner and respondent No. 7 Mani Ram, aggrieved with the order dated 18. 9. 79, passed by the Revenue Appellate Authority, preferred an appeal before the Board of Revenue for Rajasthan, Ajmer. The appeal, filed by Poosa Ram and Mani Ram, was dismissed by the learned Member of the Board of Revenue by his judgment dated 29. 10. 85. The appeal was dismissed on the ground that after the settlement operations are over, the Sub-Divisional Officer had no power to correct the entry in the revenue record and the only remedy left with the applicant is to file a revenue suit for correction of the entries. A review petition filed by the petitioner before the Board of Revenue was, also, dismissed by the Board by the order dated 31. 12. 85. Aggrieved with the judgment dated 29. 10. 85 passed by the Board of Revenue affirming the judgment dated 18. 9. 79 passed by the Revenue Appellate Authority, Bikaner (Camp Sri Ganganagar), the. petitioner has filed the present writ petition.

(2.) THE controversy involved in the present case is : whether correction of the entry in the Record of Rights/annual Register can be made by the Land Record Officer under Section 136 of the Act after the survey or settlement operations are over? Chapter VII of the Act deals with the survey and settlement/record operations. Sections 106 to 112 of the Act deal with survey or re- survey of the land and preparation of maps and Field Book. Sections 113 to 127 of the Act deal with various aspects and disputes relating to preparation of the Record of Rights. Sections 128 to 130 of the Act deal with the boundary disputes, obligation of the holders as to boundary marks, penalty for injury to or removal of the boundary marks. Section 131 to 137 of the Act deal with the maintenance of maps, field book, annual register and to up date them by recording the changes due to succession or transfer after survey or settlement operations are over. Section 131 of the Act deals with the maintenance of the maps and the field book after the survey and record operations are over. It casts a duty on the Land Record Officer to maintain maps and the field book in accordance with the Rules and cause annually or at such longer interval as the State Government may prescribe, record in the maps and field book all changes in the boundary of each village or the portion of a village, estate or field. Section 131 further mandates the Land Record Officer to correct any error which are shown to have been made in such map or the field book. Section 132 of the Act deals with the maintenance of the Annual Register by the Land Record Officer after the survey/settlement operations are over. Section 133 of the Act casts a duty on the person obtaining possession by succession, transfer or otherwise of any property or right or interest on any land or portion thereof to be recorded in the revenue register, to bring to the notice of the village Patwari and report to the Tehsildar of the Tehsil within three months from the date on which he obtained such possession. Section 134 provides a fine for negligence and Section 135 provides the procedure for making the necessary entry after the receipt of the record. Section 136 of the Act deals with the decision of the dispute.

(3.) IN the present case, the land was earlier entered as the agricultural land and the petitioner and the respondent No. 7 Mani Ram were shown as the Khatedar tenants of the land in dispute. IN the last settlement operations, the land was entered as 'aabadi' land. The petitioner, therefore, moved an application for the correction of the entry. The application filed by the petitioner was allowed but the order, passed by the learned Sub-Divisional Officer (Land Record Officer), Nohar, was set- aside by the Revenue Appellate Authority, Bikaner (Camp Sri Ganganagar) and affirmed by the Board of Revenue solely on the ground that the Land Record Officer had no jurisdiction to decide the dispute regarding the correction of the entry under Section 136 of the Act. The view taken by the Revenue Appellate Authority as well as by the Board of Revenue, is not correct. The order, passed by the Land Record Officer, was not without jurisdiction. He has powers, under Section 136 of the Act, to decide the dispute relating to the correction of the entry, i. e. , to correct the errors which crept in the Record during the settlement/survey operation. He acted within his jurisdiction and passed the order. The Revenue Appellate Authority as well as the Board of Revenue have not decided the appeals on merit and dismissed the same merely on the technical ground relating to maintainability of the case. The orders passed by the Revenue Appellate Authority, Bikaner (Camp Sri Ganganagar) as well as by the Board of Revenue, therefore, deserve to be quashed and set-aside. (8 ). IN the result, the writ petition, filed by the petitioner, is allowed. The judgment dated 18. 9. 79, passed by the Revenue Appellate Authority, Bikaner (Camp Sri Ganganagar) (Annexure 4) as well as the judgment dated 29. 10. 85 (Annexure 5) and the order dated 31. 12. 85 passed in the review petition by the Board of Revenue, are quashed and set-aside and the case is remanded to the Revenue Appellate Authority, Bikaner (Camp Sri Ganganagar) to decide the appeal on merit in accordance with law after notice to the parties. .