Civil Writ Petition No.16986 of 2011 -1- IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH C.W.P.No.16986 of 2011 Date of Decision:17.10.2011 Ashok Kumar ...Petitioner Versus The State of Haryana & Ors. ...Respondents CORAM: HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE MEHINDER SINGH SULLAR Present:- Mr.Ajay Jain, Advocate for the petitioner. M ehinder S ingh S ullar , J . (Oral) The compendium of the facts, culminating in the commencement, relevant for the limited purpose of deciding the core controversy, involved in the instant writ petition and emanating from the record, is that, in the wake of death of Ganpat Singh, a post of Lambardar in the category of scheduled caste, of village Datoli, Tehsil Charkhi Dadri, Distt.Bhiwani had fallen vacant. Ultimately, three candidates, namely, Kabul Singh, Ashok Kumar (petitioner) and Attar Singh (respondent No.6) applied and lodged their respective claims for the indicated post of Lambardar within the prescribed period. 2. After completion of all the codal formalities, the Assistant Collector 2nd Grade (respondent No.5) as well as Sub Divisional Officer (C), Charkhi Dadri, (respondent No.4) recommended the name of Attar Singh (respondent No.6) as Lambardar on the said post. 3. Having considered the respective merits and de-merits of the candidates and after following the due procedure, as contemplated under the provisions of The Punjab Land Revenue Act, 1887 and the Rules framed thereunder (hereinafter to be referred as “the Act and the relevant Rules”), the Collector appointed Attar Singh (respondent No.6) as Lambardar in the scheduled caste category, by virtue of order impugned dated 7.10.2008 (Annexure P1). 4. Aggrieved by the said order, the petitioner filed the appeal, which Civil Writ Petition No.16986 of 2011 -2- was dismissed as well, by the Commissioner, Hisar Division, Hisar (respondent No.2), by way of impugned order dated 27.3.2009 (Annexure P2) and revision filed by him was also dismissed by the Financial Commissioner (respondent No.1), by means of impugned order dated 20.7.2011 (Annexure P3). 5. The petitioner still did not feel satisfied with the impugned orders (Annexures P1 to P3) and preferred the instant writ petition, invoking the provisions of Articles 226/227 of the Constitution of India. 6. After hearing the learned counsel for the petitioner, going through the record with his valuable help and after considering the entire matter deeply, to my mind, there is no merit in the present writ petition. 7. As is evident from the record that, name of Attar Singh (respondent No.6) was recommended by AC 2nd Grade and SDO ©. He is son of deceased Lambardar and is well conversant with the functioning of Lambardar. He is matriculate and Ex-army personnel. Kabul Singh, the 3rd candidate supported his candidature. 8. What cannot possibly be disputed here is that, the Collector is the appointing authority of the Lambardar. The appointment of Lambardar is administrative function and is prerogative of the District Collector, being In-charge of the Administration. It is the duty of the Collector to appoint such persons in the office of Lambardar, who are eligible and competent to carry out the duties efficiently. He is in an advantageous position to examine the merits and demerits of the candidates. The choice of the Collector in the matter of appointment of village Lambardar should not normally be interfered with, unless the Collector has taken a perverse view and has not exercised his choice judiciously. 9. Having completed all the codal formalities and considered the pros and cons of the candidature of candidates, the Collector appointed respondent No.6 on the indicated post of Lambardar, vide order dated 7.10.2008 (Annexure P1), which, in substance, is as under:- Civil Writ Petition No.16986 of 2011 -3- “I have heard all the three applicants in detail and have carefully perused the entire file. I have reached at the conclusion that Shri Attar Singh is the most eligible candidate as he is the son of the deceased Lambardar and is accordingly well versed with the works of Lambardari. Further, he is Chamar by caste and is matric passed. He is an ex-army personal and even Kabul Singh applicant has withdrawn in his favour. Even the Assistant Collector 2nd Grade Dadri and the Assistant Collector Ist Grade Charkhi Dadri recommended the name of this candidate. Thus, keeping in view the aforesaid facts Attar Singh son of Ganpat Singh is hereby appointed as Lambardar of village Datoli from the SC category in place of deceased Lambardar Shri Ganpat. Sanad Lambardari be issued accordingly.” 10. Not only that, the Commissioner has further noticed in his order (Annexure P2) that the petitioner is guilty of providing wrong information and got his name recorded for availing the benefit of BPL family and in fact he was not eligible for it. The Commissioner as well as the Financial Commissioner have confirmed the choice of Collector, through the medium of orders (Annexures P2 & P3) respectively. 11. The learned counsel for the petitioner did not point out any legal violation and material, much less cogent, to show as to how and in what manner, the impugned orders of the authorities below are illegal and would invite any interference in this relevant context. 12. No other meaningful argument has been raised by the learned counsel for the petitioner to assail the impugned orders. All other celebrated arguments, now sought to be urged on his behalf in this relevant direction, have already been duly considered and dealt with by the authorities below. 13. Meaning thereby, the authorities below have recorded the cogent grounds in this relevant connection. Such orders, containing valid reasons, cannot possibly be interfered with by this Court, while exercising the extraordinary jurisdiction of this Court under Articles 226/227 of the Constitution of India, unless and until, the same are illegal and perverse. Since no such patent illegality Civil Writ Petition No.16986 of 2011 -4- or legal infirmity has been pointed out by the learned counsel for the petitioner, so, the impugned orders (Annexures P1 to P3) deserve to be and are hereby maintained, in the obtaining circumstances of the case. 14. No other legal point, worth consideration, has either been urged or pressed by the counsel for the petitioner. 15. In the light of aforementioned reasons, as there is no merit, therefore, the instant writ petition is hereby dismissed as such. (Mehinder Singh Sullar) 17.10.2011 Judge AS